Putting a quote in your screenplay

K

kriscolavecchio

Member
Quick question guys. I am working on my first feature length screenplay. I wanted to use a quote from a book "West with the Night" its an autobiography first published in the 40's. I wanted to use a quote from the book as a piece of dialogue, just parting words between two characters. It doesn't play a major part in the story, so if need be I can scratch it. But my question. Do I need to get rights and permission for such a small quote? I initially thought play it safe and emailed the publisher filling out the proper forms, but got the run around and eventually was told that Time Warner, has the film rights for that piece. Does that mean I should back off or does it not matter? I'm just quoting the literature, not making a film about it. Any advice would be helpful thanks guys.
 
If you're only going to use it as dialogue, then very few people would recognise the quote anyway (it's hardly a well-known book), negating most of the hypothetical advantage of a deliberate quote. So it doesn't seem worth the risk. Just paraphrase the lines instead, keeping the sentiment/emotion/theme (or whatever it is that appealed to you) but in different words, then you're totally safe.
 
Thanks for the advice guys.
clang said:
(it's hardly a well-known book), negating most of the hypothetical advantage of a deliberate quote. So it doesn't seem worth the risk. Just paraphrase the lines instead, keeping the sentiment/emotion/theme (or whatever it is that appealed to you) but in different words, then you're totally safe.
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That is a great point. I guess I just fell in love with the quote while reading it. I'll find a better, safer way and get the same meaning out of it.

Cheers
 
Look at how QT used the blowtorch lines from Charley Varrick in Pulp Fiction and made them his own without using a direct quote.
 
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