# Copyrights and movie scripts
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 2, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154 "2012-01-02T17:03:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/1 "2012-01-02T17:03:22Z")
A few questions on the concept.
Suppose I write an original movie script and it’s good enough for some studio to want to make into a movie. Does the studio buy the rights to the script or do they just buy the right to make a movie from my script? In other words, suppose there’s talk of a remake twenty years later: do the people looking to make a remake come to me or to the studio that made the first movie?
I assume that the studio making the movie has some degree of exclusivity. They wouldn’t want to buy the rights to make a movie from my script and then have me turn around and sell the script to another studio six months later so the second studio can make a cheap direct-to-video version before the big studio can release their version on DVD.
What about foreign versions. If I sell my script to an American studio can I also then sell it to a Japanese studio, for example, so they can make a translated version with an all-Japanese cast?
Second group of questions. What are the rules on scripts that are adaptations of other works. My understanding is that you can only copyright specific arrangements of words not general ideas. Obviously my movie script is going to be a different arrangement of words than a novel would be.
My understanding is that you also can’t copyright titles and names. So what would keep me from using the title and character names from a popular novel in my movie script?
---
### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/2 "2012-01-02T17:17:20Z")
Movies work with contracts called options. An option buys the exclusive rights to make a movie out of your book. The company has to make the movie within a set number of years stated in the option or else the rights revert back to you. If the movie is made, the movie company owns just about everything connected to the movie. The author will get additional payments as specified in the contract, but only the company can make a translation or resell it in any way. This is forever. Or until the work enters the public domain. The book itself can be reissued, but the author has essentially given up control on the movie side.
You can use common and popular phrases in a movie, and titles are often reused. Characters are trickier. A character name may not be copyrightable, but the use of a character name in a way that implies that you are using the character itself will be frowned upon by the lawyers. The lawyers don’t care about the law; they just care about not being sued.
Needless to say, this is all generalities. Specifics are almost impossible to guess at in advance. Everything depends on the exact circumstances and battalions of lawyers are paid to dispute those.
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/3 "2012-01-03T01:01:43Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> Movies work with contracts called options. An option buys the exclusive rights to make a movie out of your book. The company has to make the movie within a set number of years stated in the option or else the rights revert back to you. If the movie is made, the movie company owns just about everything connected to the movie. The author will get additional payments as specified in the contract, but only the company can make a translation or resell it in any way. This is forever. Or until the work enters the public domain. The book itself can be reissued, but the author has essentially given up control on the movie side.
Just making sure I understand you. I’ll use a real life example.
Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler wrote the novel _Fail-Safe_ in 1962. It was made into a movie by Columbia Pictures in 1964 with a script by Walter Bernstein.
There was a remake of _Fail-Safe_ made by CBS in 2000. You’re saying that CBS had to go to Columbia for the remake rights and not Bernstein or Burdick and Wheeler? (It would have actually been Burdick’s estate because he died in 1965 before the first movie was made.)
I noticed that when they remade _The Jackal_ in 1997, the credits made a point that this movie was based on the script by Kenneth Ross for the 1973 movie _The Day of the Jackal_ and not the 1971 novel _The Day of the Jackal_ by Frederick Forsyth. Which doesn’t make a lot of sense because Ross’ script was pretty close to Forsyth’s book but Chuck Pfarrer’s 1997 script had very little to do with either the book or the earlier movie.
---
### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/4 "2012-01-03T01:10:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Second group of questions. What are the rules on scripts that are adaptations of other works. My understanding is that you can only copyright specific arrangements of words not general ideas. Obviously my movie script is going to be a different arrangement of words than a novel would be.
It’s not “arrangement of words.” It’s “expression.” So you can’t hold exclusive rights over an idea, for example, a plot. But you do have rights over that particular story. Furthermore, you have control over any “derivative works,” and a movie is definitely a derivative work of the novel it’s based on (if it’s based on a novel). So you definitely have to obtain the authorization of the copyright holder before you can adapt a book in screenplay form.
