Who do we know that is/has a screenwriting agent that specializes in Intellectual Property? I wrote a feature screenplay that combines two franchises, one is a movie series and the other is a comic book series. If there's already a thread on this, I'm more than happy to delete my post.
Screenwriting : Intellectual Property by Jonathan Millett
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Do you have the rights to those props? If not, the project is already DOA
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If you know whom owns the IP/franchises, you contact them for permission. If they do not reply or say “no” then you cannot move forward with this.
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Jonathan Millett Agents don't deal with optioning IP. Producers do. Sometimes writers if they can get it at a low cost. Usually, someone would dig up who owns the copyright and contact them to see what their option fees and licensing rates look like. If it's a book (or comic book), it's best to speak with the publisher's licensing department first. If the author is self published, you would have to figure out how to contact them about optioning the book(s). If a movie, it would likely be the producers or director or a licensing broker.
You would have to pay for the options first or convince a producer to do it. No one will read your script or pitch if you don't have the rights to the material. The option rates would depend on the popularity of the material and the author.
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"You should never write a screenplay based on material you don't have the rights to." I agree, Dan Guardino. Unlike it's practice or for fun.
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That's not how it works. Because studios own the intellectual property, you can't legally use it in your screenplay. So there's no going to be a lawyer who can help you with this. How it works: Let's say Warner Bros wants to make a DIRTY HARRY prequel to reboot the series. They don't look for people who have written spec Dirty Harry scripts - those scripts are illegal. They didn't have the rights to write those scripts. What they do is read a bunch of original screenplays by writers. plus look at established screenwriters who they think might be a good fit, and they set up meetings with all of these writers and "audition" them. "What would you do with a Dirty Harry prequel?" They pick the one they like, and hire them to write the script. Because they own the intellectual property, they are the only one who can commission a script. So Brian Helgelund or Scott Frank gets the job, writes the script, and the other one does the rewrites. The best way to get an audition meeting is to write a bunch of amazing original screenplays with amazing original characters.