How to Get the Film Rights to Someone’s Story

People have a legitimate right to own their personal story. But many are simply shocked to find that a film is made about them. And without anyone ever asking permission to use their works! However, as a filmmaker? It’s important to acquire the proper film rights to use someone’s life story if for commercial purposes. But figuring out how to get the film rights to someone’s story could be a bit more complicated.

Life Rights for Screenwriters

When are life rights agreements important? In a lot of different situations! Especially if you intend to use someone’s story for commercial purposes and you might profit from it.

Say you’re producing a film that includes information about an individual’s life. So much so that another person could legitimately figure out that your film is about that individual. If that’s the case, you probably need to seek out some rights. 

Life rights agreements for screenwriter’s represent a unique opportunity for the filmmaker to use the story of someone else without potential legal repercussions.

This means you’ll be able to use the various details of a person’s life story, including intimate info, without legal trouble for:

• Defamation.
•  
• Invasion of privacy.
•  
• The right to publicity.

Acquiring a Life Rights Agreement

If you’re wondering how to get the film right to someone’s story, you’re going to need to acquire a life rights agreement. The life rights agreement allows you to film someone’s story and use it for commercial purposes in a variety of different ways.

Without life rights, sharing someone’s story could result in you facing a lot of legal repercussions. Consulting with an attorney about the acquisition of life rights is an important step of the process.

An experienced legal professional will help you figure out the exact terms of the life rights agreement that will be most suitable for your filmmaking. This will largely depend on your unique situation.

Purchase Life Rights

Say you’ve negotiated the life rights with the appropriate individual responsible. Either as the individual’s manager, or the individual himself. Now t’s time to purchase the life rights so that you can begin handing the production of your film.

Cost to purchase life rights will vary. Likely based on how popular the story is expected to be, who the life rights are about, and your own budget. Discuss what you’re willing to pay and what having access to someone’s story will mean to your film. 

Sign the Agreements

This is the final step in how to get the film right to someone’s story. Without a signed agreement, all of your hard work is for nothing.

Therefore, it’s incredibly important to get a signed, and dated agreement in advance of any creation of a film or story that includes someone’s history or background. As you can see, figuring out how to get the film right to someone’s story is certainly a major process.

Finally, life rights agreements can provide legal protections both for the filmmaker and for the individual for whom the story is about. This, like many other film legal processes, are absolutely vital to your film projects.