Screenwriting : True Life Characters by Brendan Danaher

If you don't own the rights to this story or life rights, then just changing the names will not be enough. If u own rights, you don't need to change the names. If you don't own the rights, and its not an old public domain story, you will likely get sued.

I've been doing some research and it appears you don't need the rights to a deceased persons life, the story was in the public domain a year ago. Now his family members are another story.

If you are writing about real people who are still alive regardless of who they are you need to hire a lawyer.

if they are dead but have an estate, or family, you will have to go thru them.

Thanks for help guys! Gathering my life rights contracts now…even lawyers are giving me different opinions on my subjects life rights

For what it's worth, here's a response I wrote for a similar question that will be somewhat relevant to you: It's a complex topic without an easy answer. If the person is not a public figure, he will have more ground to potentially file a complaint because you're telling his story without obtaining his rights. He can say, "Hey, that's me up there on screen!" Check out this article, which may help give you some context - http://archive.fortune.com/2010/09/27/technology/Suing_The_Facebook_Effe... When you say, "To what extent do I need to get releases," well, it depends on what you're trying to do. For example, if you're trying to sell the script to a studio, the studio might say, "We freaking LOVE it. We're comfortable buying the script now and dealing with the rights later. If we move closer to greenlighting the movie, then we'll put our lawyers to work in trying to get all the rights." Or they might say, "We like it. But there's no way we're spending a cent or another second on this project until you show us that all the rights are attainable." Or they might say, "We like it. We will buy it if you change all the characters to composites whose rights we don't need to obtain." Et cetera. That's why there's no easy answer.

To my knowledge, and no disrespect to Victor, that's a dangerous idea. If the person can identify himself onscreen, and he sees that the character name is very similar to his own name, it's actually excellent ammunition for a lawsuit. "Hmmm, Brendan knew he was infringing upon my rights, so much so that he felt guilty enough to change my name slightly. That proves knowledge of wrongdoing and helps prove my grounds for suing."

Victor. That is not true. Changing their name will not help if it is obvious who the person is.

Well Dan just stated it a little more strongly than I did. Note to self - speak decisively. :-)

It's kinda like naming your Rolex knockoff "Rolox." It gives more credence to the possibility that you're ripping off the original and you know it.

Dang....looking more closely at my watch....it's a Rolox. No wonder why my wrist turned silver and gold.

Time to sell my stock in Rolox.

I discuss different scenarios in my first post above. Thanks!

Thanks for all the advice! Regina you provided me with the most insight, based on your responses do you think it isn't even something to worry about until the script is complete and I have some interest? The story was all over the news about a year ago, the lead the script is based on is deceased.

Hi Brendan, I'm afraid I've pulled something out of context. In the other post, the guy had a script already. He was wondering if he needed to get releases before sending it out (I'm not sure who he was sending it out to). I thought you were in a similar situation. I didn't realize that you don't have a script yet. I know everyone desires a clear answer, but the answer is that it depends. You've said "the story was all over the news," which means the story might be publicly known, and therefore, you might not need to clear rights at all. For example, HBO bought the book rights of GAME CHANGE, but they didn't need to get John McCain's rights, Sarah Palin's rights, etc., because the stories are publicly known. They are public figures, and the story is in the public sphere. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe FX's OJ Simpson limited series, which starts airing next week, was handled in the same way. Fox bought the book rights, but I don't think they obtained any life rights because the story, as you say, "was all over the news." When the story is "all over the news," it's publicly known, and you may not need rights. http://deadline.com/2013/03/fox-developing-shogun-remake-o-j-simpson-tri... In your case, I don't have the info, and I can't tell how I'd advise you. If I make an assumption, it could hurt your project. It might be such a close call that I wouldn't know what to do if I were in your shoes. In any case, I don't want to mislead you and put you in a bad position. I will say that when I was trying to develop a TV show inspired by a semi-public deceased man (he was in law enforcement), my partner and I obtained permission from his Estate (his surviving adult children). But it really depends on the situation. If we approached them and they refused to give us their support, we could have conceivably carried on with a "PD" (public domain) version because he was a reasonably well-known person. In either the Estate-supported version or the PD version, we would not have used his actual cases; we'd make up cases that were similar to those he investigated in real life. Because if we wanted to use his actual cases, we would have to go after a number of individual rights. Again, it depends on the situation, and I bet I was in a different sitch than you are. If your project has no value without their support, then you might as well try to get it now. However, if they're unlikely to give you their support, and still you go ask them, and they say "no," then your project is dead. You don't want it to be dead. So maybe you wait, develop your project further so you can say, "Look at what I'm doing. Look at my script or my presentation. This is why you should support my project." They might be more likely to grant permission. These are only a few examples of what could transpire. There are several permutations. This is an important decision for you, and I don't want to mislead you. I'd be BSing you and making an assumption, and we all know that assuming makes an "ass" out of "u" and "me." Rimshot.

Btw, I believe that S32 offers a webinar on life rights. I don't know if it gets specific about your situation. Maybe you can ask Joe the Education Director if the webinar is actually pertinent to you.

It also depends on your own risk tolerance. I can't name names. But there's a story in Hollywood about a producer who didn't have the rights to a comic book, sent it to Fox, got them to agree to buy it, and THEN he went and got the rights. Because Fox had money on the table, the comic book owners were very motivated to make a deal. This is a cowboy move, but it can work. It's not what I would personally do, but it has happened. I don't have the risk tolerance to go quite that rogue myself.

That's a funny story, Regina. The new Hollywood is so mellow. If he would have tried that in the 1940's or the 1950's, he probably would have ended up over one of the cliffs on Mulholland Drive.

To Victor's point, that's what makes S32 a diverse environment. People like Victor who are revolted by Hollywood can thrive in the indie content creation community, and people like me who aren't revolted by Hollywood can also participate in content.

Victor - more indie films are made in Hollywood than anywhere else, and most of the better ones are distributed by Hollywood studios. Every indie film producer in the U.S. - if not the world - probably aspires to have their indie film financed or distributed by a major studio. Your other statements are pretty exaggerated and inaccurate, too. Take a couple chill pills along with a glass of reality. When is the last time you were actually in Hollywood?

Regina, My script is close to completion, but mine also involves a deceased LEO, so my situation may not be all that different from yours.

Brendan, it's impossible for me to advise. I am producing a pilot we sold to Starz. It was inspired by a real FBI sting op. We didn't get any rights because we're doing a PD version. Starz had no issues with the PD version. For the other law enforcement project, we chose to form an official relationship with the Estate. The strategy is different in every case.