That's so confusing. I feel so sorry for agents then.XD
Either way, the deal would be set-up by the agent, so they're ready for it.
(disclaimer: no actual knowledge about the industry--just speculation)
I wonder if it would be to a studio's advantage to snatch up the rights to something as early as possible? If you wait until the book gets popular, you'll have to compete with other studios, which will probably mean a much pricier deal.
And it's probably to an author's advantage to sell movie rights early on--even if the movie never happens, the deal alone is probably good publicity.
It depends on how much they're going to pay for the option.
In many cases, a book's rights will be bought for something like $10,000. A standard option is 10% of the purchase price. That means the author would get $1000 upfront, minus the agent/lawyer commissions. That's all the writer gets until the movie goes into production or the studio re-options in 12-18 months.
When you're talking a super-hot property, or a super-hot writer, then the purchase price can hit the stratosphere. The option may be ten percent, or more, or less. If you think of something like 50 Shades of Grey, which went for seven figures, then the studio is putting up at least 6 figures for the option. (Unless it's Stephen King, who options all his books for a single dollar.)
Gambling on an unwritten series is even trickier. The studio will want to hedge their bets, but at the same time they want to make the offer and option as attractive as possible so that the writer will accept it. (One reason you absolutely NEED an attorney for things like this.)
There's also the matter of the books. If the movie comes first, then the books are essentially tie-ins from the start. "I Am Number Four" was done this way. You also have the risk of the optioned plot not being the final novelization.
Would you write your own screenplay, or have someone else do it? Although if the screenplay writer is like a close friend that might be OK. The extent of my knowledge is Fade In. Cut To. The idea of selling a script scares me, because of how far Walter Mitty strayed from the source material.
Again, it depends. When my book was optioned, I was asked if I wanted to write the screenplay. I know how, but haven't made a serious attempt at screenwriting in years, so I told them no. But - and it's a big distinction - when you option a novel, even if you write the screenplay yourself, you're not selling the script. You're selling the film rights to an existing novel. The studio still has approval on the script, even if the author writes it.
At that point, if the project gets to production, you've got to consider things like budget, set location, technical viability, and actor requests. Take Divergent for example -- the character Kate Winslet played isn't shown very often in the novel, but she's near central to the film. She's Kate Winslet; if she signs on, you want to give her something to do, so you increase her character's visibility and importance to the plot.
Movies are very, very complex machines.
