How does the law apply to your writing?

Do you know how the law applies to your writing?

When you’re publishing content, chances are you’ll come across legal matters at some point in the process. And they could be things you might even not be aware of – with potentially serious consequences.

For example, It’s a common misconception that:

• quoting is fine – fair dealing applies
• anything on the internet is free to reproduce
• creative work – song lyrics, art, photography, TV, film, novels and poetry are all fair game
• mentioning case studies of real people or revealing someone’s personal life are okay
• saying whatever you like about a living individual is no problem.

None of these are actually correct:

• The first three could be copyright violation.
• The fourth could be breach of privacy.
• The last one could be libel.

These can show up in a manuscript. Copy-editors are trained to alert authors to legal issues in their content.

But there’s just one problem with this: by the time your script gets to copy-editing stage, it’s well into production.

• You don’t want to find out so late that the 30 case studies of people you’ve interviewed do actually need to see what you’ve written and give their consent to publish it.
• Or the one-line quote from a song or still image from a major film franchise are protected intellectual property, require disclosure of reproduction context – and could cost you megabucks in licensing fees.
• Or the person you knew and talked about negatively in your memoir really doesn’t want their private actions to be revealed to the world.
• Or that because your text is liberally decorated with inspirational epigraphs, it isn’t fair dealing and you’ll need to get permission for every single one.

The best time to address legals in a script is at draft stage. This means you can be across any issues with having to alter or even remove associated content for salience, story or support.

When clients come to me for manuscript assessment or development, I ensure that potential legal issues are highlighted for them at that point.

Not every development editor does this – but I do, because it’s far more useful for a client to know whether something is going to substantially impact their script as early as possible, rather than so late in the day that it brings their publishing schedule to a screeching halt.

I can do this, because I have a lot of experience as an editorial project manager.

But even so, there are limitations: the main one is that editors aren’t lawyers.

We always counsel clients to seek qualified legal advice from an IP or publishing lawyer, rights specialist or permissions editor specialising in copyright clearance.

Legals in a script are crucially important, even more so now with AI usage and the complication that comes with that.

When you publish, your name is on the cover. Don’t expose yourself to potential liability.

Be sure to protect yourself and stay within the law!