Understanding Separated Rights
What are Separated Rights?
Separated Rights are a group of rights that the WGA Theatrical and Television Basic Agreement ("MBA") provides to writers of original material.1 They are derived from Copyright, which is a bundle of rights.
The WGA negotiated for certain of the copyright rights to be separated out and conveyed instead to the writer. These are the Separated Rights, which are described below. The specific rights differ for television and for theatrical motion pictures.
1 These rights apply to original material written under WGA jurisdiction. WGA jurisdiction includes all employment by a signatory Company for writing services and options and/or sales of literary material to a signatory Company by "professional writers" as that term is defined in the MBA. The MBA generally defines a "professional writer" as a person who has received employment for a total of thirteen weeks as a television or theatrical motion picture writer; or received credit as a writer on a television or theatrical motion picture; or received credit for a professionally produced play or a published novel. A person may also negotiate with the Company to be treated as a "professional writer" if s/he does not meet the MBA criteria. Please call the Contracts Department if you have any questions.