Q&A: The play we wish to perform has no official stage-script (made for movies). Do we still have to pay for rights?

Question by Eve: The play we wish to perform has no official stage-script (made for movies). Do we still have to pay for rights?
to the movie-owners, I mean.
Members of my drama club and I would like to perform “Across the Universe” for our next musical, of course cutting out any x-rated, inappropriate scenes. I have already gone through the film and written the exact lines of the movie, so we now have a script. My question is:

What do I have to do now in order to sell tickets/perform the show legally? We already have a script…so does that mean we don’t have to call the owners up and ask to do the show (if in fact we could even get ahold of them)?

…I am confused with how this whole system works…what’s legal and what’s illegal to do. we already have a script, and this movie isn’t even in stage form yet, i dont think…does that mean the movie people won’t care and we don’t have to pay?

Best answer:

Answer by tkims
It’s illegal to adapt a movie to a stage show without consent from whatever movie studio owns the movie.

Also, there’s a lot more to adaptation then copying down the lines in the film.

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