---
### Author:  [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/5 "2012-01-03T01:28:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> A few questions on the concept.
>
> Suppose I write an original movie script and it’s good enough for some studio to want to make into a movie. Does the studio buy the rights to the script or do they just buy the right to make a movie from my script? In other words, suppose there’s talk of a remake twenty years later: do the people looking to make a remake come to me or to the studio that made the first movie?
>
> I assume that the studio making the movie has some degree of exclusivity. They wouldn’t want to buy the rights to make a movie from my script and then have me turn around and sell the script to another studio six months later so the second studio can make a cheap direct-to-video version before the big studio can release their version on DVD.
>
> What about foreign versions. If I sell my script to an American studio can I also then sell it to a Japanese studio, for example, so they can make a translated version with an all-Japanese cast?
>
> Second group of questions. What are the rules on scripts that are adaptations of other works. My understanding is that you can only copyright specific arrangements of words not general ideas. Obviously my movie script is going to be a different arrangement of words than a novel would be.
>
> My understanding is that you also can’t copyright titles and names. So what would keep me from using the title and character names from a popular novel in my movie script?
Most scripts bought and sold in Hollywood fall under the WGA (Writers Guild) contract.
The writer gives up his or her copyright in entirety to the buyer, who becomes the owner of the copyright with all the corresponding legal rights. In return, the writer’s work - the original script, any requested rewrites - are covered by the Guild negotiated contract. This contract guarantees minimum payments for each draft, residual pay, pay for overseas markets, DVD sales, TV broadcast, as well as rights of redress and dispute resolution.
Membership in the union (through the requisite amount of script sales) also guarantees you participation in the health benefit and pension programs controlled by the union and funded by the studios.
> **[Scriptnotes, episode 5: Copyright, musicals and the WGA](http://johnaugust.com/2011/wga-copyright-and-musicals#more-7054)**
>
> It's good to be aware of the issues affecting your part of the industry, even if most screenwriters never use knowledge about the vagaries of copyright law.
> [@](#):
>
> Now, it comes time for me to sell it to a studio. They want to buy it. The way it’s all been worked out is, either I transfer the copyright to them — which they just basically say is a condition, so if you don’t want to transfer the copyright to us, no dice, no sale — or, if I haven’t registered it, I just backwards retroactively agree to say that they commissioned it and it’s a work for hire.
>
> That is valuable in a weird way to us. It sounds like we’re getting ripped off, but by agreeing to go along with that retroactive lie, we allowed the specs grip to be covered by all of our Writers Guild protections, including — by the way — some separated rights, which we’re going to be getting into in a second.
>
> So, it sounds like it is a lie, it sounds like it’s kind of a ripoff to us, and in a way, the big ripoff is work for hire. But no work for hire, no union.
---
### Author:  [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/6 "2012-01-03T01:33:01Z")
When the screenwriter gives up her copyright, the Guild contract allows her to be compensated separately for certain specific parts of the copyright she gives up. These are separated rights:
> **[Scriptnotes, episode 5: Copyright, musicals and the WGA](http://johnaugust.com/2011/wga-copyright-and-musicals#more-7054)**
>
> It's good to be aware of the issues affecting your part of the industry, even if most screenwriters never use knowledge about the vagaries of copyright law.
> [@](#):
>
> John: Subsequent works derived from your original story, you are compensated for those.
>
> Craig: You get — there’s some formula, it’s not particularly glowing, but there’s some formula where you get paid for sequel payments, you essentially get WGA minimums for the sequels. The truth is, that’s one of the weakest separated rights we have, because usually your agent gets you a better deal than that anyway.
>
> When we look at our separated rights — and they’re called separated rights because we’re essentially saying, “OK, we’re giving you all of the rights, but we’re kind of holding these little few ones back.” — the one that’s become the most useful, and the most potentially lucrative for us is dramatic stage rights.
