Second Circuit Gives Halloween Treat To Friday The 13th Screenwriter

• Published date: 01 November 2021
• Subject Matter: Corporate/Commercial Law, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Corporate and Company Law, Copyright, Trials & Appeals & Compensation
• Law Firm: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
• Author: Mr Matthew Samet and Margaret A. Esquenet

Just in time for Spooky Season, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the screenwriter of the iconic horror film Friday the 13^th (1980), Arthur Miller ("Miller"), reclaimed the copyright in his screenplay from Manny, Inc. ("Manny") and its successor-in-interest Horror Inc. ("Horror"). Assessing the relationship between Miller and Manny, the Court determined that Miller did not write the screenplay as a "work made for hire" under the Copyright Act of 1976 (the "Act") and thus Miller's timely copyright termination notice to Manny and Horror (collectively, the "Companies") effectively reclaimed his copyright.

In its blockbuster decision, the Second Circuit recounted the undisputed record of the lower court on summary judgment. In 1979, producer, director, and writer Sean S. Cunningham, whose company is Manny's general partner, contacted close friend and collaborator Miller about writing a screenplay for a horror film following the success of Halloween. Miller and Manny then signed an agreement (the "Parties' Agreement") based on a standard form contract from the Writers Guild of America, East (the "WGA"), a union for screenwriters, which Miller had joined. The agreement recognized that Miller had signed the WGA's then-operative collective bargaining agreement known as the Minimum Basic Agreement (the "MBA"), and that Miller's terms could not be less advantageous than the minimums under the MBA. Furthermore, the Parties' Agreement provided that Manny "employ[ed]" Miller to write the screenplay in exchange for two lump-sum payments.

Over approximately two months, Miller wrote the Friday the 13^th screenplay while working closely with Cunningham, bouncing ideas off one another at each other's homes. Miller drafted the screenplay at his own house using his own typewriter and paper, but also relied on some supplies from Cunningham. He consistently received sole writing credit for the screenplay.

At least a year after Miller finished the screenplay, Cunningham granted Georgetown Productions, Inc. ("Georgetown") "complete control" over the screenplay in exchange for financing the film. Georgetown's principal, investor Phil Scuderi, provided extensive notes and added, over Miller's objection, the famous finale where franchise villain Jason'who does not appear in any of Miller's drafts and died as a young boy'emerges from Crystal Lake and drags the protagonist into the waters below, giving birth to numerous sequels, a TV show, books, comics, and Halloween-ready merchandise.

In 1980, Manny assigned its rights in the screenplay to Georgetown, which filed a copyright registration listing Georgetown as the film's "author" and...