What a Vertical Drama Contract Should Say About Remakes
Updated: Oct 9
A short series can travel far beyond its first app. It may be dubbed, remade with another cast, recut for television, adapted into a book, or turned into a longer series. If the original contract says 'all rights' without useful detail, the creator may discover too late that none of those uses brings another payment.
Name the rights
The agreement should distinguish production of the initial episodes from sequels, spin-offs, remakes, translations, formats, and merchandising. It should define territory, language, term, and whether the rights are exclusive. An option should have a deadline and a way to return rights if the project is not made.
Define the money
A remake fee can be fixed, percentage-based, or negotiated later. 'Net profits' alone is not enough: deductions, related-party transactions, accounting dates, and audit access determine what the phrase means. Credit can matter even if the remake payment is modest.
Think about your collaborators
If an underlying book, co-writer, producer, or performer has rights, a remake needs a clean chain of title. Check existing agreements before offering rights you do not control. Verbal understandings are especially fragile when a project succeeds.
An example to test
Imagine the same premise remade in another language with new actors and a different ending. Which payments and credits follow? If the agreement cannot answer, the remake clause needs work.
Before signing
Ask an entertainment lawyer to review a significant grant of rights. This article is a checklist for questions, not advice about a particular contract.
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Viola Musaraj is a writer, novelist, micro and vertical drama producer, and interactive narrative designer with more than 140 million reads worldwide.
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