After a treatment has been written or a pilot has been created, the company that now owns the character can decide it does not want to do anything further with it. It has the right to make this decision because it owns all the rights to the character and can either do or not do anything it wants with it. This can be a very disappointing time for an animator who is attached to his character and wants to see it developed further. However, all is not lost. An animator who has sold all of his rights in his character to a company can offer to purchase it back.
Negotiations begin with the company determining a buyback purchase price for the character.
It is important that the animator be represented by an entertainment attorney during this process because it can be quite complicated. In addition to the character, the animator wants to buy back any material created during the time of the agreement which can include any treatments or pilots. It is important for both the animator and his attorney to review all of the projects that have been worked on utilizing the character during the time of the original purchase agreement. The contract can be in place for a number of years and it is easy to forget what material has been created using the character during the time of the agreement. Most companies determine the price for the buy-back of a character by adding together all of the money spent on the character.