Posted on August 31, 2010 in Contracts and Law, Financing, Producing | 1 Comment
Being a filmmaker is like starting your own business and you need to think of it that way. The role and responsibilities of a filmmaker can be abstract and over glamorized for many starting out. They only see the artistic or technical aspects, but when it comes to the business side they don’t have a clue.
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Posted on August 18, 2010 in Contracts and Law | No Comments
Want to show the classic Warner Bros. movie in your film? What can you do? Legal Ease has the answer.
…It is possible Warners will license you a few Casablanca clips. It’s also possible I will win the Pulitzer Prize for this blog. Both are equally likely, but my money is on the Pulitzer. [...]
Posted on August 3, 2010 in Contracts and Law, Internet, Legal & Copyright | 1 Comment
Margaret Gould Stewart, YouTube’s head of user experience, talks about how the ubiquitous video site works with copyright holders and creators to foster (at the best of times) a creative ecosystem where everybody wins.
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Posted on August 1, 2010 in Contracts and Law, Filmmaking 360 | 1 Comment
Attack of the Show’s Kevin Pereira talks to Rich Demuro, Editor for TechMeme.com more about the DMCA’s new ruling that allows new protections to video remixing and DVD burning for non commercial work. Find out how these revisions will affect you as a consumer and filmmaker.
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Posted on July 16, 2010 in Contracts and Law, Selling Your Film | No Comments
For many filmmakers when it comes to contracts and other legal matters they are totally lost and negligent it, only to find out later that the damage caused by these missteps can’t be easily undone. Check this short list of things to watch out for created be The Independent.
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Posted on July 6, 2010 in Contracts and Law, Financing | 1 Comment
For many independent filmmakers, the LLC is the best choice for forming a film production company. It can be taxed as either a corporation or a partnership, and its operating agreement is more flexible than corporate bylaws for structuring the film company’s operations, but it limits personal liability as effectively as a corporation. Another advantage of the LLC and partnership forms is the ability to allocate gain, loss, deductions, and credits to participants in a way that maximizes their value to investors.
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Posted on May 17, 2010 in Contracts and Law, General Production, Marketing | No Comments
By Jon M. Garon
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC
The challenge for the film producer is that potential distributors may have different goals regarding the marketing of the project. If the pre-release campaign does not work, the failed marketing will add an additional impediment to the sale of the film. In essence, the independent producer needs two [...]
Posted on May 3, 2010 in Contracts and Law, Music | No Comments
Copyright rules define much of the music business, shaping the practices that drive recording and touring deals. Washington understands the importance of the music business, passing and amending copyright laws to benefit and manage the music industry for well over a century.
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Posted on April 14, 2010 in Contracts and Law, Legal & Copyright, Marketing | No Comments
Although film is an expressive art form, it is also an increasingly international and highly commercial business. As a result, filmmakers should be very selective regarding choices to use a third party’s property—copyrighted works, trademarks, readily identified individual names or corporate names—without express permission. Permission is not always difficult to come by. Without the express permission, the errors and omissions insurance may be drafted to exclude any liability for the use of such content, and the lack of coverage may discourage distributors or exhibitors from buying or showing the work.
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Posted on March 29, 2010 in Contracts and Law, Financing | No Comments
By Jon M. Garon
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC
For guerrilla and digital filmmakers, nonprofit grants often go unnoticed. Many nonprofit organizations are willing to participate in independent film projects. Some invest in film as an art form regardless of content, while others support particular projects because they are interested in promoting the message of the filmmaker—this [...]
Posted on January 4, 2010 in Budgeting, Contracts and Law, Music | No Comments
By Jon M. Garon
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC
Anatomy of a Budget
A budget consists of the summary page, known as the top sheet, and a series of department-by-department itemizations for that budget. Even if a film’s expenses top $200 million, every roll of tape must be budgeted, receipted, and credited to its particular account. The numbers [...]
Posted on December 22, 2009 in Contracts and Law | 3 Comments
By Jon M. Garon
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC
For documentary filmmakers to accurately depict their stories, they invariably need to rely on copyright’s fair use provisions significantly more than other filmmakers. This is particularly true if the documentary focuses on literary or visual works or incorporates copyrighted materials as background content, although the situations in which [...]
Posted on November 29, 2009 in Contracts and Law, Legal & Copyright | No Comments
By Jon M. Garon
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC
Despite the short-term glut in the market, documentaries have become an increasingly important part of the film industry as well as tools of public discourse. Since documentaries only rarely receive national theatrical distribution, audiences do not treat nontheatrical distribution as an aesthetic judgment against the film. They expect [...]
Posted on November 24, 2009 in Contracts and Law, Internet, Marketing | No Comments
By Jon M. Garon
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC
The rules for creating, marketing and distributing films derive from a host of different sources. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences controls the rules for the Academy Awards statuette, the Oscar, while collective bargaining agreements with various trade unions require that their members participate only in [...]
Posted on November 16, 2009 in Contracts and Law, Music | No Comments
By Jon M. Garon
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC
Every Hollywood studio has a team of lawyers and paralegals who focus exclusively on the music licensing issues for their productions. The independent filmmaker must find a way to accomplish this same task. Through creative planning, she can bring the same artistic vision and entrepreneurial approach to the [...]
