11.
Sublicenses.
Pass-Through of Publisher's Obligations.
Publisher agrees to pass through all applicable obligations and agreements under this Agreement to any third party to whom Publisher issues a sublicense of any rights granted hereunder. Publisher will provide Author with copies of all sublicenses in excess of $500 granted by the Publisher to third parties promptly after execution.
Excerpts and Summaries for Performance Rights.
If Author has retained and disposes of performance rights, Publisher shall execute a written release to Author to provide to the purchaser of the rights; and Publisher shall grant the purchaser of those rights the privilege to publish excerpts and summaries of the Work in the aggregate not to exceed 7,500 words [or 10% of the total Work, whichever is less]—for advertising, publicizing, and promoting such rights and not for resale. Author will use commercially reasonable efforts to secure the agreement of the purchaser of performance rights to grant Publisher the right to use photographic stills and the title of the performance in connection with any tie-in edition of the Work in any format.
If the author sells the film, television, or theatrical performance rights to a third party, the producers of that work may want to use a summary of the work for marketing purposes. If you are in negotiations for performance rights or think you will be selling them, it is a good idea to obtain an agreement from the publisher that it will allow the purchaser of those rights to publish excerpts and summaries of the book. That way you do not have to go back to the publisher later to secure those rights. As a compromise, the author can agree to use "reasonable best efforts" (do not agree to "best efforts" as it has been interpreted by some courts to essentially mean that you "will succeed") to require the purchaser of performance rights to allow the publisher to use photographic stills for any tie-in edition of the book.
The publisher also should agree to execute and provide a standard release for the production company. Such a release can be attached to the agreement. (See Appendices).
The publisher should provide the author with copies of any sublicenses it issues. It is important that the publisher require all of its sublicensees to comply with all of the publisher's applicable obligations and conditions under its agreement with the author. This should include the author's termination rights, reversion rights, accounting and audit rights, as well as remainder provisions and right to free author copies.