I'm considering developing my first feature length project around a serial killer known in my country during the '70s. The guy's still alive and doing his time in prison, though he's been asking for parole as of late.
-
Anyhow, before I dove into the writing process something stopped me, a question I should have asked perhaps as soon as the subject caught my attention: legally speaking, how much am I allowed to cover in a script if it revolves around real life events?
Everything printed out on newspapers -therefore considered news/public information- should be fair game, right? But what about the personal stuff I've gotten my hands on like little bits about his childhood -gathered from interviews he's given over the years to magazines and the likes-, or memories from the murders collected from books which have been written about him?
Basically, how much can I write without infringing any copyrights or without having to ask for permission? Or how does one go about doing a film like I Love You Phillip Morris (which, from the top of my head, is a somewhat close example of what I'm trying to create here, though I wouldn't be adapting any novels)?
-
Anyhow, before I dove into the writing process something stopped me, a question I should have asked perhaps as soon as the subject caught my attention: legally speaking, how much am I allowed to cover in a script if it revolves around real life events?
Everything printed out on newspapers -therefore considered news/public information- should be fair game, right? But what about the personal stuff I've gotten my hands on like little bits about his childhood -gathered from interviews he's given over the years to magazines and the likes-, or memories from the murders collected from books which have been written about him?
Basically, how much can I write without infringing any copyrights or without having to ask for permission? Or how does one go about doing a film like I Love You Phillip Morris (which, from the top of my head, is a somewhat close example of what I'm trying to create here, though I wouldn't be adapting any novels)?
