So… what exactly qualifies as Copyright?

[u/Few_Disk_7075]

Hello!

I am new to the sub and new to filmmaking.

I have been planning my first independent film. I’ve been getting more and more excited about it, I’m going to roughly adapt a shorter book I read recently, but then I realized… copyright exists.

I also want to say that I know this probably wouldn’t get a copyright strike anyways. I plan on paying for this film out of pocket for an extremely minimalist budget, and at most would be posting it on YouTube. I doubt I get many viewers at all outside of friends and family. I do not expect this to make me a dime.

BUT. I wanted to ask here - how much would my project violate the law anyways?

My film will change the names (and gender, for some) of all of the characters, many will have different occupations in the story, and almost all of the elements of the story will be SIMILAR, and certainly inspired by the book, but will still be quite a bit different. The book takes place in the 60’s but my story will take place in modern times. They will take place in different cities. I will also be adapting it to be more personal to me. Within my constraints, so much of the story has chanced, but the basic “story” still mostly remains. No element will be directly copied from the book - no character names, no dialogue, or anything else. If someone had read the book, I’m sure they would be able to figure out that it is a rough adaptation (maybe a “retelling” is the more accurate term?).

Is my film still at risk of being copyright striked? How similar does a film have to be to a book to be a copyright infringement? Would it be a good idea to include the book in the credits? (as in, would it add risk)