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So I started on a screenplay which I thought was an excellent idea, only to realize I lifted the premise off of a true story. I had heard this story maybe six months ago and apparently a few details stuck with me pretty well, because I developed them into the premise for a movie. I thought it sounded vaguely familiar, like it was a movie I had seen, but I couldn't put my finger on it and when I shared the idea with a few close friends no one could identify the story as part of a movie. So, now I have a story loosely "based on true events."
Obviously I have highly fictionalized everything and it goes off in a completely different direction.
I am reluctant to abandon the premise at this point, but I feel like I am facing an ethical or possibly a legal dilemma if I push forward with this.
I'm looking to see if anyone has any experience with a similar issue.
Here's an example synopsis of the problem:
As a child, the protagonist lost her father to a rare infectious disease. This loss prompts the woman to enter medical research in pursuit of the cure for the disease and leads her to public notoriety as she travels to a country with a dangerous civil war in progress.
Any thoughts?
Obviously I have highly fictionalized everything and it goes off in a completely different direction.
I am reluctant to abandon the premise at this point, but I feel like I am facing an ethical or possibly a legal dilemma if I push forward with this.
I'm looking to see if anyone has any experience with a similar issue.
Here's an example synopsis of the problem:
As a child, the protagonist lost her father to a rare infectious disease. This loss prompts the woman to enter medical research in pursuit of the cure for the disease and leads her to public notoriety as she travels to a country with a dangerous civil war in progress.
Any thoughts?
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Los Angeles
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Re: Interesting Dilemma
Wed, September 17, 2008 - 4:24 PMI am not a lawyer. This does not constitute legal advice.
Ask yourself, in your gut, if you've created an original story here. It's fine to use reality for a jumping off point ... if you really jump somewhere. If all you're doing is fictionalizing a few specific details (names, places, the specific disease) then you're treading on uncertain ground, in a way that I wouldn't do from an ethical perspective. If only the original circumstances are the same, then I think you're probably in the clear.
The other alternative is to get the required rights to actually do the real story. This might be worth investigating - "based on a true story," assuming you have all the rights in place, will help you get Hollywood's interest.
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Re: Interesting Dilemma
Thu, September 18, 2008 - 7:12 AM"Inspired by true events" can get you off practically scot-free unless you use exact names and places and stuff.
Besides, your story WILL be a little different than the things that really happened. -
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Re: Interesting Dilemma
Thu, September 18, 2008 - 8:25 AMthanks guys, I have a lawyer friend who does movie contracts and I will bounce it off him.
At first I felt a little weird about it, but now I have kind of put my conscience to rest, it really is only a few details for a jumping point, the rest is completely fictionalized and diverts away from true events.
I feel slightly less the hack this morning... ;)
Thanks again.
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Re: Interesting Dilemma
Thu, September 18, 2008 - 9:46 AM""Inspired by true events" can get you off practically scot-free unless you use exact names and places and stuff. "
This is not true.
I believe that there have been cases where people have been successfully sued despite changing names, etc. I believe - although I am not a lawyer - that the standard is if a reasonable person would conclude that you were talking about the real people in question.
Slander and libel are things you don't want to get near. Do not assume that changing names and places is anywhere close to sufficient. -
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Re: Interesting Dilemma
Thu, September 18, 2008 - 3:07 PM"I believe that there have been cases where people have been successfully sued despite changing names, etc. I believe - although I am not a lawyer - that the standard is if a reasonable person would conclude that you were talking about the real people in question. "
Well, if you're talking about a CIVIL suit, I could sue you for superflous use of the letter "e." Civil suits can be about ANYTHING and sometimes they get through, even if they're very silly.
Any decent layer will tell you that most anybody can sue anybody for any reason at all. It's a very handy tool. When you're basing work on some sort of real story ("ripped from the headlines!"), anyone involved in it could possibly sue you. A decent lawyer will help you figure out how to MINIMIZE your risk, but they will be pretty straightforward that, if someone is sue-happy, you just can't do much.
The thing the original poster needs to do is take a hard look at WHAT'S actionable in their script. Is it one of the situations? A name? The unique resolution? If you're writing, for example, a story about some idiot governor in a boondock state being offered a ticket to ride all the way to the Presidency, then there might be folks who take exception to that. Even if you're talking about a male Hawaiian governor. Maybe if he weren't a moose-hunter...
These are the things one speaks with a lawyer about, but one had best be very aware of what possible liabilities exist BEFORE talking with a lawyer. Two people you should never lie to and should always be forthcoming with is your doctor and your lawyer. -
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Re: Interesting Dilemma
Thu, September 18, 2008 - 10:50 PMI'm familiar with this kind of issue.
What I have read about it, is that if you have gleaned the story from public sources (news and the like) then you can absolutely tell your own version of it, since the people involved are "public figures," and their story is "public knowledge." Oliver Stone has not paid a dime to George W. Bush to tell his story, since so many details of the man's life are public.
If, instead, you wanted to do a story based either on a published biographical account, or an inside story told to you by one of the participants of an event, those are the cases where you need to pay somebody to acquire the rights.
This is the nutshell version. Some research will get you further details. If you have any doubt, talk to a lawyer.
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Re: Interesting Dilemma
Mon, September 22, 2008 - 5:42 PMso far my problem has been writing fiction and then seeing it onscreen the following month...
