Legal releases, etc...

ViolentGrace

I have a question about releases and such.


I'm working on a few different projects right now, all fiction works. Where I need some advice is on the subject of getting releases when mentioning things that actually happened in reality. See some of my characters are somewhat based on actual people I've known, I've changed things around so that everything isn't exactlly the same. However, I was wondering if anyone could explain or refer me to a site that would better explain. I'm a bit cloudy on at what point does a writer need to get a release from someone and to what point it's not needed.

I don't plan on freelanceing any of these projects and I'm not sure if as a writer you must have all your releases in order before submitting to any kind of agent.