I have an interesting story to share. So a big writer sold a show years ago about someone that does a horrible thing and how that sets off a series for following this bad lead getting away with her evil doings. Sorry I have to be so evasive. It's still in active development and could get made and their could be lawsuits. Anyway. The writers changed the names and location and added a fictional aspect to the lead (the badie) and the script was well received and ended up selling. When the writer's agents wanting to do the deal the lawyers also asked the studio to "indemnify the writer and the producers." This means if the person it was loosely based wanted to sue for defamation that the studio would cover the legal fees. Mind you everything was changed to protect the identity of the person it was ever so slightly depicting. The point is this person sued and all the legal fees were covered but the shows still hasn't been made because of this. Even though they are indemnified. Studios won't take on the legal hassle. Now if it's a show like WINNING TIME on HBO (great show), which is about the LA Lakers in the early 80s and depicts not to nice things about the stars of that time and their activities off the court, studios and networks will take the hit because it's so topical and widely known and all they need to do is put a disclaimer at the end that says "aspects of the story have been changed for creative purposes." HBO is facing many law suits on that show but they are fighting them because it is based on previously published material. But it is always tricky to get real things made even if the subject matter is about someone that did nasty deeds. Also, this writer thought she could get away with doing it anonymously. But when it comes to doing a deal you need to sign what's called a certificate of authorship which legally states you wrote it. So the law often outweighs the creative and sadly you have to keep that in mind when writing about thing. Even when they are in the public domain.
Screenwriting : Here's an interesting story from inside Hollywood worth sharing... by Ilan Breil
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Interesting. I always figured the bigger law firms win. At least the writer got paid for script. Many pilots never get to camera and even when pilots are shot, that still doesn't guarantee a full season. My guy worked on NY Undercover reboot. The network spent a lot of $ on pilot and it never aired.