Abrise Legal
2 min readDec 3, 2021

*Novels turned into Movies*

Do you like reading books or do you prefer watching movies based on these books? Do you know if your favourite movie is a book adaptation? Some of the most hyped up, successful hits are movies adapted from novels written by famous authors. For example #thelordoftherings #thelifeofpie. #parineeta #devdaas. Chetan Bhagat is one such novelist whose books (almost all of them) have been made into movies and movies that have shown wonders at the box office such as #2States, #3Idiots, Another filmmaker, Vishal Bhardwaj happens to be a big fan of novels especially Shakespearean novels such as #Othello, #Macbeth turning them into critically and worldly acclaimed movies like Omkara & Maqbool.

But have you ever wondered how book-adaption legally functions?? Adapting a novel and turning it into a movie, may sound simple but is it really so?

What are the pre-requisites of book adaption?

  1. you must have permission from the owner of the copyright in the original book that you are basing your screenplay on.
  2. 2. A book needs to be optioned i.e. a studio buys the rights for a set amount of time to develop the project into a film.
  3. 3. Need for an optioning agreement ie. contracted permission that gives interested parties exclusive development rights to the screenplay in cases where a movie is adapted from a novel.

To know more, get in touch with your lawyer. Leave us a message with your queries & we assure you that they won’t be unanswered.

#lawyerup #knowyourlaw #copyright #infringement #agreement #screenplay #movies #novels #adaptation #authors #directors #indiancinema Vishal Bhardwaj #shakespeare remake

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