First, buy the remake rights from whoever owns them... which, if the original was any kind of success, will probably cost a ton of money.

Alternatively, take the basic idea of the movie and write a new script from scratch with all the copyrightable elements of the original (e.g. characters, dialogue, etc) replaced with your own ideas.

The place to start will be to contact the production company which made the orginal film (or the distributor) and find out about availability of remake rights.

If the original film was based on a copyrighted work (ie. a book), then you might be able to side-step the original production company and go direct to the author or publisher. Depending on the deal which was struck with the original producers, the remake rights may still be owned by, or have reverted to, the publisher or author. In theory you would therefore be able to avoid dealing with the original production company altogether.

Regardless of the route taken, be prepared to pay reasonably signifcant sums of money for the rights unless the original film was a turkey.

Ben C.

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filmmaking.net
(Incorporating the Internet Filmmaker's FAQ)

Please note the opinions expressed here are those of the author only and do not constitute legal advice. The author cannot accept and liability whatsoever for inaccurate or outdated information contained within.
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