Is your life story the next hit musical or TV show?
Movies, TV shows and musicals based on (or inspired by) true stories are big business. The film The Wolf of Wall Street reportedly grossed over $400 million and is currently filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s highest grossing film. The Nextflix show Inventing Anna is one of Netflix’s most-watched English language TV series and the musical Hamilton has grossed over $1 billion to date.
It turns out that the truth pays. If your own life story is thrill-worthy, you may have wondered what it would be like to sell your life story to be made into a movie, TV series or musical. Here are some things to know before cutting a deal:
Know how much negotiating power you have (and don’t have)
The single biggest misconception is that movie studios or producers are required to obtain your life rights. In reality, there is no such thing as “life rights” because facts are not protected by copyright law - even facts about a person’s life. History is history regardless of whether someone is famous or not, and no one owns the exclusive rights to true facts.
As a practical matter, this means that anyone can write a book or make a movie about you with or without your permission. So while you may have many cards to play during a negotiation over your life story rights, “you can’t do this without me” is not one of them.
This is why some subjects of real life stories are compensated and some are not. Anna Sorokin, the inspiration behind Inventing Anna, was reportedly paid $320,000 by Netflix. Jordan Belfort, the real life figure behind The Wolf of Wall Street, was reportedly paid over $1 million for his involvement in the film. In contrast, movies such as House of Gucci and The Social Network do not appear to have compensated Patrizia Reggiani or Mark Zuckerburg, respectively, for the use of their names and stories.
So if you can’t per se stop someone from using your real life story, what bargaining power do you have? Three big cards to play are permission, access and exclusivity. Even though a producer may not technically need your permission, no one wants to end up in an expensive lawsuit that is going to eat away at overall profits. In that sense, your agreement to cooperate and not to sue has concrete financial value. Another value card that you hold is access. You likely have access to facts, documents and property that is not easy to obtain, such as personal diaries, personal letters, medical information, family heirlooms, etc. You likely also have influence with other people they might want to interview, such as family members and friends. Your cooperation could make it easier for them to obtain the interviews they are looking for. Finally, you also have the power to promise exclusivity - i.e. that you will only work with their studio and will not allow anyone else to access the hard-to-obtain facts, documents, and property that you possess.
Fictionalization and adaptation
A producer is likely to want the broadest possible rights, but this is not always in your best interest. For example, a streaming service may want to buy the rights to adapt your story into any kind of format - from plays to podcasts, movies, TV shows, or even merchandise. But in reality, the streaming service may only have expertise in TV shows. This could backfire if, for example, you are later approached by a merchandiser or a podcast host who wants to use your story in a different format. If the rights are already owned by a streaming service who never intends to use them beyond the TV show they have already made, this means lost business opportunities for you.
Another right that the producer will likely want is the right to fictionalize your story, to allow for artistic license. While fictionalization admittedly often makes a story more interesting, there are trade-offs to this approach. Fictionalization may or may not cast you in the best light. In addition, fictionalization may also upset friends, relatives or others who were involved in the real-life version of the events.
What if you don’t like the final product?
Plenty of people have sued over the telling of “real life” stories. However, many of these lawsuits ultimately fail for the same reason we discussed at the beginning of this post: true facts are not protectable under copyright law. So if you are going to sue someone over your real life story, you need to have a solid legal argument outside of “they copied my life without my permission”.
Plaintiffs in these lawsuits rely on a broad range of legal arguments, from copyright and trademark infringement, to violations of the right to privacy or the right to publicity, to tort actions for intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, slander and libel. Many of these lawsuits fail because creative expression (which most books, plays, musicals, movies and TV shows are) is generally protected under the First Amendment. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to win these lawsuits, but it does mean you need a well-thought out legal strategy and a solid knowledge of which arguments do and don’t work in your jurisdiction.
Conclusion
So-crazy-it-must-be-true stories have captured hearts and minds for generations. And if you have one of those stories, you potentially stand to make a profit, if you know what you are doing. Make sure you have the right legal team standing behind you who understands what you have to offer and respects your personal priorities.
Thanks for reading the Bevel Law Blog! While this information is hopefully helpful to you, nothing in this blog is intended to be legal advice. Always consult a lawyer before making any legal decisions based on topics in this blog.
Ready to secure your intellectual property? Book a call today at bevellaw.com/call.
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