Calling DL Legal People

What do you call the contract signed by an author hired to adapt a novel into a screenplay for a movie? The contract provides for the transfer of rights, compensation, copyright, etc. TIA!

• Isn't it normally a contact of employment with a production company?

• The first step is an option agreement. Do you mean what happens after that?

• Thanks, R2, that's what I mean. This would be a contract signed by two freelance screenwriters (with their own businesses) hired by a film production company to collaborate on the screen adaptation of a novel. I don't think it would be an employment contract, as they are only commissioned to write the screenplay. The contract states exactly how much each screenwriter will be paid, the deadline for delivery of the first draft, what happens if they win screenwriting awards, etc. They get paid to write the screenplay and then transfer the rights to the production company.

• You might want both a work for hire contract and a collaboration agreement since there are to be two parties creating the screenplay. Or you might want a lawyer to get it done right.

  http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-i-use-both-a-work-for-hire-contract-for-a-scri-92345.html

• I don't think there's a special name for the contract just because it deals with the adaptation of a novel. In the writers' agreements, try writing in "adaptation" next to (other) and see if anyone gets sued.

  Throw%20Caution%20to%20the%20Wind

• Thanks, everyone, for your answers.

  OP