Donaldson & Callif

June 4-6, 2010

http://www.producedbyconference.com/

The Produced By Conference returns to Los Angeles June 4-6, 2010 for an extraordinary weekend of discovery, learning and creative inspiration. Presented by the Producers Guild of America and hosted by 20th Century Fox Studios, the Produced By Conference brings together the entire producing profession.

Dean Cheley will be speaking on the panel PREP FOR YOUR REP: FINDING AND WORKING WITH AGENTS AND MANAGERS AND LAWYERS

Sunday June 6th, 4:45 pm - 6:00 pm

For the full interview go to:

http://videos.webpronews.com/2010/04/16/what-is-fair-use/

Yesterday, in an 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a statute that would have infringed on certain documentary makers’ First Amendment rights. Relating to the depiction of animal cruelty and killing on screen, the statute, by criminalizing such depictions, would have limited filmmakers’ abilities to cover any number of subjects ranging from hunting to our food industry to, ironically, animal abuse itself. The IFP New York was one of several organizations filing an amicus brief in support of the filmmaker filing the case, a documentarian named Robert Stevens who was sentenced to 37 months in Federal prison for including in his film acquired clips from a Japanese dog fight.

WASHINGTON — Documentary filmmakers praised a Supreme Court decision issued Tuesday that strikes down a federal ban on the sale of videos depicting graphic violence against animals — arguing that had the law been allowed to stand, it would have threatened even movies like “The Cove” and “Food, Inc.”

The high court ruled 8-1 that the 12-year-old law violates the First Amendment.

Although animal rights groups argued for the law, a number of Hollywood groups and journalists orgs said it was so broad as to chill free speech.

IDA Aids Court Victory for Documentary Filmmakers

Today the US Supreme Court struck down a statute on First Amendment grounds that criminalized a lot of documentary filmmaking. Congress enacted a law to criminalize any depiction of any acts to animals in a film that results in the animals being killed or harmed, even if the activity on the screen is completely legal. Such a restriction would obviously cover hunting or fishing. The only requirement for prosecution was that the activity be illegal in the place that the film is possessed, exhibited or sold. Even though the act exempted serious religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical or artistic, Chief Justice Roberts, writing for an 8-1 Court decision, held the statute to be “substantially overbroad and therefore invalid under the First Amendment.”

Confused About Fair Use?

A Prof & a Lawyer Discuss Best

Practices for Bloggers

Seasoned bloggers are generally familiar with the parameters of copyright law. But anyone can start a blog, and even for those who have been active on the Internet for years what is and isn’t permissible fair use is sometimes unclear.

The law itself can be confusing, especially when it is applied to media other than traditional print. However, understanding the policies underlying the law make it easier to interpret, Pat Aufderheide and attorney Michael Donaldson tell Web Pro News.

Inspired partly by “This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” a veteran showbiz insurer has started offering coverage for documakers, aimed at allowing free use of film clips.

Initiative by Media/Professional Insurance is designed to explicitly allow documentarians to retain coverage if they rely on the “fair use” doctrine, which holds that copyright material may be used without compensation if it’s for purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research.

The film producer Alicia Sams viewed “Wanderlust,” a documentary about American road movies, as a way of introducing a new generation to Bonnie and Clyde, Thelma and Louise, and other giants for the genre. Films like “Five Easy Piece,” “Easy Rider” and “The Grapes of Wrath,” she was convinced, offered a window into the American character.

The 90-minute documentary, to be broadcast Monday night on the Independent Film Channel, was also a window into the frustrations of making a clip-intensive film dependent on copyright clearance, which has become hugely expensive in the past decade. Initial quotations for the necessary sequences came to more than $450,000, which would have raised by half the cost of the IFC film, direct by the Oscar-nominated team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (”American Splendor”).

Ever thought about writing YOUR screenplay? Entertainment lawyer Lisa Callif — who’s core practice is representing independent filmmakers in all aspects of movie-making including financing, production and distribution, and live theater – answered Breezy Mama’s questions on the steps to making movie magic and the money you can expect to make.

Once I write my amazing must-see movie (ahem), what are the first steps to take in order to see it come to fruition?

There was a time, not long ago, when the thought of using material that could not be cleared was quickly banished from a documentarian’s mind. Incidental capture of music and logos were feared by makers who found, after completing their films, that reputable outlets and distributors would not work with their films unless every possibly copyright-protected part of the movie was cleared, and no one understood the difference between copyright and trademarks. It was a seller’s market, and copyright holders were wielding their power to extort exorbitant prices out of filmmakers who had none to spare.