I noticed a lot of OSCAR nominees and WINNER(ARGO) were adapted from some other sources novels, articles etc. I am just curious how do you go about that and are there not some copyright laws that apply? Reason being I have been eager to adapt a best selling novel and a play into a screenplay but I was just curious what the procedure was. Thanks.
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Adapting from novels or plays.
- Thread starter NIGHTFLYER
- Start date
Plays and novels published prior to 1923 are in the public domain and may be freely adapted without obtaining permission.
Works published more recently than that vary in their status. If the published material you are interested in adapting is not public domain, you will have to option the rights to it, usually involving a payment. You should be able to search out the author's representative and ask about the feasibility of doing so.
Although Argo was adapted from a portion of the main character's book and a magazine article, the facts of the story are actually public domain. Had the screenwriter wished to do so, he could have written a screenplay based on that incident without optioning material. By optioning the material, however, he was able to avail himself of much more detailed information directly from Tony Mendez - who experienced the events firsthand - as well as the research conducted by the author of the magazine article.
Works published more recently than that vary in their status. If the published material you are interested in adapting is not public domain, you will have to option the rights to it, usually involving a payment. You should be able to search out the author's representative and ask about the feasibility of doing so.
Although Argo was adapted from a portion of the main character's book and a magazine article, the facts of the story are actually public domain. Had the screenwriter wished to do so, he could have written a screenplay based on that incident without optioning material. By optioning the material, however, he was able to avail himself of much more detailed information directly from Tony Mendez - who experienced the events firsthand - as well as the research conducted by the author of the magazine article.
The author if he is alive, retain the dramatisation rights, and so they rightly should. Many people believe that books in the public domain can be freely dramatised, but this is not always the case as many books published prior to 1928 remain in the [Estate] of the author, meaning that the dramatisation rights are in the hands of the authors living relatives. It pays to check this up before putting in a lot of work dramatising a novel only to find that some relative can take the lions share of all your hard work! The Writers and Artists Yearbook has a good chapter on dramatisation, read it!
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If you look a little closer you will notice that ALL the Oscar
nominees and winners in the Adapted Screenplay category
are adapted from some other source.
Yes. There are copyright laws that apply. No one can adapt a
copyrighted work into a screenplay without permission.
The procedure is; you contact the publisher to see if the screen
rights are available. If they are you make an offer to option
the rights.
Especially for a best selling novel the rights have most likely been
optioned. If they have not the chances are there are other offers
on the table. Go in understanding that getting the rights to adapt
a best selling novel is going to be very expensive.