Big week this week as I hit page 30 of my first feature length script. According to lore that should mean roughly 30 minutes of screen time which means I'm a third of the way through. That makes me very happy and makes the whole project seem far more real. Which in turn has made me realise that if I want to hit my goal of having completed a film by the end of next year then I have a lot of work to do and may have to revise my estimates.
This week I've been concerned that the story I'm writing is in part inspired by real life events. I am highly fictionalising it with only the opening sequence being the same as a story ripped from the headlines. All the characters are fictional and what happens after Act 1 is totally made up. However, the opening would be clearly recognisable and I worry that this could cause problems. There's no way I can change it as its pivotal to the plot. Even if I were to state that the work is a fiction at the beginning of the film am I still leaving myself wide open to legal action?
Its not like I'm writing a political expose about david cameron smashing up frogs with a cricket bat to get his kicks. But how far can art imitate life these days?
I worry that it wouldn't stop the film being made but might stop potential distributors picking up the film lest they be sued. I've been scouring the internet but can't find a great deal on the subject. I've found some good advice and some bad. Anyway, I've not let it deter me and I'm ploughing on. I think maybe the important thing to do is to document exactly what steps I'm taking in the writing to distance it from the real story.
And to keep those photos of david cameron smashing up frogs in a safe somewhere.
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