Writing about a real person

Is the person you are writing about famous? If yes, find out if there is an organisation looking after their legacy etc

I'm guessing that their work would now be public domain anyway so by extension, I would say you should be able to write about them without obtaining rights.

However, to make sure you don't upset anybody or land yourself a lawsuit for defamation, I would still try to get approval from family if I were you. Did that person have nephews/nieces who had children etc?

Monaco said:

Thanks, NatJM. This person didn't have any works and the story would be simply based on her life. If the story isn't going to defame her, do I still need a permission?

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The legal maxim is that one cannot defame the dead. I can write a movie about Edison and pretty much say anything I want about him without worrying about it.

A defamation lawsuit has to be brought by the person who has been defamed (or by a legal representative).

I think that the answer to your question lies in the question itself.

Who in the world would you go to to get permission?

If the person in question is dead, and has left no living descendants, it would seem to me that no one remains who has any valid interest (in a legal sense) in her "life rights."

I suppose -- and this is advice that I always give -- a newsgroup is never a place that one should go for legal advice. That's what lawyers are for and before you make the commitment to devote all of the time and effort to writing an entire screenplay, it might actually be worth the time to talk to a lawyer who knows something about intellectual property rights and get this issue clear.

Even if you have the right to do it, it will no doubt come up again when and if you sell it, since, if it is based on a real story, the contract itself will have to be phrased a little bit differently.

NMS

True, you cannot defame the dead; those rights expire with the individual, as does the right to privacy. But there is a third right here, which is publicity, or the right to profit from a person's story or identity. This descends as a property right on the estate and heirs. 99% of the time there is no problem, and you can go ahead with your project. But there are times when the creator can be exposed. Most of the well-known cases, like the company that showed Fred Astaire dancing with a mop or vacuum a few years after he died or the t-shirt company that sold a shirt with the Three Stooges on it, were strictly for commercial profit and therefore unprotected. They lost the lawsuits involved.

In general, I'd say go ahead, but know there is a slight risk there.

As Lorelei points out, there is 'the right to publicity' to consider. And those laws actually vary from state to state, with California, New York and Tennessee currently having the toughest statutes.

Why those three states?

Elvis and Marylin Monroe.


But again, these are famous personalitites with vast commercial enterprises at stake. Best thing to do is discuss it with an attorney.