Movie rights were for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, not lunch or dinner

The trustee overseeing the rights to author Truman Capote’s work is not going lightly on Paramount Pictures Corp., claiming the studio’s 30-year-old rights to develop a prequel, sequel or television series inspired by the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s have expired.

The trustee, in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday, contends a charitable trust set up by Mr. Capote before his death in 1984 owns the rights to the 1958 novella and that a 1991 agreement with the movie studio stipulated that any forthcoming work must be completed within “a certain amount of time.” The time period is not specified in the lawsuit.

Because no film was made, the suit argues, the film rights are back with the trust, which says it has been approached by numerous producers interested in developing a television series based on the novella.

Paramount, which has not commented on the suit, claims it had no obligation to make the film, but purchased the right to do so for $300,000, according to legal papers accessed by Deadline.com. Paramount claims it intends to do a film based on the novella eventually, according to the news outlet.