Public domain in the US, the EU and the UK
DraculaBram Stoker, 1897
Bram Stoker's 1897 novel is free to adapt. The Count from the films is not the Count from the book: start from the text.
- First published
- 1897
- Author died
- 1912
- Original language
- English
Copyright status
Copyright ends at different dates in different countries. Here is where this work stands in the three places most readers release in.
| Where | Status |
|---|---|
| United States | Public domain. First published in 1897, before 1931: the 95-year US term for works of that age has run out. |
| European Union and United Kingdom | Public domain since 1 January 1983. Bram Stoker died in 1912, and the term is 70 years after the end of the year of death. |
| Other countries | Most 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.
Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to sell a London house to Count Dracula and finds himself a prisoner in the castle. The Count sails to England, preys on Lucy Westenra, then on Jonathan's fiancée Mina, and a small band led by Professor Van Helsing hunts him back to his castle. The whole novel is told in diaries, letters, telegrams and newspaper cuttings.
Free to use
- The 1897 novel: its plot, its characters (Count Dracula, Jonathan and Mina Harker, Lucy Westenra, Van Helsing, Renfield, Dr Seward), its places and its dialogue.
- Stoker's own Count: a tall old man, clean-shaven except for a long white moustache, dressed in black from head to foot, with a cruel mouth, sharp white teeth, pointed ears and hair on his palms.
- Any change you want: move it to another century or country, change the genre, tell it from the Count's side, make a series and sell it.
- The title. In most countries copyright does not protect a title on its own, and Dracula has been used by countless films and books. Present your film clearly as an adaptation of the novel.
Watch out for
- The slicked-back hair, the evening dress and the high-collared cape come from the stage play and the 1931 Universal film, not from the novel. Design your own Count from the text.
- An actor's face is protected by personality or publicity rights in many countries, sometimes after death. Never prompt for Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee or Gary Oldman, and check that your Count does not come out looking like them.
- Modern editions add protected material: introductions, notes, new translations. Work from the 1897 text, and from an old translation or your own if you adapt in another language.
- AI image models have seen a century of Dracula films. Describe the Count from the book in your art direction, and check each frame for borrowed film designs.
The full rules, with the laws and court decisions behind them, are in our guide to adapting public domain works.
An adaptation idea
Dracula as found footage: each episode is one witness's diary, until the diaries meet.
Format: A six-episode series of about ten minutes each, one narrator per episode (Jonathan, Lucy, Seward, Mina, Van Helsing, then all of them), as the novel itself is built.
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.
- 1Get the 1897 text from Standard Ebooks or Project Gutenberg (links below) and save it as a PDF with a text layer. ScreenWeaver reads a text layer for free, up to 300 pages per file.
- 2Create a series project and attach the PDF. Ask the assistant for the characters, places and objects. In our own test on the full novel it created 11 characters, 16 places and 8 objects.
- 3Write the art direction yourself, from the book: Carpathian passes, a half-ruined castle, Victorian Whitby. Add a style image you made, not a film still.
- 4Ask for the scenes one narrator at a time, then have each scene cut into shots. Our test produced 32 scenes and 177 shots for the whole book.
- 5Generate the frames in Storyboard. Check that the Count matches Stoker's description and no actor, then generate the clips in Production.
How a whole book becomes scenes and shots: novel to storyboard.
Original texts
Where to get Dracula from a legal source
- Project GutenbergEnglishPublic domain in the US. Outside the US, check your own law. If you republish the file, remove the Project Gutenberg name and licence, as its licence asks.
- Standard EbooksEnglishA proofread edition that Standard Ebooks dedicates to the public domain (CC0).
- WikisourceEnglishSearch across editionsSearch results across editions. Each edition names its source: for a translation, check who translated it and when.
Questions
Is Dracula in the public domain?
Yes. The novel was published in 1897 and Bram Stoker died in 1912. It is free in the United States, in every EU country and in the United Kingdom.
Can I make Dracula look like Bela Lugosi?
Avoid it. The look comes from the play and the 1931 film rather than the novel, and the actor's likeness is protected by personality rights in many places. Build your Count from Stoker's description.
Can I call my film Dracula?
Yes. In most countries copyright does not protect a title on its own, though some, such as France, bar a title that creates confusion with another work of the same kind. Present it as an adaptation of Stoker's novel, and if you plan merchandise or a brand around the name, search the trademark registers first.
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
- FrankensteinMary Shelley's novel is free. The flat head and the neck bolts are not in it: they are a studio's design.
- Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeStevenson's 1886 novella is short, free and built like a mystery: a strong first project for an AI short film.
- The Picture of Dorian GrayOscar Wilde's novel is free in both its 1890 and 1891 versions. Paint your own portrait: the famous ones belong to their painters.
Start your adaptation.
Import Dracula, build the cast and the places, write the scenes and cut them into shots. The Screenwriter plan is free.