How to research a screenplay: real events, periods, experts and sources

This article is part of our guide to screenwriting software and the tools around it. It gives the six-step method, where to find sources, a research bible template you can copy, and the legal risks to flag for a lawyer.

A research bible is a single shared document that holds a project's timeline, people, places, period details and sources, with each fact tagged by how well it is verified.

The 6-step research process

Do steps 1 to 3 before the treatment. Do steps 4 and 5 alongside it. Revisit step 6 every draft.

Primary vs. secondary sources

A primary source is a record made at the time by someone involved: a letter, a court filing, a newspaper report, a photograph, a dataset. A secondary source is a later account that interprets primary sources, such as a biography or documentary.

Secondary sources give you the shape of a story fast, but they also carry the author's interpretation and errors. Writers who stop at the biography often repeat the biographer's mistakes. Use secondary sources to find the primary ones, through their notes and bibliographies.

How to read a court file for a script

Court files are some of the best material a fact-based script can have, because testimony records people's actual words under oath. Read them in this order: the docket (the list of filings, which gives you the timeline), the complaint or indictment (the story one side tells), the transcripts (voices and contradictions), and the judgment. Note the page number of every line you might use. A transcript can run thousands of pages, which is where chatting with PDFs and checking the cited page saves days.

Researching a period: language, objects, social history

Period errors pull an audience out of the story faster than plot holes do. Build a detail sheet for each of these:

• Language. Check whether a word or phrase existed in your year. The Google Books Ngram Viewer shows when words appear in print; period newspapers and letters show how people actually talked. Watch for modern idioms ("reach out," "on the same page") in historical dialogue.
• Money. What did rent, a meal, a car or a phone call cost? Old newspaper ads are the best source. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator converts dollar amounts between years so you can judge what a sum felt like.
• Technology and objects. When did a product, a phone system or a weapon become available, and to whom? A catalog or trade magazine from the year beats a modern list.
• Routines. How people commuted, ate, paid bills, dated and worked. Social history studies and oral histories cover this.
• Law and institutions. What was legal, how the police and courts worked, who could vote, who could hold which job.
• Beliefs and attitudes. What characters would assume without thinking. This is where period scripts most often slip into modern views.

Write one line per detail, with its source, in the bible. A detail with no source is a guess.

Researching a profession: medicine, law, science

Audiences who work in a profession notice every error in it. Three habits help:

1. Read what the profession reads. Clinical guidelines, law review articles, trade journals and textbooks show how professionals think, not only what they do. For medicine and science, read the actual studies rather than news coverage of them.
2. Learn the procedures in order. For a surgery, trial or lab experiment, write the steps as a numbered list before you dramatize it. Then decide which steps you will compress.
3. Collect the jargon with definitions. Keep a glossary. Use jargon the way professionals do: casually, without explaining it to each other.

When you cite studies in a research note, cite the real paper with a link or DOI, not a summary of it. If a study was later retracted or was only a preprint, note that, because a story built on a withdrawn finding has a problem.

Interviewing experts and consultants

A consultant turns "roughly right" into "how it really is." Prepare before each call:

## Interview: [Name], [role]
**Date:** [date]   **Recorded:** yes / no (consent noted)
**May we name you in credits or research notes?** yes / no
**Off the record topics:** [list]

### Questions (most important first)
1. Walk me through a typical [shift / case / day] from start to finish.
2. What do films and TV get wrong about your job?
3. What would someone in your role never say or do?
4. [Scene-specific question: "If X happened at 3 a.m., who gets called first?"]
5. What did it smell, sound and feel like?
6. Who else should I talk to?

### Notes
[Answers, with timestamps if recorded]

Ask for consent before recording, and follow the recording laws where you and the interviewee are; some US states require every party's consent. If the person was involved in the real events, treat the conversation as a source, not just color: note what they claim, and check it against records.

Keeping a research bible: structure and template

Writers' rooms and co-writers need one shared research bible, not a folder of browser bookmarks. Here is a structure you can copy into any editor.

# [PROJECT TITLE]: Research bible
**Last updated:** [date]   **Maintained by:** [name]

## Status key
- V = verified in two independent sources or one primary source
- S = single secondary source, needs a primary
- D = invented or changed for drama (see Truth and drama log)

## 1. Timeline
| Date | Event | Status | Source (link, page) |
|---|---|---|---|

## 2. People
| Name | Real / composite / invented | Living? | Role in story | Sources | Legal flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|

## 3. Places
| Place | Period detail | Photos / maps | Source |
|---|---|---|---|

## 4. Period and profession detail
| Topic | Detail | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|

## 5. Glossary
| Term | Meaning | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|

## 6. Truth and drama log
| Scene | What really happened | What the script shows | Why | Real person affected? |
|---|---|---|---|---|

## 7. Open questions
- [ ] [Question] (owner, due date)

## 8. Sources
1. [Full citation with link or DOI]

The "Truth and drama log" and the "Legal flag" column are the parts producers and lawyers will ask for. Keep them current.

Accuracy vs. drama: where to bend, and the legal risk

Every fact-based script changes the truth. Timelines get compressed, several people become one composite character, private conversations are invented. The question is where those changes are safe.

The legal concepts to know

These are general descriptions, not legal advice. Laws differ by state and country, and the rules change.

