Clearance and Copyright: Everything the Independent Filmmaker Needs to Know

Rating:
Summary: Must Have for Indy Filmmakers
Review: If you are serious about making films and in particular documentaries, this is a great book and valuable resource. I can't count the number of times I've consulted it.

It clears up a great deal of the myths surrounding 'fair use' and 'pubic domain'. Many filmmakers wrongly consider a wide variety of things as 'fair use' or 'public domain' and would be well advised to read this book before rolling a frame of film or video on anything bigger than a home movie.

It covers privacy rights, music rights (yes, you must pay/clear ALL music that you use except under the most rarest of circumstances. Even a couple of notes from a popular song could result in an expensive injunction against your film.), clearances and issues related to copyright.

The 20 buck you'll spend on this book will save you thousands in legal fees down the road when it comes time to actually show your film outside of your house, be it a film festival, TV distribution, or theatrically. The mistakes you avoid could well mean the difference between acquiring E&O insurance and having your film sit on the shelf due to clearance problems.

The writing is simple and straight forward and is an easy read for those who might shy away from books on legal issues. While not as in-depth as a Westlaw book or other scholarly legal tome, it provides relevant citations to important cases. It assumes the reader is intelligent but not trained in law.