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- Filmmakers enter into Life Story Rights agreements because they are the easiest way to transfer ownership of the rights to a life story. Traditionally, filmmakers have approached families and individuals directly to negotiate for the use of a life story.
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Nov 10, 2022 · Why are Life Story Rights agreements used? Filmmakers enter into Life Story Rights agreements because they are the easiest way to transfer ownership of the rights to a life story. Traditionally, filmmakers have approached families and individuals directly to negotiate for the use of a life story.
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Dec 1, 2020 · Even though, strictly speaking, life story rights aren’t actually rights at all, there are essentially five reasons why producers should enter into a life story rights agreement: release/waiver, access, cooperation, exclusivity, and E&O Insurance. We’ll discuss each of those reasons in further detail below.
May 24, 2022 · why do you need to purchase life rights? If you are the one trying to tell a story, a life rights agreement decreases the possibility of a lawsuit in connection with your project. When a person signs a life rights agreement, he gives a writer, filmmaker, studio or producer permission to tell his story and promises that he will not sue for ...
- Scope of Rights
- Archival Material
- Level of Cooperation
- Geographic Location
- Timeframe
- Consideration
- Fictionalization
Will the film cover your subject’s entire life (like Amadeus)? Will it cover a defining period of her life (like The Social Network)? Or will it jump around to specific events (like Steve Jobs)? Before you start writing, you and your subject need to hammer out what parts of her life are up for grabs, artistically speaking, and what parts are off li...
Sometimes writers and producers want access to archival material the subject owns (or owned), such as photographs, videos, diary entries, etc. While these things tend to get used more in documentaries, they can still provide valuable insights for a script writer. If your subject or her estate possesses these, the agreement should specify whether yo...
Is your subject going to co-write the script with you, or will she simply be a rubber stamp to anything you write? How involved she’ll be in the writing process is something you want to agree on early, preferably before you start writing. This will prevent confusion and antipathy later on. If the subject is alive, you also want to get in writing ho...
Even if you and your subject are based in the United States, what happens if you get a French or German production company interested in your script? Determining whether your grant of rights is focused only in the U.S. or is applicable worldwide is worth discussing.
How long will you have the rights? Will you have them in perpetuity or will the subject only grant you the rights for a certain period of time? Most of the time, writers and producers don’t acquire life rights for an indefinite period. They usually have a fixed timeframe in which to exercise their option on the rights (i.e. get a movie made). When ...
“Consideration” is legalese for compensation. For a contract to be valid, the parties need to exchange something of value. Usually it’s money, but it can be anything, really: stock, services, tangible or intangible assets. Even something as innocuous as promising to help get a movie made can be sufficient to meet this requirement. That said, compen...
Since life doesn’t play out in a simple three-act structure with convenient plot points and a tidy resolution, many biopics will fictionalize events and characters. How much of that will your subject permit? Obviously, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but it gives you a sense of what kinds of things you want to cover. Even outside the scope of your a...
Mar 24, 2008 · If subjects sign over their life-story rights to documentary filmmakers, the filmmakers can turn around and option the rights to a studio, and the rights will revert back to the filmmakers if the studio doesn't move forward with the project after a certain period of time.
Aug 11, 2023 · These rights ensure that you have the legal permission to adapt someone’s personal story, offering protection against potential defamation or invasion of privacy claims. But what are life rights, exactly? At their core, life rights grant filmmakers the permission to use an individual’s story, likeness, and, in some cases, personal insights ...
Nov 12, 2013 · What are “Life Rights”? Simply put, any contract for Life Rights boils down at its core to an agreement not to sue. A savvy lawyer will include an impetus to discourage others from pursuing the same story (e.g. exclusivity).
