Can I actually get sued for this?

R

RockmanX3

Well-known member
Today I got into an argument with an unruly lady who chewed me out quite a bit for giving her wrong directions around the campus I work/film on.

However, in an ironic twist of fate, her ranting at me was just so perfect for a character I want to write in my script. I want to use her words, gestures, etc nearly verbatim when I actually cast the character in my film.

Can you actually get sued for copying some random person's words, gestures, etc for a film?

For example, if I ever make the movie and it gets shown in theaters, the lady watches it and notices that my character acts exactly like her and is offended, can she actually sue me? You could argue that other people can act like she does, but she had a very distinct and memorable way of saying things.

I'm pretty sure I would be covered under parody rights, but I just want to take the proper precautions. Thanks!
 
First piece of advice would be not to post in a public forum that
your character is a carbon copy of this woman and that her dialogue is verbatim.
:)

Secondly - unless you name your character after her and use her likeness.... I seriously doubt it.

Third... I'm not a lawyer.
 
Luis Caffesse said:
First piece of advice would be not to post in a public forum that
your character is a carbon copy of this woman and that her dialogue is verbatim.
:)

Secondly - unless you name your character after her and use her likeness.... I seriously doubt it.

Third... I'm not a lawyer.
Click to expand...

Haha, I didn't give away too much, but I did need to explain my situation.

Thanks for the advice.
 
Fourth, there's a reason you always see a disclaimer at the end of films that says something like "all characters in this film are fictional and not based on anyone living or dead", etc. It's because people will sue you if they think you "stole" their characterizations, even if you've never seen them or met them or even heard of them.

Didn't Seinfeld get in some manner of trouble or get some sort of lawsuit for Larry David making his characters from copies of real people? I don't know, there's something about that that rings a bell...

And Lindsay Lohan is suing E*trade for one of their commercials, where there's a "milkaholic" baby named "Lindsay" featured. Lohan is suing because she says it's most obviously a characterization of her, even though ... well, I don't know how many people thought that that baby was supposed to be an imitation of Lindsay Lohan...

So, back to your question -- if you use this lady as inspiration for making your own character, you should be completely free and clear. But if you're copying her, that's not so clear-cut. And, as Luis said, I'm not a lawyer either.
 
Barry_Green said:
Fourth, there's a reason you always see a disclaimer at the end of films that says something like "all characters in this film are fictional and not based on anyone living or dead", etc. It's because people will sue you if they think you "stole" their characterizations, even if you've never seen them or met them or even heard of them.

Didn't Seinfeld get in some manner of trouble or get some sort of lawsuit for Larry David making his characters from copies of real people? I don't know, there's something about that that rings a bell...

And Lindsay Lohan is suing E*trade for one of their commercials, where there's a "milkaholic" baby named "Lindsay" featured. Lohan is suing because she says it's most obviously a characterization of her, even though ... well, I don't know how many people thought that that baby was supposed to be an imitation of Lindsay Lohan...

So, back to your question -- if you use this lady as inspiration for making your own character, you should be completely free and clear. But if you're copying her, that's not so clear-cut. And, as Luis said, I'm not a lawyer either.
Click to expand...

I think I heard of the Seinfield incident before and I definitely know about the Lindsay Lohan one.

I'll definitely be putting a disclaimer for sure. Thanks Barry.
 
RockmanX3 said:
I think I heard of the Seinfield incident before and I definitely know about the Lindsay Lohan one.

I'll definitely be putting a disclaimer for sure. Thanks Barry.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that a disclaimer will only protect you if it's TRUE. Your disclaimer will say that the characters do not depict any real people, either living or dead -- but if, in fact, they DO depict real people, then your disclaimer is a lie and probably won't help you in court.

Don't make your character a carbon-copy of the lady. And use the gist of her rant without quoting it word for word.

And consult a qualified attorney. :)
 
I think the Seinfeld suit was over the "Soup Nazi" episode, which was based on a real soup restaurant here in NYC. Don't know the outcome, but the episode depicted the actual situation quite closely, and of course, characterized the proprietor in a most unflattering way.
 
Oooh, Ted scores a point -- yes, there was the soup nazi. But I don't think that's what I'm referring to. Sorry for the fuzzy memory, but it seems to me that Larry David was accused of making "Seinfeld" from real people that he knew and that there was some kerfuffle about the whole thing. But again, that's just some vague recollection and I could be totally wrong.

But yes, the "soup nazi" is an excellent example because it's pretty much exactly the same scenario the O.P. is considering.
 
Anyone can sue anyone for anything. You can be sued for the most bizarre, unthinkable s*^& that you cannot even believe a person can actually be sued for (trust me, I know). If you have money, people will sue you, plain and simple (and sometimes they'll sue you even if you don't have money).

But you should never, ever, ever not do something out of fear. Common sense pretty much prevails in most instances. Common sense, I'm sure, informs you that no, of course not, this woman could not sue you AND WIN assuming you place the necessary disclaimer at the end of your film and you do not call her character by name.

(Oh yes, because people have actually been sued because they used a person's NAME only -- no one has ever won such a case, but like I said, anyone can sue anyone for anything at any time. Such is our legal system)

The question of CAN someone sue you -- if they have a couple hundred bucks to spend, yes they can sue you as easily as they can spit in your face. There is no law in place that keeps anyone from suing anyone else. The exceptionally rich keep lawyers on hand, though, to deal with frivilous cases that fill their inbox on a daily basis.
 
