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The best strategy is to identify the most interesting issues that can be extracted or related to from your original true story. You’ll be able to easily identify the issues if the story has been covered in the news, or any publication. Having the Life Story Rights tied to a Current Social Issue is a great combination for pitching a movie idea.
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Selling true life stories for adaptation as a Made-For-TV-Movie, Drama Series, Docuseries, or Reality TV Series. Life is stranger than fiction, and often more entertaining. Many times we've seen the feature film, television movie, or even dramatic series based on a persons true life story. In television we're familiar with the biographical made ...
- Overview
- Developing Your Pitch
- Protecting Your Rights
- Selling Your Story
- Selling an Option
Whether you experienced a single exciting or traumatic event, had an amazing adventure, or simply lived a long and rich life, you believe you have a story to tell. Maybe you've watched television movies or feature films based on true stories and thought "My story is more interesting than that." But there's a lot of work that goes into getting your ...
Even if you have no plans to write a full screenplay, a basic outline of your story not only allows you to develop an effective pitch but gives you written material that you can protect through copyright.
Your outline can be as detailed or as skeletal as you like. Keep in mind that just because you include a particular fact or detail doesn't necessarily mean it will make it into a feature or television movie, if you end up selling your story.
While your life is chronological, it may not follow the same lines a story would. Think about a story you've heard or a movie you've seen that had a good story line, and map your life story out along similar lines.
A standard movie is broken into three acts, with the characters in the story following a similar trajectory. You may not think of the people in your life as characters, but in the movie of your life story they would be.
Consider consulting an intellectual property attorney.
Even if you're not going to be doing a lot of writing or other creative work yourself, an intellectual property attorney can help you protect your rights and maximize your profits when selling your life story.
Particularly if some event in your life has garnered local – or even national – media attention, you may have already received calls from people interested in buying your life rights.
Under no circumstances should you so much as contemplate making a deal with someone to produce your life story without at least talking to an attorney.
Not only can a good copyright attorney help you protect your rights before you start trying to sell your life story to a producer, they can review contracts and make sure you're going to get what you want and be fairly represented in any deal you sign.
If you don't know any copyright or intellectual property attorneys, start your search on the website of your state or local bar association. There should be a searchable directory of attorneys licensed to practice in your area.
Nearly everyone thinks something has happened in their life that would make a good movie or television show, and yet relatively few life stories are actually purchased by producers. Those that are typically already have demonstrated interest and popular appeal.
Many movies or television specials based on true life stories happen because the producers optioned the film rights for a biography or autobiography that was already a bestseller.
For this reason, it's almost always a good bet if you want to sell your life story to a producer to get it out in print first.
A bestselling book may seem out of your reach, but you may be able to hire a ghost writer and put out a self-published book for a few thousand dollars.
If a book seems out of your reach, you might want to look to local or regional interest publications to start garnering media attention for your story.
Build a presence on social media and attract friends and followers with tales from your life that you'd ultimately like to see made into a movie.
Determine if an option is right for you.
Most producers will purchase an option on your work instead of buying the product outright. When a producer purchases an option, they are purchasing the exclusive right to your life story for a specified period of time. During this "rental" period the producer will work to develop the product (e.g., creating a budget, getting actors lines up, getting a screenplay). Also, during this period, you will not be able to sell or option the rights to your life story to anyone else.
Option contracts can be a great way to earn money without having to give up all the rights in your life story (unless the option is exercised).
However, option contracts take your ability to advertise and sell your product elsewhere for a specific period of time. Some producers will purchase options on works to simply take them off the market so it can't be made by someone else.
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Nov 17, 2023 · Find the Central Theme. Behind every life story is a universal theme: love, redemption, perseverance, etc. Identify that theme early on and use it as your guidepost for the adaptation. 3. Choose a Narrative Focus. A person's life or an event can span years, so decide on the portion of the story you want to tell.
Dec 9, 2021 · The most important things for your protagonist to be are active and flawed. They should be the person driving the story through choices and action — and messing up all over the place. A protagonist who is not flawed will not make mistakes and the story will be mostly conflict-free and flat. And if the protagonist in your life story is you ...
- Julia Camara
8. Dallas Buyers Club (2014) Film. Drama. The McConaissance hit its peak with this decidedly unsentimental biopic of Ron Woodruff, a homophobic redneck who nonetheless helped hundreds of early ...
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Oct 23, 2023 · Films like Schindler's List, First Man, Lincoln, 127 Hours, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Apollo 13 are excellent examples of screenplays that did their best to depict the actual true stories. The writers and filmmakers went to great degrees to capture what really happened. However, despite those efforts, creative liberties were always taken ...
