A24 bets on SCP Foundation horror

Following the success of Backrooms, A24 is producing V/H/S: SCP, an anthology film set in the SCP Foundation universe, a sprawling creepypasta about a government agency that contains paranormal anomalies.

The SCP community was never consulted

The SCP Foundation Wiki, the official home for SCP content, stated they had no communication with A24, Image Nation Studios, or Spooky Pictures despite making several contact attempts after the announcement.

“We have not had any communication with the filmmakers, producers, or distributors for this project, despite our best efforts, and to the best of our knowledge they have not made any efforts to contact us.”

SCP runs on Creative Commons

The SCP Foundation operates under a CC BY-SA 3.0 ShareAlike license, meaning anyone can create derivative works but must allow others to do the same and cannot claim exclusive rights.

A24 claims exclusive worldwide rights

A24 and its partners stated their worldwide rights pertain only to their specific film project, but under the ShareAlike license, no one can claim exclusive rights to any SCP material.

“A24's worldwide rights pertain to the specific film project being produced.”

The license requires free redistribution

Creative Commons CEO Anna Tumadóttir explained that any SCP film must be released under the same CC BY-SA 3.0 license, allowing anyone to freely redistribute or stream it without exclusive distribution rights.

“Adaptations must be released under the same terms as the original, and without exclusive distribution rights.”

A24 cannot stop competitors

Law professor Paul Szynol noted that under the license, A24 cannot prevent Netflix, other studios, or anyone else from making and distributing their own SCP films, making traditional studio economics impossible.

“the studio wouldn't be able to stop anyone else from making adaptations of its film”

Theater exclusivity becomes impossible

SCP Wiki Admin DrEverettMann warned that without theatrical exclusivity, audiences could legally download the film for free at home, making it impractical to recoup production costs through traditional distribution.

“It is not possible for anybody to have exclusive rights to a film distributed under a CC BY-SA license”

A24 faces three difficult paths

A24 could proceed and face legal enforcement, abandon the SCP branding to avoid the license, or release the film under the ShareAlike license and hope to break even without exclusive rights.

“In that case, A24's version of the film would be unauthorized and infringing. Basically, it would be the death of the project.”

Rebranding is the likely outcome

A24 will probably abandon the SCP branding while taking inspiration from the source material, a tactic others have used with commercial works based on SCP Foundation content.