Kenny Kramer was the real guy and, as they parodied in the show with Kramer having his own Peterman Reality Tour, the real Kenny Kramer provides tours around either NY or LA (can't remember) and I believe there was some court involvement since it was so blatant, BUT I imagine NBC helped out a little

in your case though just make sure you don't use her name, along with the other advice, and I'm sure you'll be ok :)
 
Barry_Green said:
And Lindsay Lohan is suing E*trade for one of their commercials, where there's a "milkaholic" baby named "Lindsay" featured. Lohan is suing because she says it's most obviously a characterization of her, even though ... well, I don't know how many people thought that that baby was supposed to be an imitation of Lindsay Lohan...
Click to expand...

This is the first I've heard of this, and I saw the E*trade spot and never once made a connection to Lindsay Lohan.

I guess all that partying is leaving her low on funds, so she's gotta get back on top some how!
 
I doubt you would be sued for something like this.

In a Tarantino interview he revealed that he often takes words, lines and conversations out from conversations he had in real life with his friends. Often they would recognize their own words in his movies and give Tarantino a hard time about it, but no harm ever done. Deep down inside they are probably flattered.
 
chromeboy007 said:
I doubt you would be sued for something like this.

In a Tarantino interview he revealed that he often takes words, lines and conversations out from conversations he had in real life with his friends. Often they would recognize their own words in his movies and give Tarantino a hard time about it, but no harm ever done. Deep down inside they are probably flattered.
Click to expand...

Those are his friends. I'm dealing with a random person that I only met once and will probably never meet again.

Can't believe his friends would give him a hard time about it, though.
 
The question isn't whether or not your likely to get sued -- it's whether or not you CAN get sued. And whether you're willing to take that risk. I wouldn't. Especially not when it's so easily avoided.
 
I very much doubt you could get sued for this, especially since the woman would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt she not only inspired the character but gave you the actual verbiage you used in a movie. In Canada (can't vouch for the U.S.), you cannot copyright an idea or premise because it's too open to interpretation. As such, she couldn't sue you for supposedly basing a character after her, it's too open to interpretation. If you named the character exactly after her and made her resemble the same woman to a "t", well, there may be some merit to it. However, she would still have to establish that you ripped off her image and mannerisms enough to establish the character you created was actually her... that's hard to do.

For instance, Kristen Wiig has a character on Saturday Night Live by the name of "Aunt Linda". Kristen revealed this character was based on a loud, obnoxious woman who sat near her on a flight (who she apparently had to listen to the whole time). Does Aunt Linda look like the same woman Kristen sat near on the plane? Does she have the same mannerisms, voice or expressions? If someone thinks Kristen based the Aunt Linda character on her, she would have to show proof of this. Again, pretty hard to do since Kristen could've flown 200 times since the character first aired. Same with you... this woman you met once would have to establish you based a character on her but without solid proof, it would go nowhere in court. In fact, they wouldn't even listen to it most likely.

I worked for a manager once (a female) who I wanted to base a character on (think a modern day executive meets Cruella Deville). Would she ever come after me to sue me for basing my character after her? Possibly but how do you prove this? I've worked with many people since, it's not so obvious I based it on her.

In the end, thank God the law doesn't use speculation or innuendo as a basis for any lawsuit... facts (or the lack thereof) are always the key to anything being proven in court.

P.S. I worked for a law firm for 4 years and have seen my fair share of libelous law suits.
 
First off, consult a qualified attorney.

Second, she CAN sue you for pretty much anything she wants. Even if she stands no chance of winning, you still have to show up and defend yourself in court. Why take the chance?

If you're not a good enough writer to create a decent character and dialogue suitable for your purposes without risking a lawsuit, then find someone who is. There are plenty of writers out there. :)
 
Even though someone can sue for anything, you'd never have to defend a lawsuit like that in court. It would be dismissed immediately -- I wouldn't even hire an attorney to defend that, no need. Someone can't accuse you of something so absurd without any proof whatsoever and have a case. You would just show up and say, "I have no idea what this lady is talking about, my characters are entirely fictional, and I would love to know what kind of proof she has EVEN IF it were illegal to base characters on real people, which it is not." The judge wouldn't waste anyone's time with that crap.
 
chapelgrovefilms:

Is it really easy to sue for something like this in the U.S.?

I can only speak for Canada but something like this wouldn't even make it to court, let alone be settled out of court for $10. The lawyer's fees alone to pursue this would be $20,000 and up, no chance of even getting a dime back if you think someone based a character on you.

Realistically speaking, you would have to have a mountain of evidence to prove someone based something on you. Seeing as though he only met her once and the cameras weren't rolling (and we're assuming this person also didn't have a camera, audio recorder or even cell phone pics), I'd say this would be a very, very slim chance this woman would even remember her run-in with RockmanX3, let alone she'd actually figure out he based a character on her.
 
dalethompson said:
chapelgrovefilms:

Is it really easy to sue for something like this in the U.S.?

I can only speak for Canada but something like this wouldn't even make it to court, let alone be settled out of court for $10. The lawyer's fees alone to pursue this would be $20,000 and up, no chance of even getting a dime back if you think someone based a character on you.

Realistically speaking, you would have to have a mountain of evidence to prove someone based something on you. Seeing as though he only met her once and the cameras weren't rolling (and we're assuming this person also didn't have a camera, audio recorder or even cell phone pics), I'd say this would be a very, very slim chance this woman would even remember her run-in with RockmanX3, let alone she'd actually figure out he based a character on her.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there were no cameras rolling at the time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top