I've written a lot of screenplays and haven't gotten around to copyrighting them yet... I'm going to be showing them to some people and figured I might as well go for it, what's the harm... the few questions I have are:

1) When copyrighting, is it best to register your title under a "working title?" As you can't protect the title of your work, why should it float around waiting to be snatched up.

2) Some of my characters are based on actual people, one film in particular can be considered a biography (of a non-famous person)... what are the limitations here? Not just for copyrighting but for the film in general, how much of a living, non-famous person, can I use without getting into legal trouble?

2a) And if there are legalities to maneuver around, what would I have to do in order to be "legally efficient" when depicting non-famous human beings in a film?


Thank you all...

Peace.

Check out the WGA's websites, there's a wealth of information there regarding story and script copyrights.

quote:

how much of a living, non-famous person, can I use without getting into legal trouble?

I dont know anything but i know that if you just filmed this person you would have to get their signature somewhere, "i am involved in this picture that is me, signed ____"

thats pretty much that, as far as if you have a script. most of the best "items" of art out there are drawn from an indiividual's hand. if "said famous person" isnt aware of their "greatness" to be a movie story, than by all means write a love story for them.

to keep it even MORE simple, think of 75% of television; its people talking crap about other people. sketch shows & parodies. you dont see an end to George w. Bush/whomever jokes, no ones getting in trouble for that...

so i dont think really . no one will care about your script's truth

library of congress site has all this stuff too

I wrote a script last spring for a Stark Special Project based on true "non-famous" events, and the producer had to get a release from the people in question.

It was her mother, aunt, and grandfather.

If USC made her do it, I suppose there's some sort of legal ramifications...should the subjects choose to pursue it.

You can parody anything without any consent I'm pretty sure. You can definately parody people in the public eye no problem- which is why so many people make fun of George Bush, popular films and **** like that on SNL. Copyright laws, for some reason, say OK to satire and parody, but with everything else you'll need consent.

Then again, Richard Linklater had all types of lawsuits thrown at him by former classmates after he made Dazed and Confused. None of them stuck. Hope your movie is as successful as his.

just call your movie a satire/parody instead of a drama/story

re the based on real people q if these are ppl who you know and are non famous it shud be an easy matter of asking them to sign some kinda release form

As far as I know one automatically receives copyrights over his or her work. No registration is needed.