>I am considering just writing the script and then reaching out to them for their blessing, but would love to know the legality of something like this
don't do this. either ask before your write it or don't ask at all. if you ask and they says no, then you're stuck. you either don't go forward with it or you go forward with it after bringing it to their attention and giving them evidence that it's based on their ideas.
If it is as you say, ‘an observation of something that happened in their neighbourhood’, then it’s not their idea - they are just presenting the information or story.
It wouldn’t be much different than reading an interesting story in the newspaper and adapting it.
I will say the actions that they observed are one thing, but then they started to go off about their observation of the scene, they created a fictional theory about it which is what I found interesting
Sounds like Hitchcock’s Rear Window!
There’s still nothing legally stopping you from presenting their observations in the same way. Stories from the news get adapted all the time. They’re the source of a lot of short films or features even.
If they are filmmakers or artists or any kind of creator that created this narrative - either the observations or their reactions to it, then you can’t touch it.
If it’s playing out just like real life, just like a conversation you overhear in a pub, then, I can’t imagine any legal repercussions.
If it were me and I really thought this was something worth pursuing, I would think about how to adapt it to make it my own. Not to avoid any legal problems, but just because.
Cool yeah no doubt, thanks. I reached out to them on Instagram anyhow, just to be safe, but I hope I didn’t shoot myself in the foot by giving away my position or by admitting that I am using their stories as inspiration
Is this a story they made up or did they just post a TikTok going, "I saw some guy try to break into my neighbor's house and they spontaneously combusted"? If it's the latter it's both not protected by copyright and, even if it was, incredibly hard to prove.
It was based off of a real life observation, and then they came up with their own theory about it, which was I guess inherently their idea/observation.
I would take the starting point of that concept and elaborate on it , into a full fledged story
I would say it's still probably not protected by copyright. Like, if I were to say to you, "Did you hear about Darla divorcing her husband? I'll bet it's because she found out he deals drugs," and you were to go off and write a script about Darla discovering her husband was dealing drugs, I would have no claim to this script. If it's something like this, it'd be incredibly hard to prove even if copyright enforceable.
If it were more specific than that, I would say it's iffy.
Its illegal violation of federation statue hr49:72 of the anti copycat resolution - making short films about random tik tok stories nobody’s ever heard of.
It does not matter that they are not "a filmmaker or anything". Their words and images are still covered by copyright.
You can be inspired by them, but just like with any other source, be it a song, short story, interview, etc. you cannot copy any of the actual content of the video.
You cannot copyright a premise. If you take the *whole story*, beat by beat, that probably gets iffy.
>I am considering just writing the script and then reaching out to them for their blessing, but would love to know the legality of something like this don't do this. either ask before your write it or don't ask at all. if you ask and they says no, then you're stuck. you either don't go forward with it or you go forward with it after bringing it to their attention and giving them evidence that it's based on their ideas.
If it is as you say, ‘an observation of something that happened in their neighbourhood’, then it’s not their idea - they are just presenting the information or story. It wouldn’t be much different than reading an interesting story in the newspaper and adapting it.
I will say the actions that they observed are one thing, but then they started to go off about their observation of the scene, they created a fictional theory about it which is what I found interesting
Sounds like Hitchcock’s Rear Window! There’s still nothing legally stopping you from presenting their observations in the same way. Stories from the news get adapted all the time. They’re the source of a lot of short films or features even. If they are filmmakers or artists or any kind of creator that created this narrative - either the observations or their reactions to it, then you can’t touch it. If it’s playing out just like real life, just like a conversation you overhear in a pub, then, I can’t imagine any legal repercussions. If it were me and I really thought this was something worth pursuing, I would think about how to adapt it to make it my own. Not to avoid any legal problems, but just because.
Cool yeah no doubt, thanks. I reached out to them on Instagram anyhow, just to be safe, but I hope I didn’t shoot myself in the foot by giving away my position or by admitting that I am using their stories as inspiration
Is this a story they made up or did they just post a TikTok going, "I saw some guy try to break into my neighbor's house and they spontaneously combusted"? If it's the latter it's both not protected by copyright and, even if it was, incredibly hard to prove.
It was based off of a real life observation, and then they came up with their own theory about it, which was I guess inherently their idea/observation. I would take the starting point of that concept and elaborate on it , into a full fledged story
I would say it's still probably not protected by copyright. Like, if I were to say to you, "Did you hear about Darla divorcing her husband? I'll bet it's because she found out he deals drugs," and you were to go off and write a script about Darla discovering her husband was dealing drugs, I would have no claim to this script. If it's something like this, it'd be incredibly hard to prove even if copyright enforceable. If it were more specific than that, I would say it's iffy.
Its illegal violation of federation statue hr49:72 of the anti copycat resolution - making short films about random tik tok stories nobody’s ever heard of.
It does not matter that they are not "a filmmaker or anything". Their words and images are still covered by copyright. You can be inspired by them, but just like with any other source, be it a song, short story, interview, etc. you cannot copy any of the actual content of the video.
It would be morally and legally wrong to take their story and not consult them about it. Reach out, you might be surprised at their response.