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Neon pledges to release its SCP Foundation film under the wiki's ShareAlike license
Neon pledged to release its 2027 SCP Foundation film under CC BY-SA after contacting the wiki's admins first. A24 did neither, and so far the license has moved one studio through public pressure, with a promise that can only be checked at release.
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What happened
- A24 unveiled a V/H/S film based on the SCP Foundation without contacting the SCP Wiki team or committing to the open license the wiki requires.
- The A24 announcement drew criticism from the SCP community and a warning about the license's restrictions from the wiki's admin team.
- Neon's film will not be an official SCP project, since no wiki staff work on it, no compensation is involved, and the wiki's own rules bar it from endorsing the film.
- According to Engadget, the anthology will platform emerging filmmakers and showcase creators from the SCP community.
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Why it matters
- cost Choosing SCP material means accepting a ShareAlike release for the finished film, a term The Verge ties to a quick, possibly low-budget production and a harder route to profit.
- precedent Other studios eyeing wiki-built horror now have a public example of what the stewards praise: early communication and a stated commitment to the license.
- exposure A24 and Spooky Pictures are named in the admins' public offer to find a CC BY-SA route, so releasing their film without the license would mean turning that offer down on the record.
Before a studio announces a film built on SCP Foundation material, the person who clears its rights needs to read the license. The SCP Wiki has been running since 2008 [10], and the Foundation requires adaptations to be released under Creative Commons ShareAlike, or CC BY-SA [3].
Hollywood is increasingly turning to the internet for story ideas, according to Engadget, which cites A24's Backrooms film from web series creator Kane Parsons [13]. The A24 backlash was about a license term, and the people who raised it in public were the wiki's own admins [2].
Neon got public thanks. "The staff of the SCP Foundation Wiki and our community appreciate Neon's excellent communication and commitment to following the requirements of our license as well as the spirit of collaboration at the core of the SCP Foundation project," the SCP Wiki admin team wrote in a statement [6].
Neither report describes legal action against anyone. The admins' stance toward A24 is an invitation. They would "love to sit down with A24, Spooky Pictures, and other involved parties to discuss options for how they could make and distribute a film while complying with CC BY-SA," they wrote [7]. On Neon's side, there is only a pledge until the film reaches theaters in 2027 [4].
The Verge wrote that "Seeing an easy PR win, Neon is cashing in" [12]. I think the motive matters less than where it leaves Neon. The pledge cost little to make. Breaking it would happen in front of the community that thanked the studio by name [6].
Keeping the pledge has a price. The Verge reported that there is almost no information about the film beyond the licensing details. It took the 2027 date as a sign of a quick turnaround and possibly a low budget, given the "challenges of making a profit on a film made under a ShareAlike license" [8]. Neon, the distributor of Parasite and Anora [11], is accepting that model for this project.
For a studio weighing community-built IP, finance should ask one question before anyone drafts a press release: does the project still work if the finished film carries the community's license? If yes, Neon's approach is the template: contact the stewards early and commit publicly to the license [3]. If no, the property does not fit the plan. Announcing anyway gets the A24 result, a public warning followed by an open offer to talk about compliance [2][7].
What to watch
- Whether A24 and Spooky Pictures take up the SCP admins' offer to discuss a CC BY-SA version of their V/H/S film.
- Whether Neon's film carries the CC BY-SA terms when it reaches theaters in 2027.
- Whether Neon names its filmmakers or a budget, which would show what a ShareAlike film costs a studio to make.