Copyright Law in this situation...?

[Semiazas]

I'm wondering if anyone could shed some light onto a situation for me.
I'm looking to, if at all possible, adapt Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story" into a film. And I was told since it was written before 1978, that copyright law maybe different on it as it is to other work.

Could anyone shed some light on the situation and let me know if I'd need to pay for rights or anything like that?

Cheers

 

[cameronchapman]

Here's what the copyright term calculator said (assuming that it was actually published in 195:

If the work was published without a valid copyright notice, it's in the public domain.

If the work was published with a valid copyright notice and the copyright was renewed in the 28th year after the work was published, then the copyright will last for 95 years after the date of publication.

So you'll have to look up whether the copyright was renewed.

ETA: Just looked it up, and yes, it was renewed in 1987, so the work is still under copyright protection. The registration number for the renewal is: RE0000349756 / 1987-09-21

 

[Semiazas]

Okay, thanks very much