Cinema Law: Screenwriter Rights
Cinema Law: Screenwriter Rights
By Chad Fitzgerald
URL: http://www.moviemaker.com/blog/item/cinema_law_screenwriter_rights_20091214/
Q: When a writer sells the rights to his script to a production company, I understand that the writer no longer has the right to option his script to other production companies, even if he receives a better offer. That being said, does the writer lose all creative control once he signs his name on the dotted line? Can the production company go ahead and hire whatever director it wants and even change the entire tone of the script without the writer's approval? Basically, what say does the writer have in a project once his script is sold?