ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

6 years, 4 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Are you after a script clearance report (and clearances), or to talk with an IP lawyer? They don't come cheap, either of them, and that's before you start paying royalties. It's extremely common in the industry to mock up books, pics, etc. Or if you've more general context we may be able to suggest something? For instance is it a short/feature, shown online/distributed/etc?

6 years, 4 months ago - Marlom Tander

Are you talking about showing/including copyright material in your film? You need permission from the copyright holder.

That might be granted for free if you ask them nicely (thank you, the Britten Pears Foundation) or, more likely, want some money. That money might be pretty low* - I've been asked for as little at £100 for music rights for 20thC classical music, (though this was going to played by people in the film, so only publisher permission was needed, not record company).

The permission should be as simple as possible, there is no "form" as such. Even an email trail such as "Can we use your painting in our film please?" "Yes" suffices in law. That said if your project has a budget for lawyers and scope for serious distribution, they'll give you something more formal.

*It might be less than the cost of mocking up for something you need to get right, e.g "One of our Mona Lisa's is missing" needs a Mona Lisa that looks convincing and that's a skilled job.

LAWYERS in this area, well, if we didn't have the word expensive, we'd need to invent it :-) (I won one copyright case simply by getting permission from a top IP lawyer to be able to say "FYI, my lawyer is...". Big company thought they could steamroller me. They settled instead :-)

6 years, 4 months ago - Chris Labinjo

Try contacting Tony Morris at Swanton Turton LLP www.swanturton.com. They specialise in film and media. He has written a great book on contracts, copyright etc. You can get it on Amazon... The Filmmakers guide...

6 years, 3 months ago - Charles Meunier

Thank you for your help.
Just for information, this is for a low budget feature film (around 350k for production).
I contacted publishers and writers of around 40 books already. Some of them agreed to let us use their work but did ask for a release form. And the director would feel more comfortable with one as well. That's the reason why I'm asking.