---
### Author:  [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/7 "2012-01-03T01:42:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Second group of questions. What are the rules on scripts that are adaptations of other works. My understanding is that you can only copyright specific arrangements of words not general ideas. Obviously my movie script is going to be a different arrangement of words than a novel would be.
>
> My understanding is that you also can’t copyright titles and names. So what would keep me from using the title and character names from a popular novel in my movie script?
Anyone who wants to adapt a novel or some other copyrighted work into a screenplay must first secure the rights to do so. It’s a negotiated deal - the rights holder gets as little or as much as they can. The rights holder can also refuse altogether. In which case, no screenplay can be made from the novel or short story or play. If you write the script without first securing the rights, you’ve wasted your time - no one will consider buying it unless you have the rights free and clear.
You can make movies out of nonfiction news events without the permission of the people involved in the event just as long as you don’t use any material they created.
Once a movie or TV program is in the marketplace, trademark law and other aspects of IP law can come into play, so it’s not just a question of copyright. So a movie with the same title and character names might still be subject to legal sanctions.
---
### Author:  [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/8 "2012-01-03T01:47:43Z")
More detail on copyright and the Guild from a top screenwriter and WGA activist:
We Don’t Keep Copyright, and That’s a Good Thing
[http://artfulwriter.com/?p=125](http://artfulwriter.com/?p=125)
Copyright and Chain of Title
[http://artfulwriter.com/?p=123](http://artfulwriter.com/?p=123)
---
### Author:  [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/9 "2012-01-03T01:57:55Z")
All about separated rights:
> **[Sunwin – Nhà Cái Uy Tín, Thưởng Khủng](https://artfulwriter.com/)**
>
> Lô đề Online Tại Sunwin – Thắng Nhanh, Thưởng Lớn Đăng ký tài khoản sunwin ngay hôm nay để nhận ngay thưởng 100% cho lần nạp đầu tiên. Content BÀI VIẾT LIÊN QUAN
> [@](#):
>
> Now that we know what you need to do to qualify for your separated rights, let’s look at what they actually are.
>
> ```
> Publication Rights: You control the right to publish the screenplay and books based on the screenplay. The studios still have the right to employ a writer to create a novelization of the screenplay, but they must offer that job to you first, and even if you decline to write the novelization, they must still pay you a minimum fee.
>
> Dramatic Stage Rights: This is the one Mr. “Mawton” forgot about. After the release of the film, the company has two years in which to produce a stage version of the screenplay. If they fail to do so, the writer now controls the right to produce a stage version.
>
> Sequel Payments & Credit: If the company produces a sequel to the screenplay (for theatrical or television), the writers with separated rights receive WGA minimums for those sequels. In addition, the writers get a “Based on Characters Created By” credit for theatrical sequels.
>
> Mandatory Rewrite: This one’s sort of a cool one. If you sell or option a spec, you must be offered the first rewrite. What’s interesting is that this separated right is obtained prior to the awarding of credit. Obviously, it ceases to be relevant once the first rewrite is complete.
>
> Meeting With A Production Executive: Works on the same basis as #4. If you sell or option a spec and then do your rewrite, the company must let you meet with an executive before they fire you. This is the “right to grovel for your job,” so let’s move quickly past it to…
>
> Reacquisition: I just wrote an article about reacquisition here, so follow the link for the full skinny on this separated right.
>
> ```
---
### Author:  [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/10 "2012-01-03T02:13:21Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> Movies work with contracts called options. An option buys the exclusive rights to make a movie out of your book. The company has to make the movie within a set number of years stated in the option or else the rights revert back to you. If the movie is made, the movie company owns just about everything connected to the movie. The author will get additional payments as specified in the contract, but only the company can make a translation or resell it in any way. This is forever. Or until the work enters the public domain. The book itself can be reissued, but the author has essentially given up control on the movie side.