• Defamation is a false statement of fact, published to others, about an identifiable person, that harms their reputation. Truth is a defense, and statements of pure opinion are generally protected. Public officials and public figures must prove "actual malice," meaning the publisher knew the statement was false or recklessly disregarded whether it was. Private figures usually need to show only negligence.
• False light covers a highly offensive false portrayal of a recognizable person. Some states do not recognize it at all.
• Publication of private facts covers true but private information whose disclosure would offend a reasonable person and is not newsworthy. Only living people can sue.
• Right of publicity limits using a person's name or likeness for commercial purposes. Its reach over films and books varies by state.
• Life rights. No general US rule says you must buy someone's life rights to tell a true story. A life rights agreement is mainly a release: the person agrees not to sue over defamation, privacy, publicity and similar claims, and often agrees to cooperate and share private material. It matters most when you plan to fictionalize a living person.

What you can do as the writer

1. Keep the bible. A sourced record of every fact is what a clearance lawyer reviews.
2. Mark every change in the truth and drama log, with the reason.
3. Flag every living, identifiable person in the People table.
4. Don't put invented admissions in real mouths. If a scene needs one, consider a composite who cannot be identified.
5. Hand the file to the producer's lawyer early. Productions usually run a clearance review and buy errors and omissions insurance before release; your sourced bible makes that faster.

For the US basics, the Digital Media Law Project's legal guide (no longer updated, so check current law) covers defamation, false light and privacy in plain language. Practitioner guides on life rights, such as those listed in the sources, explain how releases work in California and the UK.

Building a cited research bible in WriteOrbit

WriteOrbit fits the research and development side of a script, not the formatting.

1. Search scholarly sources from the editor. Search 250M+ scholarly works, then type @ to cite one in your bible. Each citation links to a real work, and you can pick any of 10,000+ citation styles.
2. Chat with archive PDFs. Upload court transcripts, reports or scanned records to the Library and ask, "On which pages does the witness describe the car?" Answers carry page numbers, so you can open the page and confirm the quote.
3. Check source quality. AI review flags retracted papers, preprints and wrong DOIs, and claim checks mark statements that your sources don't support. Results appear as comments in the text.
4. Share with the writers' room. Real-time co-editing, comments, suggestions and version history keep one bible for everyone.
5. Export for the producer. Export Word or PDF for the clearance lawyer.

The free plan holds 10 PDFs up to 10 MB each; larger archives need a paid plan. See /pricing for current limits.

FAQ

How much research should I do before writing a screenplay?

Enough to answer the questions the story raises, and no more before the first draft. Research the world, the period and the main events until you can write a treatment without placeholders, then start writing. Keep a running list of open questions and research them between drafts. Most projects need a second research round once the story is clear.

Do I need life rights to write a screenplay based on a true story?

Not always. US law has no general rule that you must buy life rights to tell a true story. Producers buy them mainly as a release from claims such as defamation, false light and invasion of privacy, and for access to the person's memories. The more you fictionalize a living person, the more a release matters. Ask an entertainment lawyer.

Can I be sued for a screenplay based on real events?

Yes. Living people can bring claims if a script presents false statements of fact that harm their reputation (defamation), portrays them in a highly offensive false way (false light), or exposes private facts. Truth is a defense to defamation, but it doesn't stop a lawsuit being filed. Producers use clearance reviews and insurance to manage this. This is not legal advice.

Where can I find primary sources for a historical screenplay?

Start with the National Archives, the Library of Congress (including the Chronicling America newspaper archive), state and local archives, court records through PACER or county courts, and oral history collections. University libraries and the Internet Archive hold memoirs, trade magazines and catalogs that show how people spoke, dressed and spent money.

How do I keep track of screenplay research?

Keep a research bible: one shared document with the timeline, people, places, period details, open questions and every source with a link or page number. Tag each fact as verified, single-source or invented for drama. That tag tells the writers' room and later the clearance lawyer which scenes are on firm ground.

Where to go next

Research is the part of screenwriting that formatters leave out. See the full kit in our screenwriting software guide. Next, read what AI can and shouldn't do for screenwriters, and if you also write reports for funders or partners, see how to write a research report.

Sources

1. US National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/
2. Library of Congress, Chronicling America historic newspapers: https://www.loc.gov/collections/chronicling-america/
3. Library of Congress, "Library of Congress Unveils Major Upgrades to Chronicling America Website" (4 August 2025): https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-25-045
4. PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records): https://pacer.uscourts.gov/
5. FOIA.gov: https://www.foia.gov/
6. Internet Archive: https://archive.org/
7. Google Books Ngram Viewer: https://books.google.com/ngrams
8. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI Inflation Calculator: https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
9. Digital Media Law Project, Legal Guide, "Defamation": https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/defamation
10. Digital Media Law Project, Legal Guide, "False Light": https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/false-light
11. Digital Media Law Project, Legal Guide, "Publication of Private Facts": https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/publication-private-facts
12. Digital Media Law Project, Legal Guide, "Using the Name or Likeness of Another": https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/using-name-or-likeness-another
13. JD Supra, "Life Rights Agreements Under California Law: When You Need Them and Key Clauses to Include": https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/life-rights-agreements-under-california-1684318/
14. Fieldfisher, "Life story rights in the UK: 10 top tips for producers": https://www.fieldfisher.com/en/insights/life-story-rights-in-the-uk-10-top-tips-for-producers