How Do You Write Something Like "Wicked" and Avoid Trouble?

The guy who wrote the Wicked books had them ready to go the day The Wizard of Oz went into the public domain.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was written by Roald Dahl, who died in 1990. He hasn't been dead near long enough for his books to be in the public domain. Plus, the book is *wildly* different from the movie. One is protected by copyright, the other has the visuals trademarked. (Like Dorothy's slippers being silver vs. ruby red in the book vs. the movie.)

If you feel strongly enough about your proposal and your writing skills, you might contact the current rights-holders for permission, though I'd suggest having a lawyer and/or agent on hand beforehand. (Who knows - they might say yes!)

Also, IIRC, the difference between the film version and the book version is very important to keep in mind; just because the book is in public domain doesn't mean the film is. And film studios have large stables of lawyers with very sharp teeth... Getting clearance from the book rights-holders won't do much to protect you from those sharp-teethed studio lawyers, who might decide to try taking a bite anyway even if you're relying on the book and not their property. They don't have to be right to bankrupt you proving them wrong. (Which is another reason to have an experienced lawyer on tap if you mean to go ahead with this project, even with the blessing of the book rights-holders.)

Cyia said:

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was written by Roald Dahl, who died in 1990. He hasn't been dead near long enough for his books to be in the public domain. Plus, the book is *wildly* different from the movie. One is protected by copyright, the other has the visuals trademarked. (Like Dorothy's slippers being silver vs. ruby red in the book vs. the movie.)

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I didn't think Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was by Roald Dahl. Looked it up...it's by Ian Fleming, who died in 1964.

I had that at first, and thought I'd remembered wrong. I looked it up and saw Dahl's name attached. Maybe one did the book and one did the movie?

Taylor Harbin said:

"Wicked" was based on characters from a copyrighted book/film, "The Wizard of Oz.".

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They were based on L. Frank Baum's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which has long been in public domain.

caw

Cyia said:

I had that at first, and thought I'd remembered wrong. I looked it up and saw Dahl's name attached. Maybe one did the book and one did the movie?

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Yup. From what I heard it was actually quite sad... Fleming wrote the book for his son, who always felt like he came second fiddle to Mr. Bond in his father's attentions. It was based on a story he used to tell his son to get him to sleep. But Fleming died of a heart attack before the book was published. And his son later committed suicide. Makes me feel sad when I watch the movie.

The movie was released a few years after Fleming died, iirc.

Change the characters and tweak the location. If you write it in your own style with your own characters it won't be the same and there are no copyright issues.

For example I have a helter skelter slide inside a tree ask the older generation and I get the "Faraway Tree" but for people of my age in the UK there is "Jamie and the Magic Torch".

Cyia said:

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was written by Roald Dahl, who died in 1990. He hasn't been dead near long enough for his books to be in the public domain.

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LJD said:

I didn't think Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was by Roald Dahl. Looked it up...it's by Ian Fleming, who died in 1964.

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Cyia said:

I had that at first, and thought I'd remembered wrong. I looked it up and saw Dahl's name attached. Maybe one did the book and one did the movie?

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Yes, I think Fleming wrote the book and Dahl penned the script. Either way, neither is in the public domain - you'd need permission from at least one and probably both rights holders to use it. But bear in mind:

Brightdreamer said:

film studios have large stables of lawyers with very sharp teeth... Getting clearance from the book rights-holders won't do much to protect you from those sharp-teethed studio lawyers, who might decide to try taking a bite anyway even if you're relying on the book and not their property. They don't have to be right to bankrupt you proving them wrong. (Which is another reason to have an experienced lawyer on tap if you mean to go ahead with this project, even with the blessing of the book rights-holders.)

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I think this is completely prohibitive, in all honesty. You're talking about using the creative work of an author whose works are still earning scads of money for his estate, and have been adapted into films which are also still making scads of money (both Bond and Chitty were produced by Albert R Broccoli, and those rights are probably locked up like fort Knox). If you think you're the first person who wants to use the characters for your own story, think again. And if you want to try to acquire the rights... you'd better have a guaranteed commercial success on your hands, and a very good lawyer.

Sorry, voice of doom and gloom and all, but commercially publishing fiction based on anything still in copyright is a non starter for a reason. It's why we have fanfiction.

There's an interesting post on Query Shark dealing with a manuscript about the Gilligan's Island crew, and the legalities of this.

Marian Perera said:

There's an interesting post on Query Shark dealing with a manuscript about the Gilligan's Island crew, and the legalities of this.

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I was actually thinking of that blog post when I replied

Yeah, just because you can't use the names, though, doesn't mean you can't write the story. Change the names, but keep the ideas. The idea of a flying sentient car isn't copywrited. Just call it something else and make it your own.

I do something like this when I retell fairy tales. Hansel and Gretel being abandoned in the woods because their parents couldn't afford to feed them said Great Depression to me, so that's where I set it. And then I looked for things that didn't make sense to me in the original tale and rewrote the thing until they did. I ended up killing the father, not the mother, because it made a better story. If you change the time and the setting, by the time you're done, probably quite a lot will be different, and lawyers won't need to be one of your worries.

I was scrunching my face up, because I thought the novel Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was written by Ian Fleming (I checked and it was). However, the land of Vulgaria was featured in the 1968 film (which Roald Dahl was indeed involved in the writing of) but not in the novel. The movie actually had almost no plot points in common with the book.

I'm thinking that it might be possible to create a similar sort of whimsical quasi-Bavarian land with a buffoon for a king but to change its name and the names of its characters? But otherwise, you'd have to buy the rights, as both movie and book will be in copyright for quite a long time.