>
> You can use common and popular phrases in a movie, and titles are often reused. Characters are trickier. A character name may not be copyrightable, but the use of a character name in a way that implies that you are using the character itself will be frowned upon by the lawyers. The lawyers don’t care about the law; they just care about not being sued.
>
> Needless to say, this is all generalities. Specifics are almost impossible to guess at in advance. Everything depends on the exact circumstances and battalions of lawyers are paid to dispute those.
When a novelist sells his book to Hollywood, he can negotiate as much money and/or creative control as he can get away with. It’s true that most of the time, a novelist who sells his work to Hollywood gives up all creative control, this isn’t true for writers with pull. Stephen King, JK Rowling, Anne Rice, Neil Gaiman, generally have a great deal of say in how/when/if their work is brought to the screen.
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/11 "2012-01-03T04:06:26Z")
Thanks, very informative articles.
So when Peter Jackson was making his _The Lord of the Rings_ movies, did he go to Tolkein’s estate for the movie rights or did he go Saul Zaentz or whoever bought the movie rights back in 1978 in order to make Bakshi’s animated version?
---
### Author:  [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/12 "2012-01-03T04:17:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Thanks, very informative articles.
>
> So when Peter Jackson was making his _The Lord of the Rings_ movies, did he go to Tolkein’s estate for the movie rights or did he go Saul Zaentz or whoever bought the movie rights back in 1978 in order to make Bakshi’s animated version?
Depends on who held the rights at the time the deal for the Jackson film was being put together. The Tolkien estate may have negotiated a one time deal with the producers/studio for the Bakshi film, and then made a separate deal with the producers/studio/Jackson when they made their film. Or the producers of the Bakshi film may have still held the rights. Or some third party who made deals with both Bakshi’s team and Jackson’s team.
Without going to the trouble of researching the history, my first guess would be that Tolkien’s estate negotiated separate deals for each film/TV show/play/comic. Tolkien’s books have been extremely valuable intellectual property for decades, so the estate would/should have had the muscle to negotiate favorable deals on a case by case basis, and deny rights altogether to anybody they didn’t like.
---
### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/13 "2012-01-03T14:23:06Z")
The issue of characters is interesting. The character in whole is part of the creation. You can’t write a sequel without permission, you can’t use a character without permission. You can have a character called “Harold Potter”, say. You might even make a running gag about him being confused with a boy wizard. But if you writ a story or screenplay about someone named “Harry Potter”, who is a wizard, and goes to Pigpimples University of Wizardry - it better be an out-and-out parody (covered as copyright exemption).
If the character, plot, or element of it look too much like something else already written, then it goes to court. There, the lawyers get rich arguing whether it is in fact so close that it is a rip-off, or just the natural fact that stories about similar settings or themes will be somewhat similar.
So for example, the original Battlestar Galaxitive - guys playing laser tag and having space dogfights with shiny robots was judged by the court to NOT be a rip-off of the original Star Wars. Not even close. OTOH, every time a popular script becomes a blockbuster, a hundred people come out of the woodwork to sue, saying that they wrote something identical. This is why (so I’ve heard) most studios will NOT read something they receive unsolicited; it could be used against them if they even saw a similar script, which by the law of Monkeys and Typewriters, they could.
OTOH, I don’t know if Kubrick did or had to pay for rights to Fail-Safe when he made a much-changed version of the movie… I think his was better.
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/14 "2012-01-03T14:35:21Z")
> [@md2000](#):
>
> OTOH, I don’t know if Kubrick did or had to pay for rights to Fail-Safe when he made a much-changed version of the movie… I think his was better.
Actually, it was the reverse. _Dr Strangelove_ was based on the novel _Red Alert_ by Peter George. _Red Alert_ had been published in 1958 - prior to the publication of _Fail-Safe_. George successfully sued Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler for copying his book and Kubrick sued the producers of _Fail-Safe_.
