Legal Question in Entertainment Law in California

Re: Film Director has question on story rights.

If there are no other heirs to her estate, such as children, and she did not leave a will, the parents would control the "right of publicity" and you would be able to obtain their permission -- get it in writing and have an attorney write the letter of permission -- to make a film or to otherwise profit from her right of publicity. Of course, anybody could come along and write her biography. The parents or heirs control only the use of her name, likeness, songs and artistic works.

Re: Film Director has question on story rights.

The short answer is: they can't obtain such rights. Under current California law, the Right of Publicity dies with a person for certain purposes and descends to heirs for other limited purposes. In brief, the right of publicity descends for products, merchandise and goods, but does not descend for books, plays, television and movies. So anyone could make a movie or television show or write a book about your friend (but could not use her name on merchandise or to endorse a product) without obtaining her heirs' permission.

Even apart from that, the murder you spoke of is a matter of public record and the use of facts about that incident is protected by the First Amendment--which means anyone could write about it. That does not mean, however, that someone could report private facts about your friend's parents' without their permission.

Life story rights are actually a legal fiction, because no one really owns the rights to the events that occur in their lives. The main value of a "life rights agreement" to a producer or writer is the access it gives them to private facts and the cooperation of the person depicted or, in this case, those closest to her.