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One of my favourite books is 'The picture of Dorian Gray' and I'm thinking of basing a script on the general idea of it. Basically, just the fact that the consequences of someones actions are only felt by another person or thing, and he gets off Scott Free...kinda.
I was wondering if this would be classed as 'Fan Fiction' or not. I mean kind of the same as if you based a script on the general story of a Shakespeare play - which has been done alot. Would you have to have the rights or is the idea not covered by copyright?
It will be set in the modern world and it wouldn't involve a picture.
If its the idea, then I believe it is alright. Like your example of Shakespeare, I bet you he probably copied the idea off somewhere else. lol. But I think its fine and need not be classified as fan fiction. Fan fiction is more like if you write a script with copyrighted story such as Metal Gear or Hellraiser or spiderman.
Gabe
Just Murdered by Sean Elwood (Zombie Sean) and Gabriel Moronta (Mr. Ripley) - (Dark Comedy, Horror) All is fair in love and war. A hopeless romantic gay man resorts to bloodshed to win the coveted position of Bridesmaid. 99 pages. https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b-comedy/m-1624410571/
There's another one I'd love to do aswell. Roald Dahl short story called 'The Amazing Story of Henry Sugar'. Pretty much teaches himself to be able to see through cards although I'd have to hunt for the book as I haven't read it for ages.
The rights are in public domain, true, but you need to check out the other movie versions, since any specific changes will be copyrighted by the respective companies.
I know a version came out a few years ago with the guy from 7th Heaven.