Rewrite/Copyright Question

That's a pretty involved question, one that I'm not qualified to answer. My gut feeling is that, yes, you'd have to deal with whoever owns the copyright in order to use the work.

As far as I know, titles can't be copyrighted, and neither can character names, but they can both be trademarked? And there ends my knowledge of the subject.

So while we're waiting for someone in the know, welcome to the forums.

If you haven't already, do a Google search on:

"It's A Wonderful Life" copyright

...including the double quotes.

-Derek

This is a tricky one and you should talk to an experienced entertainment lawyer about it.

The film fell out of copyright and was mistakingly not renewed, so technically the film is in public domain.

However, the elements that make up the film that were copyrighted and renewed are protected and it can be said and argued that the sum of the elements create the whole. In other words, It's a Wonderfull Life" is in copyright because the score, script, and even art is copyrighted still.

And in your case of adapting the story and characters, the screenplay written by Capra is probably still in copyright and the story it was based on, The Greatest Gift, by Philip Van Doren Stern may still be is copyright too.

So my gut reaction would be no.

You cannot adapt It's a Wonderful Life, without the possibility of "It's a Wonderful law suit.
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