A24 faces legal gridlock over its SCP Foundation film project
A24’s attempt to adapt the sprawling SCP Foundation internet horror universe for the V/H/S anthology series has hit a wall of community backlash and complex licensing hurdles. By bypassing the creators behind the original wiki-based project, the studio now faces a potential legal nightmare over the nature of Creative Commons ownership.
The SCP Foundation operates under a strict CC BY-SA 3.0 license, which mandates that any derivative works must remain open for redistribution. Legal experts suggest this creates an impossible business model for a major studio. If A24 proceeds with the film under this license, they cannot claim exclusive distribution rights, meaning the movie could be legally shared or streamed by anyone for free. Conversely, if they attempt to enforce exclusivity, they would likely be in direct violation of the ShareAlike terms.
Community administrators have noted that they were never contacted by the production team, despite repeated attempts to reach out. This lack of communication, combined with A24’s previous friction with internet horror creators during the Backrooms project, has left the studio on precarious footing. While the studio maintains that its rights pertain only to their specific film, industry observers argue that the project may ultimately be forced to abandon the SCP branding entirely to avoid a high-stakes copyright infringement battle.
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