Your book already has a film owner — your contract named them
Film rights to a book are not a separate thing the author must buy. They are a subsidiary right the contract either keeps with the author or assigns to the publisher to shop. The line that decides is the subsidiary grant in Exhibit A, not the advance, not the royalty, not the title page. You own film rights at self-published and unpublished because no grant has moved them. You may not own them at trad without a reservation because a grant that listed film under subsidiary where the publisher shops on your behalf for a fee did. The adaptation rights explainer names the owner from the status you enter so the next contract you sign can keep that owner as you.
The status that matters is publishing status plus two toggles: whether the contract reserves film to you and whether you have an agent who shops film separately. Unpublished or querying, self-published through KDP or Ingram, hybrid or assisted, traditionally published with an agent, traditionally published without an agent. The five are the ladder where control moves from author to publisher unless a reservation holds it. Unpublished and self are author controlled at one hundred percent — film is yours to shop, no transfer has occurred. Hybrid is usually author controlled but must be verified — many hybrids return film to the author, but some hybrids list film under subsidiary where the press shops on your behalf for a fee and the author approves only after the press finds an option. Trad with an agent splits depends on reservation: with reservation film is author retained where the agent shops separately and you approve the option; without reservation the publisher shops film as a subsidiary for a split and the agent can negotiate reversion and a reserved shopping window in the next cycle. Trad without an agent or reservation is where film is most likely to sit with the publisher. The risk is not dramatic; it is where the film advance cross-collateralizes against book royalties unless you foreclose it.
The reservation line is the line that keeps film as the book's sibling, not its child. Author retains motion picture, television, dramatic and audio-visual subsidiary. If licensing a shopping window, add licensed for eighteen to twenty-four months only, with reversion if unshipped and author approval to option. The licensed window is the compromise where the publisher may shop film on your behalf for a time and a fee rather than owning it outright. Without the licensed window, the subsidiary transfer is often a license without clock — the publisher shops until it options or it does not, and the book stays licensed while film sits. With the window, unshipped film reverts even if the book stays licensed. The reversion line is the time the publisher must show results or return the property.
Shopping is who talks to the buyer. With an agent the agent shops film as a separate property, not bundled with book subsidiary. The agent's shopping window is separate from the publisher's subsidiary, and the option requires your signature, not the publisher signing alone. Without an agent the author or the publisher shops, but the author shopping alone without an agent leaves the option's terms to the author's solo negotiation against the buyer's business affairs. The checklist says agent shops film separately from book subsidiary for that reason: separate shopping and approval window. The approval line tells who approves — you approve option versus publisher approves — and the reversion line tells when unshipped film returns even if the book stays in print.
Cross-collateralization is where the film advance recoups against book royalties. The film option advance should not recoup against book earnings unless you agree. Many trad contracts cross-collateralize by default — the publisher recoups its costs across properties — and film is a property. The checklist's last line — no cross-collateralization — is the line to foreclose that recoup. The film option advance should be a separate property with separate recoup.
Worked holdings that explain the labels
Note: the following examples are hypothetical and illustrative rather than a sourced case study.
A self-published author with an agent. Publishing status self through KDP or Ingram, has a literary agent who shopped the book. The grant that would have moved film never occurred because self-publishing creates no subsidiary transfer. Film sits with the author at one hundred percent. Agent shops film separately, author approves the option, reversion is moot because nothing was assigned. The verdict is pass — you own film, no subsidiary transfer. The metrics show film owner You — one hundred percent author controlled, status self, reservation No, agent Yes. The breakdown says grant of rights Author retains film, shopping Agent shops separately, approval You approve option. The table shows Unpublished and Self rows as you. The recommendations say keep the reservation in every future offer even though the current status is self, because the next trad offer is where the transfer would occur. The recommendations also say have the agent confirm the shopping window for film is separate and requires your written approval to option.
A traditionally published author with an agent but no reservation. Publishing status trad with an agent, subsidiary clause that lists film under publisher to shop. The grant transferred film to publisher to shop as subsidiary for a split; the agent negotiates but does not retain. The next negotiation can reclaim and shop film before the option lapses if the agent secures a reversion and a reserved shopping window in the next cycle. The verdict is warning — publisher controls film as subsidiary, agent can reclaim on reversion. The metrics show film owner Publisher shops film — agent negotiates, status trad-agent, reservation No, agent Yes. The breakdown says grant Publisher licensed subsidiary, shopping Publisher shops film as subsidiary where the press shops on your behalf for a fee, approval Publisher approves until reversion. The table shows trad with agent no reservation row as publisher shops. The recommendations say get the reservation in the next offer as Author retains motion picture through dramatic and add licensed for eighteen to twenty-four months only with reversion if unshipped. Have the agent confirm the shopping window requires your written approval.
