Question: Is it okay to create fictional story around an historic figure?

Via email from Johanna:

Hi Scott,

Your blog is absolutely amazing, thorough and fun to read!!

I'm writing my first screenplay and learning a lot. Could you pls advise me on the following?

Is it ok (legally) to use creative license and write a screenplay based on the life of a historic figure (let’s say for e.g.: Abe Lincoln) and weave a fictional story around his life? To be more specific, could I create fictional characters that are a part of his life? (Shakespeare in Love comes to mind...)

Thank you much for shedding some light into this for me.

Sure. What you're talking about is called historical fiction. Per Wikipedia:

Historical fiction presents readers with a story that takes place during a notable period in history, and usually during a significant event in that period. Historical fiction often presents actual events from the point of view of people living in that time period.

In some historical fiction, famous events appear from points of view not recorded in history, showing historical figures dealing with actual events while depicting them in a way that is not recorded in history. Other times, the historical event complements a story's narrative, occurring in the background while characters deal with events (personal or otherwise) wholly unrelated to recorded history. Sometimes, the names of people and places have been in some way altered. As this is fiction, artistic license is permitted in regard to presentation and subject matter, so long as it does not deviate in significant ways from established history. If events should deviate significantly, the story may then fall into the genre of alternate history, which is known for speculating on what could have happened if a significant historical event had gone differently. On a similar note, events occurring in historical fiction must adhere to the laws of physics. Stories that extend into the magical or fantastic are often considered a historical fantasy.

One of my favorites is "I, Claudius" by Robert Graves, later a wonderful 13-part series that aired on PBS. Here is the opening segment of Episode 1:



Some movie examples that come to mind are:

Little Big Man (1970): Jack Crabb is about 100 years old as the film begins. A collector of oral histories asks him about his past. He recounts being captured and raised by indians, becoming a gunslinger, marrying an indian, watching her killed by General George Armstrong Custer, and becoming a scout for him at Little Big Horn.

Forrest Gump (1994): The story follows the life of low I.Q. Forrest Gump and his meeting with the love of his life Jenny. The film chronicles his accidental experiences with some of the most important people and events in America from the late 1950's through the 1970's including a meeting with Elvis Presley, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, fighting in Vietnam, etc.

Dick (1999): Comedy about two high school girls who wander off during a class trip to the White House and meet President Richard Nixon. They become the official dog walkers for Nixon's dog Checkers, and become his secret advisors during the Watergate scandal.

I'm sure GITS readers will chime in with many other movie examples.

You will want to do considerable research into the era and the historical figures you'll involve in your story - the amount of research dependent, in part, upon the type of script it is. If it's a drama, where authenticity is paramount, that's one type of research. If, on the other hand, you're writing a farce or satire, you may only have to do minimal research as you might be working off character stereotypes.

As long as they're public figures, I think you can pretty much do what you want from a story-telling perspective.