Public domain in the US, the EU and the UK

CarmillaJoseph Sheridan Le Fanu, 1872

Le Fanu's vampire novella came out 25 years before Dracula and is free to adapt. It is short, intimate and ideal for an AI short or a small series.

First published
1872
Author died
1873
Original language
English
Start my adaptationOriginal texts

Copyright status

Copyright ends at different dates in different countries. Here is where this work stands in the three places most readers release in.
WhereStatus
United StatesPublic domain. First published in 1872, before 1931: the 95-year US term for works of that age has run out.
European Union and United KingdomPublic domain since 1 January 1944. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu died in 1873, and the term is 70 years after the end of the year of death.
Other countriesMost countries protect a work for 50 to 100 years after its author's death, and some have transition rules. If you release or sell in a specific country, check its law.

Status checked on October 26, 2026 against the sources listed in our legal guide.

Laura lives with her father in a lonely castle in Styria. After a carriage accident, a mysterious girl, Carmilla, is left in their care, and the two become close friends. Carmilla sleeps all day, never prays and grows strangely affectionate, while girls in the nearby villages fall ill and die. Laura begins to weaken from nightmares of a creature that bites her breast, and a visiting general reveals what Carmilla really is.

Free to use

  • The 1872 novella: Laura, Carmilla, her mother the Countess, General Spielsdorf, Baron Vordenburg and the castle in Styria.
  • The portrait of Mircalla, Countess Karnstein, dated 1698, which looks exactly like Carmilla.
  • The relationship between the two young women, central to the book.
  • Any version: modern, a campus, a series, a horror film.

Watch out for

  • The 2014 web series Carmilla and later films own their scripts, characters and designs.
  • Recent annotated editions and new translations are protected. Use the 1872 text or an old translation.
  • Vampire clichés from later films (capes, fangs on cue, mirrors) are not in the book. Take your Carmilla from Le Fanu.
  • Never prompt for an actor from a famous version.

The full rules, with the laws and court decisions behind them, are in our guide to adapting public domain works.

An adaptation idea

A guest who never leaves: Laura's diary of the summer Carmilla came to stay.

Format: A 25-minute short, or six short episodes, one per week of the visit.

Adapt it in ScreenWeaver

These are the steps as they run in ScreenWeaver today. You read and edit every step, and you start every generation yourself, in the app.

  1. 1Download the text below. At about 30,000 words it fits in one PDF and is read for free with a text layer.
  2. 2Attach it to a film project and ask for the characters, places and objects. Create the portrait of Mircalla as an object.
  3. 3Write the art direction: a castle in a forest, moonlit glades, a ruined chapel. Add a style image of your own.
  4. 4Ask for the scenes, then the shots of each scene.
  5. 5Generate the frames in Storyboard, then the clips in Production.

How a whole book becomes scenes and shots: novel to storyboard.

Original texts

Where to get Carmilla from a legal source

Questions

Is Carmilla public domain?
Yes. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu published it in 1872 and died in 1873. It is free in the US, the EU and the UK.
Did Carmilla come before Dracula?
Yes, by 25 years: Carmilla was published in 1872, Dracula in 1897.
Can I use characters from the 2014 web series?
No. Characters and storylines created for the series belong to it. Le Fanu's characters are free.

General information, not legal advice. Copyright, trademark and personality rights depend on the country and on the facts of each project. For a commercial release, have a lawyer check your chain of rights.

Other works to adapt

Start your adaptation.

Import Carmilla, build the cast and the places, write the scenes and cut them into shots. The Screenwriter plan is free.
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