I've been working on an ambitious biopic for a famous American author. Went to the Great American Pitch Fest hoping to pitch it and got the expected question, do you have permission? The answer was, sadly no... Then I went and sent the dreaded letter asking for the rights to shop it, and lo-and-behold, got permission from the estate. New place, good place. Anyone been at this juncture? They want to see the script (permission contingent on that script being quality and accurate, which it is) which will be ready in 3-4 weeks. I'd like to capitalize on the moment as best as possible and not sure what the unique perils of life adaptations might become.
Screenwriting : New Place/Good Place by Erick Mertz
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Good move of faith.
It's fantastic you got permission so readily. My advice: be open and flexible when they inevitably come back to you with their notes and concerns. Best of luck!
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Hi Erick, if it's a biopic of a deceased person, there are no "life rights" because the person is deceased. You may or may not need or want any agreement with the Estate. If you are asking the Estate to consult with you, then you need them. If the Estate is litigious, then you probably need them. If you do in fact need the Estate's approval, then I suggest first speaking to them and learning how much flexibility you have to tell the story. Do they expect a hagiography? Do they realize that you may be taking creative liberties? Etc. Once you know 1) if you really need them, and 2) how much creative license they will allow, then you can write to that and manage everyone's expectations.
Regina I pursued the estate because I wanted to tell the author's life in a script that integrated some of his famous (yet unproduced) work. There have been numerous debates on what is in, and what is out of the public domain, so I wanted to be sure. My letter said it was based on letters, biographies and other sources and that in part I wanted to lend legitimacy to my pitch by taking their blessing to the table. That said, I pitched this project (in its last draft) at GAPF and all of the interest was tempered by requests for rights. Erick
It's good to purchase the rights from the estate for several reasons. 1. It's nice to have the estate on-board and supporting your project, and you might even receive from them access to some original source material or receive intimate insights previously unknown to you regarding your subject. 2. You don't want them potentially competing against your project, if they decide to pursue such avenues with someone else. Their project could them conceivably become the more "authoritative" project on this subject matter and the more desireable project to producers and studios, since they're insiders and you're an outsider. 3. If your project has some negative content about living people, they could sue you for defamation (but the estate can't sue for any negative revelations about someone who is deceased). 4. Producers who are potentially interested in your project may expect you to have those rights secured already, and especially because of reason number 2. That's probably why you experienced the pushback that you received. 5. It is very difficult to get an Option Agreement, Shopping Agreement, or Purchase Offer without those rights in place, and you've already experienced that. That type of legal agreement, like most types of legal agreements, has quite a few terms, particularly in the area of the extent of rights granted; durations; and in the transfer of the assignment of those rights to the producer, studio or whomever would be financing the deal. You should consult with a reputable entertainment lawyer in order to have everything properly covered and to have your own interests protected. Congrats on getting the estate to give you the preliminary consent on such an endeavor. Good luck with the rest!
Hey Erick, this may not totally apply to your sitch. In my experience there is often a debate as to whether a filmmaker wants to do the "public domain" version or the "rights-based" version. This is an extreme example, but HBO bought the media rights of the book Game Change, and they obviously did not need/buy Sarah Palin's rights. She would never have approved a movie characterizing her in the way that she was portrayed. Same with The Social Network. Sony bought the Ben Mezrich book, but they did not need/buy Mark Zuckerberg's rights. When I helped supervise the movie Seabiscuit at Universal, we bought the book rights, but we did not need to seek rights of the various deceased characters. Given what Erick has told us, it does seem to me that he is better off with either rights or a consulting deal with the Estate. I can't say that for sure, as it depends on how he wants to portray the person, if the unpublished work is public knowledge, etc. If he wants to be critical of the person or if he wants to take a lot of creative license, he may be better off embarking upon the "PD" version or the "First Amendment" version without wedding himself to the Estate and having to get their approval for his story choices, as they may not approve of a critical version. A lot of producers and agents don't quite understand how to draw the line; they assume you need the rights when you don't always need the rights. I know this because I have an actor friend (this actor has been in Tony-nominated plays) who consulted his agents (at one of the top 8 Hollywood/NY talent agencies) about a similar situation, and they gave him some questionable advice which I knew to be incorrect because I went through it on Seabiscuit. If in a tricky situation, I would ask my attorney before committing, and I would advise my friends to also ask their attorneys before committing.
Btw, Erick, I would advise you not to post your decision in public as rights conversations can get tricky. The rights owners may read your comments and get upset.
I'm speaking to Erick's OP. The "unique perils" are getting the Estate to sign off on how you want to tell the story, which may be critical. If you want to go critical or just take creative license and move away from the "facts," and if you believe the Estate wouldn't approve of that version, can you do a PD version? If you think you want to be critical or do a version that the Estate wouldn't support, you should ask an attorney about the PD version before speaking to the Estate and raising their guard. None of us know what your take is, whether it's critical, laudatory, etc. So we can't totally advise you. Again, I encourage you to keep it off the boards, in case the Estate reads these posts!
Great insights, Regina.
It's now been 4 weeks. Any update Erick?
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Update is this. Screenplay is on its third re-write, which it really needed. We're going to discuss the project at some point in August, so I remain optimistic.