FilmmakerIQ.com

The legality of using someone else’s fictional character?

Mark Galsor and Jesse Saivar tackle the question of what’s legal when dealing with fictional characters from other movies.

…Q: My company is producing a film which has a character that is taken from another very well known film. This new story has absolutely nothing to do with the […]

Documentaries and Films Based on True Life Stories

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 […]

Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy

The sixth lecture in Evan Korth’s NYU Computers and Society course featured Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford University. His topic, the subject of his recent book, was “Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy.”
The content industry has convinced industry in general that extremism in copyright regulation is […]

Copyright: Music, Composers and Performers

By Jon M. Garon
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC
This is part of a series of book excerpts from Independent Filmmaking, The Law & Business Guide for Financing, Shooting & Distributing Independent & Digital Films designed as an introduction to the many legal issues involved in the filmmaking process.
Music & Sound
For […]

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video

From: Center for Social Media
Download full report (PDF)
INTRODUCTION
WHAT THIS IS
This document is a code of best practices that helps creators, online providers, copyright holders, and others interested in the making of online video interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material […]

Purchasing Literary Property For Film

By Jon M. Garon
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC
This is part of a series of book excerpts from Independent Filmmaking, The Law & Business Guide for Financing, Shooting & Distributing Independent & Digital Films designed as an introduction to the many legal issues involved in the filmmaking process.
To obtain the […]

Anatomy of a Film Music Agreement

By Jon M. Garon
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, PC
This is part of a series of book excerpts from Independent Filmmaking, The Law & Business Guide for Financing, Shooting & Distributing Independent & Digital Films designed as an introduction to the many legal issues involved in the filmmaking process.
The industry tradition has […]

Are Sequels Fair Game?

by Dina Appleton & Daniel Yankelevits
Q: I am interested in writing a sequel to someone else’s movie. I was wondering, do I need permission from the original filmmakers, or can I just write the screenplay and market it as one of my own spec scripts?
Margaret C., Far Hills, NJ
A: Dina […]

EU moves to free up music rights

Hopeful these new rules will help filmmakers cut though the “red tape” nightmare of licensing music for every country in the EU for films distributed in Europe.
Suggested by member: Dark Water
…Music download stores like Apple’s iTunes could soon be able to operate one shop for the whole of Europe, under […]

Free Public Domain Footage

Here’s how to find and use Free Public Domain Movies and old TV commercials in your work. Also in this episode, a few inexpensive utilities that will convert video formats so they are ready for editing in your editing program of choice.
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