Based on a true story...sorta

April 17, 2009 11:20 AM

Screenplay filter: Legal ramifications regarding "based on a true story" or "ripped from the headlines" films.

I've got a few publishing credits under my belt (non-fiction books, some reference, some trivia-related), but I'm itching to combine two of my personal guilty pleasures - true crime and Lifetime-style movies - in an effort to branch out into screenplay writing. I grew up watching the various network "Movies of the Week", and Lifetime original movies have helped to fill that "ripped from the headlines" void in recent years. I've got a couple of crime stories I'm working on in this regard, but I'm wondering if, even if I change the names of the victims and the location, do I need to get any sort of special permissions before submitting the screenplay? For example, if I was presenting the story of the Texas Yogurt Shop Murders, and I changed the locale to an ice cream store in a different state and used different names for the victims and perps, could I still A) present it as "based on a true story" and B) not be sued by the families of the actual victims for using their story without permission? (This point is probably iffy in any situation, considering the litigious climate in the US.)

Perhaps this all boils down to how much can you change a story in order to prevent charges of plagiarism or exploitation, while still selling it as a "true story"? What if I use several intricate details of a scenario that only the actual person involved would know? For example, can I use the description of an airline hijacking given by a survivor who recounted their story in an interview if put it in my own words and change the names/places? There must be some sort of industry standard, since so many TV films are based on true stories, but I don't know what, if any, permissions are necessary, or how much attribution must be given when submitting the screenplay, etc. (I know that if I get a "bite" once I submit a screenplay I'll need to lawyer up, but I want to sort of be informed a bit in advance as much as possible.)

posted by Oriole Adams to media & arts (4 comments total)

IANAL/IANYL and all that stuff, but I've seen the intimate details and discovery process of maybe a dozen lawsuits over the IP of screenplays. As such, I would proceed with all due caution working with a story in any commerical or potentially commercial capacity if you don't own the rights. I would work very hard to obscure the fact that this actually happened, or I would go to the party involved and ask for an agreement of the no-money-down/speculative variety. Lot's of screenwriters do that, even the ones who don't have much to lose; it's generally seen as a professional thing to do.

I think what you need to understand is that lawsuits (legitimate and not) against motion picture properties are very, very, very common. It's not about plagiarism or exploitation, it's about money and intellectual property. Changing the names and location of a true event and then saying it's "based on a true story" is *exactly* the kind of thing that gets you (and whoever you're in business with" sued, the cost of which may be your reputation as as professional screenwriter.

When I was working in development and occasionally looked at screenplays from nonpros there were two things I always wanted to know. The first was whether the screenplay was registered with the WGA and the second was, if it was based in any way on historical or personal circumstances, to see proof of all rights and releases. Then I would have the writer sign a release form themselves that indemnified me and my employer by saying that they were the sole party who owned the property, yada, yada, yada. That was before I would even look at it. Put another way, the reason that professional motion picture development people don't look at material from amateur screenwriters is, yes, it's usually not good, but more importantly they have a tendency to be lawsuit bait.
posted by mrmojoflying at 11:48 AM on April 17, 2009

IANAL, et al, but the media plays very free and flexible with the "based on a true story" tagline; the film Fargo is a notorious example in the flexible use of the "true story" claim; I seem to recall several films claiming to be 'true stories' that are based on rather obvious urban legends, and the legal/police procedurals live off of the "ripped from today's headlines" crimes, but are largely made-up storylines with a feature similar to something that happened recently in the news. If you remotely kinda know about a guy who's cousin said it might have happened to their friend, you're probably justified in the "based on a true story" tagline. Getting too true, however, and you're going to run into problems mrmojoflying talks about - no matter what you do, you may be playing with fire to risk it if the storyline is so good as to be recognizeable to the people involved, because they'll lawyer up pretty quick.
posted by AzraelBrown at 3:07 PM on April 17, 2009

If this is your first screenplay, my advice would be to just write it and not worry about any of this, as it's extremely extremely unlikely that it will ever sell or get made, even straight to TV.

John August has a great blog post about this.

As a writing sample, you'll have a hard enough time getting it read in the first place, as mrmojoflying notes above.

It's not all too uncommon for a production company to try to acquire the rights to a real life story and if unsuccessful attempt to make the movie anyway without using any of the character or place names involved. We are currently doing this at the major motion picture company I work for (or "work" for, since I'm currently typing this at my desk). Of course, we have several lawyers on staff and many others on contract to work out all the details.

Write it first and worry about this after.
posted by hamsterdam at 3:33 PM on April 17, 2009

As a writing sample, you'll have a hard enough time getting it read in the first place, as mrmojoflying notes above.

I have an agent, and some WGA friends/mentors, and I would register my treatment before I submitted it. I'm not particularly worried about getting it read. I just wanted to have some foreknowledge about the basic "based on a true story" rules. Do I alert them ahead of time that said story is based on such-and-such plane hijacking, or do I simply submit it as an original story? If I give the details as to the original crime, do I need, as Mr. Mojo said, "proof of all rights and releases"? Perhaps I can better illustrate my question by comparing the film The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story versus The Delta Force. The Delta Force film was obviously based on the same hijacking as the Uli Derickson film, but the names were changed, etc. Did the writers/producers of the Delta Force film have to get rights and releases from someone who'd survived the TWA 847 hijacking? Or did they simply base their story on the newspaper/wire story interviews of folks invovled, meaning that the information was in the public domain?
posted by Oriole Adams at 2:21 PM on April 18, 2009