Using A Prominent Deceased Person In a Screenplay/Movie

[tk55543]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Can I use a real-life deceased person, of some prominence, as the
central character in a fictional screenplay/movie? Do I have to contact
their estate for rights?

For example, could I use the photographer, Ansel Adams,
in a completely made-up story, without contacting his estate
first? What are the legalities of that? We will NOT be using any of his photographs or likenesses. The central character will have Ansel Adams's name, yes, but everything else about him will be loosely based on him and his photographic life.

All situations and everyone surrounding Ansel in the story are 100% made-up.

Thanks,
Todd

[quincy]

When writing about any real person, dead or alive, it is always wise to obtain permission to use that person's name and likeness prior to publication. Although there is often greater legal danger in writing about a living private individual than a dead famous person, there can be problems with both.

Although you can generally write about a dead person without risk of a defamation suit, an invasion of privacy suit or a right of publicity suit, defamation survives death in a few states, and a right of publicity survives death in most states.

The right of publicity ensures that a person is compensated for the commercial value of his name or likeness, and this right is of great value to the estates of deceased famous people. Preserving the image of the deceased person can be important when marketing that image. The right of publicity descends to heirs in several states, including New York, where an interesting case was heard that you may wish to review.

Hicks v Casablanca Records involved an action brought by the heirs of Agatha Christie over the movie "Agatha," which took great liberty in portraying the writer. The suit alleged infringement of Agatha Christie's right of publicity.

First Amendment rights to free speech and expression are paramount in most actions. And the Court in the Christie case eventually found that Casablanca's First Amendment rights outweighed the estate's right to control Christie's name and image. However, the suit was a costly and time-consuming one for both parties and, when one is a party to a lawsuit, there is never a guarantee that one will win the suit.

I recommend you do the following, to help protect your work on "Ansel Adams" (as much as possible) from facing a similar costly lawsuit:

Obtain permission from his estate (if possible), include a disclaimer with your novel, have an attorney review your novel for problem areas and edit accordingly, and have your work fully insured (to cover the costs of any suit that may arise).

Good luck.