I have a story of interest that I discovered in a news report. It is based on true events, and I know how that can be when involving real life people, events etc. Could anyone share advice, particarly speaking to the legal aspect of it. Would it be best to get a clearance, rights etc. and or create a fictional story loosley based around it?
Producing : Producing True Story & Legal Parameters by B. Elaine Dorsey
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It may be smart to acquire some underlying property. This could take the form of a contract with the person whose events were reported, or an agreement to purchase film rights to an article reporting them. One reason is that people have privacy and publicity rights and might also have valuable background info and relationships that could be important to a screenplay. Another is that if the story is really newsworthy, other producers will probably try to tie up the rights. But facts are in the public domain, so it is not absolutely necessary to acquire life story rights to write a script based on a real person and real events.
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I second Dane Johnson on buying the rights to the article as an avenue to explore. I used to work at Storied Media Group who reps many publications and broker deals to sell the rights to the publications' articles. It can be expensive if you're working with a big publication company, but find a less-read paper/magazine with a compelling article and you might find a reasonable rights deal.
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Great question. I recommend checking out this on demand webinar to help https://www.stage32.com/webinars/Securing-a-Life-Rights-Deal
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B. Elaine Dorsey It's a bit of a minefield, dependent on the particulars of course. As Dane Johnson points out, it may be smart to acquire some underlying property - if there is one. This is sometimes done in the case of biographies, and real life events as a kind of potential defense you construct in advance. Because the details have been published already. Even if you don't use the details of the property you acquire, if it deals with the same subject matter, you may develop it as you see fit. That does assume though that the author/owner of that property has cleared the rights themselves and/or the details are in public domain already. On the other hand, you need to be careful about depicting living people. Depending on your treatment, you could be seen as trading on their name/personality, or as libeling them.
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Thanks everyone!! Dane Johnson All great info! It sounds like some form of rights would be beneficial. The subject did interviews last year with several news reporters including Good morning America! I’m sure we could possibly choose any news article to option and build a story from there but I think it’s wise to at least reach out to the subject as well. Even if it’s just for factual information correct?