I understand that someone might be a valuable firsthand source to get interesting details and core pieces of a real story right. But how can someone secure the movie rights or book rights from them? Stuff happening to you doesn’t exactly mean you’ve created something and should have copyright, or does it?
You have a right to your name, image and likeness. If someone makes a movie about your life and doesn’t pay you, you can sue them for damages. Here’s an example law, the one that covers my state.