How "Classified Intelligence" became part of American Radio Broadcast history

Charli

Charli

cool little "title"
How "Classified Intelligence" became part of American Radio Broadcast history

"Classified Intelligence" was exhibition only for Scarefest, however Elton and I accomplished something that has now put us on the map of being a part of one of the most famous radios plays (if not the most famous) of American history.

Here's how it went down. As Elton and I brainstormed an idea for the fest, we wanted to steer away from the blood/gore/slash that often occurs with these types of October fests. We then decided to go with a period piece which then lead me to state to Elton,

"Hey, why not use some of the broadcast from the famous radio play War of the Worlds by Orson Wells?" To which I don't think I understood the magnitude of what I just said. Elton told me to go for it.

So how does someone get the rights to use such famous copyright material?

I looked up who wrote the teleplay, who had the rights. I thought it was going to be a long research problem, but it took a matter of minutes actually. I had the lawyer's name, phone number and email address that represents the widow of the play writer.

I tightened the script, sent it as an attachment, then emailed the guy with the polite but "we're a couple of poor filmmakers who are doing everything for free, blah, blah, blah." I didn't lay it on too thick, but I certainly didn't want them to think we had money.

A few days later I got this in my email box:

Charli:

My clients have said you can have a gratis license to use the indicated excerpts from WAR OF THE WORLDS by Howard Koch on the soundtrack of your 9-page, 6-minute film CLASSIFIED.

Norman Rudman

We got permission to use this for FREE! Elton and I were on the phone literally jumping up and down screaming. We do have permission to ask for other festivals, so that door is still open to us.

Had I not asked, we would have gotten nothing. The lesson here is no matter how big or famous a piece of copyright material is, ask the right person, state your case, be polite, and next thing you know have permission to use something that seemed ridiculously impossible to attain.

You never know what you'll get unless you ask, so don't be afraid of copyright material.

So now, "Classified Intelligence" is a legitimate part of American Radio History. How? a simple phone call and email.
 
Cool, Ryan. We learned an important lesson, we had a 50-50 shot if we asked. If you don't ask, you get 100% of nothing. So what do you have to lose? I would have had to rewrite the script, but I'm glad I didn't have to, thanks to the kindness of the estate of Mr. Koch. She was actually out of town, I think in Europe. Can't remember what the lawyer told me. But I sent the information to him, he relayed it, few days later, Shazaam!
 
Whoa, that is great news that you got the rights to use it for free.

I have been wanting to write a feature length script about the whole craziness of Orson Welles' WAR OF THE WORLDS broadcast for about 5-6 years now, but what always stops me is that I don't have any major produced credits (not yet at least), and if I were to ask for the rights to use dialogue from the actual radio play (I would have to for the type of film I was going to write, a historical/sci-fi piece), I might blow my chances of actually getting the rights. Buying the rights would probably be too expensive for me now (isn't it something like $10,000 minimum for rights on things, and that might only give me year). Also, I think Paramount owns rights to The War of the Worlds (they did both movie versions), and I always figured they probably had the rights to other versions locked up anyways.

Are you guys making a film about the actual WAR OF THE WORLDS panic that was caused in 1938 by Mr. Welles and the Mercury Theater, or is your film just using the radio play as some other element? Seriously, I ask because I wouldn't want to tread on the grounds of another DVXUSER's project. If you want, I could PM you on what my idea was, as maybe it is completely different than what you and Elton were doing with your project.

Either way, cool news that you got the rights for free for just asking. And I agree, better to ask and possibly fail than to not ask at all.
 
To use the radio teleplay broadcast you need to ask the lawyer of the estate of Mr. Koch. The laywer, Mr. Rudman told me how someone wanted to use excerpts for a play and they charged the producers $50 a day. Not sure how long the play ran.

Using "movie" excerpts is a whole 'nother thing. You'd have to get rights from the studios. If you watched our short film, you would have noticed we did not use the same aliens or space ship because of possible copyright infringements.

My advice to you is to write the script first, don't pitch the idea. Let the widow see how often you're using her late husband's words. The lawyer actually counted the words we used, that's how precise they were.

I did not have to show any past work at all. I let the script do the talking plus the added "we seek to play homage to that time and keep it simple, clean and interesting." We did not want to project we were going all "horror" with our short.

If I were you I'd get the script finished. I then get feedback from 3-4 screenwriters. I would then tighten the script. I would then send it to Julie Gray who's a script analyst who charges fair prices. Once you've gone through those steps, THEN I would contact the attorney.

"War of the Worlds" radio play is all over the web illegally. If you want to have any hope of doing this right, get permission. State you are an indie film company. State your focus is the hysteria caused by the teleplay. Be tactful. Write a one-page letter and then ask if they would like to read the script.

Since I had spoken to the lawyer on the phone, I sort of knew what to expect. Don't even call or email until you are ready to show something. You may be surprised that they won't ask a lot from you if you are polite and poor - lol. Good luck!
 
Charli,

Thanks so much for all the info and helpful advice. I had thought of maybe writing it first, but was scared that maybe it would end up being a waste of time (beyond my own enjoyment of writing it) if the rights holders didn't like it. The way you put it though, that doesn't sound like such a crazy idea. Also, beyond a script I could present concept art and some storyboards, maybe a teaser trailer. Although, sometimes too much is not good either. Oh well, haven't come to that intersection yet, so I am getting ahead of myself.

From what you say though, they seem to be reasonable to deal with.

I get what you are saying about having something to show instead of just asking for permission outright. Go in with my best foot forward with a strong script so that I present a professional attitude and determination/passion for the subject matter.

Also, I checked out "Classified Intelligence". I really liked it, as it had a fun vibe to it but didn't go into silly territory if you know what I mean. I love 30's to 60's period films and TV shows, and overall I think you and Elton nailed the details. What you have there could make for an interesting web series. The nosey wife of a man in black getting the two of them into all kinds of retro sci-fi trouble and adventure. Or something like that...
 
Thanks, Nektonic for watching the short film. Elton and I are just going the film festival route and then off to push it into ever Public Broadcast Station we can. Once it hits a few festivals, then off to television. Hopefully one of the actors/crew gets noticed. We're putting contact info on credits, that's how much we love our post production team.

Write the script first, Nek. Then tighten it. Get feedback. Then rewrite it. IF they say no, or want a lot of money, which by the way I don't think they do or will, then you just work on the hysteria part of this experience. You can work around not having the radio broadcast. Again, the lawyer is very nice. The wife of the late Mr. Koch was very agreeable.

What have you really got to lose? Go for it!
 
Charli, I am so happy for you. This is one of those moments you and your cast/crew can savor for the rest of your career. Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Thanks, Raster for the quotes, quite fitting.

@ Captain - probably not until next year. Elton is re-editing for longer version. We have a wonderful post production team who will help us finish the product. We're hoping to get it as tight as possible for a good entry to a few festivals. Keep you guys updated.
 
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