Question about writing a play.

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 10/11/05 at 3:18pm

I want to write a play that is based on a true story. (Family members and friends)
Of course I am not going to use their personal information.
If I don't tell them that I am writing about them,
can they sue me or something?
Do I need their permission?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/11/05 at 3:27pm

ask Ready 2 Defy Gravity. he wrote a whole musical...

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/11/05 at 3:40pm

I doubt very seriously that they could or even would successfully sue you, unless you use their real names and libel them. Tennessee's mom didn't sue him for The Glass Menagerie...nor did the estate of Roy Cohn sue Kushner...

[krisjoseph]

Posted: 10/11/05 at 3:44pm

No, you don't need their permission, and you don't have to tell them what you're doing. Writers the world over base characters on people they know. Sometimes a characters is a combination of several real-life people; sometimes a character starts as a real-life person and then develops into something completely different.

If you're writing what will ultimately be thought of as fiction, you'll find that you have to change "real" events, people, and paces to make them better suit the medium, the story structure, etc. and the end result isn't going to be a mirror on the truth, anyway.

There are risks involved, to be sure: the people you're basing these characters on may see this play at some point, recognize themselves, and then demand answers. There is a balance between telling a story that needs to be told (and you should ask yourself if it NEEDS to be told) and being respectful of the people on whose lives the story is based.

Best of luck. Don't stifle your instincts.

Updated On: 10/11/05 at 03:44 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/11/05 at 3:55pm

Neil Simon based almost all of his plays on family and people he knew.

Take a tip from the old tv show Dragnet:

"The names have been changed to protect the innocent".

...and your royalty checks.

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/11/05 at 3:57pm

Or you could take the Fargo route and say it's a true story when it really isn't...

[wexy]

Posted: 10/11/05 at 4:07pm

I've written short stories based on real life people.I've changed hair colors, occupations, hometowns and other stuff and combined them with traits of other people.

I know who it is but they would never be able to say it was 100% them.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/11/05 at 4:26pm

When Robert Harling wrote "Steel Magnolias", there were about 20 women that thought they were one of the characters in the play.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 10/11/05 at 4:48pm

So even if you use real life people within a fictional context (i.e. Ethel Rosenberg and Roy Cohn in "Angels in America) you don't have to get any legal permission or anything like that?

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/11/05 at 4:49pm

I don't think so--so long as you make no inferences that's it's a true story...of course, it helps if the people are dead.