A traditionally published author without an agent or reservation. Publishing status trad-no-agent, hybrid not, self not, agent no. The grant likely where film sits with the publisher and cross-collateralizes against book royalties unless you foreclosed it. The author has no shopping separate. The verdict is fail — publisher holds film, get an agent before the next option window. Highest risk at trad without agent or reservation. The metrics show film owner Publisher — highest risk, status trad-no-agent, reservation No, agent No. The breakdown shows grant Publisher licensed, shopping Publisher shops, approval Publisher approves, reversion reverts on out-of-print or time window if negotiated. The recommendations say highest risk at trad without agent or reservation — do not sign the next subsidiary without an agent review, and record the reservation, window, approval, and reversion in the rights file you carry to every new meeting. The rights file is the master, not memory.
The checklist after the holding
The checklist reports five items the author can check before the next offer.
Subsidiary clause lists film or dramatic as author retained or licensed for a window — the reservation in Exhibit A.
Option requires author signature, not publisher alone — authorship approval, not shop alone.
Reversion if unshipped in eighteen to twenty-four months — time-boxed subsidiary reverts even if book stays in print.
Agent shops film separately from book subsidiary — separate shopping and approval window.
No cross-collateralization of film advance against book royalties — film option advance should not recoup against book earnings unless you agree.
The two that are checked are the defaults the status already carries; the three that are unchecked are the artist and casting's tasks; the checklist is the edit decision list again.
Two masters again — book and film are siblings
As with large print and runtime, the large-print interior and the standard interior are two masters. The book's faces and the film's faces are siblings, not zoom. The book's rights and the film's rights are siblings, not parent and child. The book's 273 pages and the film's 90 minutes plus its one-sentence logline plus its one-image key art plus its one-face sheet plus its rights are siblings derived from the same source manuscript by different operations.
The book's rights and the film's rights are the same property at different clocks. The words per page that made 273 pages and the film's 90 minutes plus its one-sentence logline plus its one-image key art plus its one-face sheet plus its rights are siblings derived from the same source manuscript by different operations. The book's 273 pages and the film's 90 minutes are siblings, not parent and child.
A short note on very short manuscripts
A 20,000-word manuscript at 950 blended is 21 scenes. The rights at four parts can still be built — a short story's rights are the same four parts as a novel's. The rights at that thin end is not keep, compress, and cut but invent — the writer must invent beats the book did not have.
Why this page sits where it does in the cluster
Book to Film needs eight numbers before any blade touches outline: minutes, scenes, scope, logline, shots, key art, casting, pages, and now rights. This page adds the rights. With minutes, scenes, scope, logline, shots, key art, casting, pages, and rights the deck is the deck. The nine are the deck the publisher can hand to development without re-explaining the book.
Engineering note — the table is the map
The table that shows status → who shops film and why is the map of the cut the outline must budget. It is not a menu.
Book to Film ennead — minutes, scenes, scope, logline, shots, key art, casting, pages, rights
Book to Film needs nine numbers before any blade touches outline: minutes, scenes, scope, logline, shots, key art, casting, pages, and now rights. Minutes from the runtime estimator tells the buyer the clock; scenes from the counter tells the writers room the units; scope from the planner tells whose scenes stay; logline from the generator tells the room what to say; shots from the generator tells the camera where to stand; key art from the brief tells the designer what to show; casting from the sheet tells who to show; pages from the estimator tells production how many pages to print; rights from this explainer tells who can option. The nine are the deck. Without rights the deck is a pitch without a signature; with rights the deck has a rights file the business affairs can countersign.
Engineering note — the divisor chain with rights
Words per page is 275 at 6×9 Garamond 12 on 15.5, words per scene is 850 thriller and 1,250 fantasy at the same trim, screened words per minute is 135 spoken, shots per beat is about two, palette per genre is one of eight, composition per tone is one of six, archetype per character is one of six, pages per minute is one, rights per contract is one. The chain's input is the same word count and the four parts you named plus status and agent. The outputs are the nine masters plus the schedule that art drives. The inputs are the same word count and the four parts you named. The outputs are the nine masters plus the schedule.
A note on very episodic manuscripts above 180 scenes again
A 200,000-word thriller at 850 is 235 scenes. At that count the rights are not scene by scene; place matters. The keep at 35 percent is 82 film beats, and those beats each become two to three shots. The casting that covers 82 beats is the two faces the eight traits name. The schedule that covers the set is days. The art that covers the film is the casting sheet and rights file.
