It takes a good while for a producer to develop a motion picture based on a book. A screenwriter must be engaged, decisions must be made about how to adapt the book into a film, the screenplay must be written and revised, and then an entire creative team must be assembled. For this reason, the producer attempts to structure the acquisition agreement in the form of an option coupled with a self-executing purchase agreement. The option period gives the producer time to complete development activities, and if the option is exercised, the purchase agreement transfers audiovisual rights without further discussion.
Most authors are elated when an option is exercised because it means that the purchase price will be paid and there’s a good likelihood that a film will go forward. But what happens when the option is exercised, the rights are assigned, years go by, and no film ensues? If the author has bargained for a right of reversion, she will have an opportunity to get her film rights back. But reversion is almost never an absolute right; conditions usually must be satisfied before audiovisual rights will return free of encumbrances.
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