NBC Turns to Lisa Callif for Insight on Life Rights in Potential Thai Cave Rescue Movie
Filmmakers are already lining up to make a movie about the 12 members of the youth soccer team who were rescued from a cave in northern Thailand, but they will need to get at least one person involved to sign away their life rights to gain insight and wide-ranging creative control for the film. In the NBC article “A Thai Cave Rescue Movie Could Hinge on This Contract,” Partner Lisa Callif discusses the legal process for obtaining life rights when creating a documentary.
According to Callif, negotiations “drag on” because of monetary demands and subjects’ desire to have more control over the way they’re being portrayed. “You’re talking to somebody about making a picture about their life. It doesn’t get more personal than that,” said Callif. “It takes longer than people want it to or expect, and it costs more than people want to pay.”
Callif noted that because the soccer players are between 11 and 16 years old, their parents would be the ones to sign a movie contract, but it’s unlikely a single filmmaker will acquire the life rights of all 12 soccer players and the coach, since they would only need one person’s life rights to tell the story of the coach and whole team.