---
### Author:  [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/15 "2012-01-03T18:00:09Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#):
>
> When a novelist sells his book to Hollywood, he can negotiate as much money and/or creative control as he can get away with. It’s true that most of the time, a novelist who sells his work to Hollywood gives up all creative control, this isn’t true for writers with pull. Stephen King, JK Rowling, Anne Rice, Neil Gaiman, generally have a great deal of say in how/when/if their work is brought to the screen.
All we can do in a thread like this is speak of glowing generalities. Every situation involves negotiation of a contract.
Lawyers and agents hammer out details. Are they buying the script for one-time use? Is it for worldwide distribution or only specific areas? Does the original author get a cameo? Can the production company rename characters? Is the author selling rights for an animated production, but withholding rights for live action? There may be standard contracts, but as you said, everything is negotiable based on how badly the writer wants to sell and how badly the studio wants to buy.
---
### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/16 "2012-01-03T18:47:41Z")
I suppose we have to distinguish between those who write scripts in preference to novels, as a creative process on their own, and thentry to sell them; versus those who are hired, say, to take a book and produce a workable script…?
I assume from what I’ve read above, the starting point is the Screen Writers contract mentioned above, then if one side or another has a bigger demand, they negotiate until they agree or walk away.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/17 "2012-01-03T18:51:22Z")
The Artful Writer site seems to be down.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/18 "2012-01-03T18:58:30Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#):
>
> Depends on who held the rights at the time the deal for the Jackson film was being put together. The Tolkien estate may have negotiated a one time deal with the producers/studio for the Bakshi film, and then made a separate deal with the producers/studio/Jackson when they made their film. Or the producers of the Bakshi film may have still held the rights. Or some third party who made deals with both Bakshi’s team and Jackson’s team.
>
> Without going to the trouble of researching the history, my first guess would be that Tolkien’s estate negotiated separate deals for each film/TV show/play/comic. Tolkien’s books have been extremely valuable intellectual property for decades, so the estate would/should have had the muscle to negotiate favorable deals on a case by case basis, and deny rights altogether to anybody they didn’t like.
[Middle-earth Enterprises](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien_Enterprises) (formerly known as Tolkien Enterprises) owns the film rights to Tolkien’s books; it appears that J.R.R. Tolkien sold the rights to United Artists in 1968, which then sold them to Saul Zaentz. Zaentz controls Middle-earth Enterprises.
---
### Author:  [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/19 "2012-01-03T19:38:02Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:15, topic:608154”]
All we can do in a thread like this is speak of glowing generalities. Every situation involves negotiation of a contract.
Lawyers and agents hammer out details. Are they buying the script for one-time use? Is it for worldwide distribution or only specific areas? Does the original author get a cameo? Can the production company rename characters? Is the author selling rights for an animated production, but withholding rights for live action? There may be standard contracts, but as you said, everything is negotiable based on how badly the writer wants to sell and how badly the studio wants to buy.
[/QUOTE]
It’s true that buying the film rights for existing creative works - novels, plays, short stories, comics - involve negotiations that vary from deal to deal.
OTOH, movie scripts, and script related creative works like treatments, pitches, and outlines are covered by the WGA’s [Minimum Basic Agreement.](http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=1610) The major studios, TV networks, and production companies are all signatories to this agreement, and they have to follow its requirements for rewrites, pay, residual payments, assignment of credit, assignment of work, and contribution to health and pension.
As md2000 noted, individual writers and their reps can and do negotiate better compensation than required by the MBA, but they can’t be offered less than the MBA stipulates.
---
### Author:  [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyrights-and-movie-scripts/608154/20 "2012-01-03T19:40:23Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> [Middle-earth Enterprises](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien_Enterprises) (formerly known as Tolkien Enterprises) owns the film rights to Tolkien’s books; it appears that J.R.R. Tolkien sold the rights to United Artists in 1968, which then sold them to Saul Zaentz. Zaentz controls Middle-earth Enterprises.
Interesting. Thanks.
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