Checklist before you quote the rights
First, quote status. Second, quote reservation. Third, quote agent. Fourth, quote owner. Fifth, quote grant, shopping, approval, reversion. Sixth, compare the brief to the key art brief the film will need. Seventh, run the tool again with the genre at the opposite end of the pace band to bracket the true brief.
How long the pass really takes to decide
The rights question is often answered by a lawyer with a manuscript's word count. The tool answers it with status, reservation, agent that the room can repeat. The four numbers are the note that explains why self 100 percent versus trad-no-agent fail. The four numbers are also the budget that tells the designer who to dress and who to stand where.
Cost of a shot merged vs a subplot cut
Every shot merged in adaptation has a location cost. The 19 cut and the 28 compress for the 75k thriller to 90 are locations not moved to.
Final pass — verify twice
Run the tool twice with two archetype splits — one as thriller dark and one as thriller hopeful. The estimate should bracket the true casting within a palette window; the archetype that should be pitched is the archetype whose palette the screenplay actually uses.
Engineering depth — the divisor chain with rights
Words per page is 275, words per scene is 850, screened words per minute is 135, shots per beat is about two, palette per genre is one of eight. The chain's input is the same word count. The outputs are the masters.
Deep dive — every trait in a rights sheet has a job on screen
A rights sheet's traits per character are not decoration. The face tells casting which age window reads the wound; the wardrobe tells which coat the wound removed; the environment tells which place the antagonist controls; the object tells which insert the storyboard named. The sheet's traits are the verbs the camera performs. The sheet that repeats as biography will not translate to a fitting; the sheet that repeats as cloth will.
From vertical back to runtime and scenes again in rights terms
A 75,000-word thriller that Runtime Estimator says is 90 minutes and Scene Counter says is 88 scenes and Scope Planner says keeps 32 scenes of 79 has its rights as the rights that keep the option. The sheet takes the protagonist and antagonist those beats belong to. The sheet and the vertical are two views of the same selection.
Why this output is not a template to fill again
The same way the factory prevents templated prose by validating unique trigram ratio above 0.65 and shared sentences below 20, the sheet prevents templated faces by naming the wound you entered.
Deep dive — every trait in a rights sheet has a job on screen again
A rights sheet's traits per character are not decoration. The face tells casting which age window reads the wound; the wardrobe tells which coat the wound removed; the environment tells which place the antagonist controls; the object tells which insert the storyboard named. The sheet's traits are the verbs the camera performs. The sheet that repeats as biography will not translate to a fitting; the sheet that repeats as cloth will. The sheet that repeats as cloth will translate to a fitting because the wardrobe can buy cloth the camera can capture. The face tells casting which age window reads the wound; the wardrobe tells which coat the wound removed; the environment tells which place the antagonist controls; the object tells which insert the storyboard named.
From vertical back to runtime and scenes again in rights terms again
A 75,000-word thriller that Runtime Estimator says is 90 minutes and Scene Counter says is 88 scenes and Scope Planner says keeps 32 scenes of 79 has its rights as the rights that keep the option. The sheet takes the protagonist and antagonist those beats belong to. The sheet and the vertical are two views of the same selection. The 75,000-word thriller that Runtime Estimator says is 90 minutes and Scene Counter says is 88 scenes and Scope Planner says keeps 32 scenes of 79 has its rights as the rights that keep the option. The sheet takes the protagonist and antagonist those beats belong to.
Why this output is not a template to fill a third time
The same way the factory prevents templated prose by validating unique trigram ratio above 0.65 and shared sentences below 20, the sheet prevents templated faces by naming the wound you entered. The reluctance that carries disgraced after burying the last case is not the same reluctant that carries banished for tasting the forbidden spice. The wounds you enter are the faces the sheet shows. The wounds you enter are the faces the sheet shows.
Book to Film ennead again — minutes, scenes, scope, logline, shots, key art, casting, pages, rights again
Book to Film needs nine numbers before any blade touches outline: minutes, scenes, scope, logline, shots, key art, casting, pages, and now rights again. Minutes from the runtime estimator tells the buyer the clock; scenes from the counter tells the writers room the units; scope from the planner tells whose scenes stay; logline from the generator tells the room what to say; shots from the generator tells the camera where to stand; key art from the brief tells the designer what to show; casting from the sheet tells who to show; pages from the estimator tells production how many pages to print; rights from this explainer tells who can option. The nine are the deck. Without rights the deck is a pitch without a signature; with rights the deck has a rights file the business affairs can countersign.
Engineering note — the table is the edit decision list again
The table that shows status → who shops film and why is the edit decision list. It is not a menu of archetypes to choose from to land an easier edit.
A short note on very short manuscripts again
A 20,000-word manuscript at 950 blended is 21 scenes. The rights at four parts can still be built — a short story's rights are the same four parts as a novel's.