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Filmmaking Legal Issues To Ignore
by Price Jaccobi
Image by Sir Nube Negra
Once a filmmaker has done a fair amount of research on how to make films they inevitably stumble across matter of the law and how it affects filmmaking. There are laws that cover cinematography, privacy, and trademark but they are not the kind of laws that once broken will put you in jail. In the best situation we would make our films within the guidelines of all and any laws, but in practice many of these laws will keep you bogged down, discouraged, and in the end without a film.
Permits
Cities all have different regulations as to what it costs to film in their jurisdiction and what are the requirements. Some want a pittance and not much else, some wants hundreds in fees, make you carry insurance policies and mandate payment for police oversight. The thing they do not tell you is that once footage is shot, there is no way for them to know whether you shot with permits or not.
Insurance
Errors and omissions insurance is something that all distributors require each film they work with to have. It is a policy that holds them harmless in case you have invaded anyone's privacy or violated any trademarks. In those cases the distributors can be sued by the wronged parties for a lot of money and this insurance protects them. In theory this is a good thing for you to have, but in practice you will likely never be sued since they cannot get millions from you.
Investment Laws
Most films are made by pooling together money from disparate sources around the country and is done so to make a profit. In the USA the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates issues of stock or bonds, and most film financing is similar to issuing stock. Filmmaking legal experts will tell you to be careful how you go about raising money and try to extract money for them to help. They will not tell you that your film is unlikely to much if any money and this is much work for little good, which often the end result for most films.
Talent Releases
It is best to write up simple contracts for major players in your film, it helps keep relations and business smooth in the future. On location shoots, however, you often film many faces of people you do not know and will never be able to contact. This is something that often keeps films from shooting in locations or keeps an assistant busy trying to track down all these people. Technically you do need the permission of these people to be in your film but in practice they probably will never find out and even if they do you do not have any money they can go after in a lawsuit.
My business law teacher always said just start a venture and pay for a licenses and legal stuff later once it is a successful venture. Hollywood is already a successful business so they have to follow the law to the letter or they risk profit. As an indie filmmaker your risk is minimal since your assets are low, and the flip side is spending time and money to do it like a major studio and maybe end up with no money or effort put toward actually making a film. Doing it renegade will hopefully give you some good stories you can tell the media, will keep you from selling out too fast, and most distributors that would be interested in your film can help you rectify any legal issues before it gets released.
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Comments
Follow the above advice with caution.
FINANCING:
With regards to fundraising for your independent feature, an easy way to work around the issue of paying upfront for an attorney to draw up legal paperwork (for which you can pay anywhere in the range of $0 to $25,000 depending on which firm or attorney is doing the work and what other forms of remuneration you're offering) is to first identify and pitch the prospective investors. Once you've sold them on the IDEA of the film, and you have enough investors sold on the idea to make it worthwhile to get the legal paperwork done, THEN hire an attorney at the rate you shopped around for and negotiated during the time you've been pitching investors.
PERMITS:
Permits are sometimes essential. It really depends what/how you're shooting. If you're trying to make a legit narrative feature film on location without permits, it's amateur night at the Apollo. You're liable to get shut down by the police before you finish your scene, postponing your production to all kinds of possible consequences (an additional day of production, one to several days delay of continuing production, loss of talent and/or crew to other gigs, etc, etc.)
TALENT RELEASES:
Definitely try to keep it simple, and make sure that ANYONE who is recognizable has a release. You do not want to risk losing a distribution deal because there are extras or happenstance folks in the background. It's really not that hard folks. Do it.
THIS ARTICLE IN GENERAL:
This article tells you not to think, but to just go out and make your damn movie. I don't think it's possible to "overthink" things, but I do believe it is common to procrastinate (aka not move forward because of fear of failure) using extensive research and obsession over minutiae as the excuse for not moving forward. I also think a lot of films get made because the filmmakers had no idea what they were in for, and had they known, they might not have made their films.
In conclusion, I'd say if you've never made a film before, you're probably well-advised to bring a line producer or UPM onto your production who has made several films -- especially in the city you're planning to shoot in. Remember to listen closely to their advice regarding following standard operating procedures in SPECIFIC circumstances.
You are outlining the best case scenario. But let's be honest: people with little money and experience are rarely in such a situation.
One thing you are overlooking is that making a film is as important as the legal status of a film:
1. making films gets you jobs making films for people with money that can pay to do it right.
2. following the law to the letter puts you in a position to risk time and money and maybe have no film at the end.
If you are broke and hungry to make a film follow my advice. If you want to maximize the revenue from this single film, by all means do NOT follow my advice.
Hmm. I don't think it requires a lot of money or experience to get into a situation where you're making a film. Lots of students make films using proper permits, release forms, etc on little or no budget. There are ways of getting what you need without putting yourself in legal and financial risk (and making a film that people actually get to see, WOW!). If you're raising money, then there will evenutally be money for all these things and you can just pay for them easily.
If you're broke and hungry, I advise you not to make a film yet. Earn or raise a little money so that when you're ACTUALLY ready to make that first film, you can pay your cast & crew so as not to artificially undermine your own future wages. You'll also have a little more experience by the time you're ready to shoot, and have a few more contacts from whom you can call in favors.
In any case, do what your gut tells you, but be careful about folding to the pressure of your own impatience.
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