The Docudrama

Caveat: these laws vary from state to state and country to country.

This hybrid brand of fact and fiction (sometimes call faction) now make up about half the prime-time TV shows and movie dockets.

The Legal Rick of Docudramas

The producer often creates private scenes and dialogue to convey the story, and the scenes have to be provocative as well to get ratings.
Producers risk invading privacy or defaming people or infringing on a celebrity right of publicity.

The right to be left alone and have other stay out of your personal affairs.

The right to prevent others from commercializing or profiting from your identity.

A false statement harming a person's reputation.

The more famous a person is, the less ability that person has to claim privacy rights.
This is due to the first amendment: events and personal matters surrounding a person in public life are matters of legitimate public interest (news is broadly defined).
Deceased people have no privacy rights.

The right to privacy is usually divided into 4 categories:

Disclosure of embarrassing facts:
- Definition: When a producer discloses private information about a person, to the public, and such facts would offend the average person, and the facts are not a legitimate public matter.
- Examples: Sexual Conduct, Nude Pictures, Medical Records.
False Light
- Definition: When a producer creates a scene that creates a negative inaccurate impression or false illusion about someone.
Intrusion
Misappropriation
- It is unlawful for a producer to use a person's name and likeness without their permission.

This right allows each people to control and profit from the commercial value of his/her identity.

In CA, the right of publicity continues for 70 years after death (Similar to property right).