Do You Need An Author’s Permission To Write A Screenplay Based On A Novel?
Posted by adminDec 15
If you want to write a screenplay based on a novel, do you need the author’s permission just to write it? Or only if the screenplay gets picked up turned into an actual film?
You can write it within an educational setting without permission. All other adaptations are copyright violations, and the author or publisher will go after you. You don’t stand a chance of winning, either.
If your version written in school is really good, you cannot sell it. Legally, production companies and agents cannot even read it, and most will not once they realize what they have. They may even report the copyright violation.
Some people hope to write a really brilliant adaptation, then contact the author for permission, but this is unwise. The fact that the screenwriter has invested so much time and effort (and talent) in it raises the price. The screenwriter is unlikely to just abandon the results of his labor, and the author has no reason to accept a low bid. In fact, sometimes it reminds the author s/he’s got a marketable product, and they have their agent market the rights to studios which can pay hundreds of times what aspiring screenwriters can.
So the way to go is to buy the option first, cheap, or use the novel as no more than a springboard for your own ideas.
You can write it without permission. However no one will even read or consider it until you have optioned the rights.
You can try contacting the author. Funny thing about the business is that someone may already own the rights to the screenplay. If the novel is good enough that you want to write about someone has probably already thought of turning it into a film and may already have purchased the rights. So then you’ve have to find out who and then contact him/her.
You can write it, but you can’t do anything with it without his permission. If you try to make it a play, record any part of it or somehow profit from it, the original author has to say it’s okay (and be paid)