can an indie film make money if copyrighted characters are used?

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nobudgetfilmmaker

so I'm making a fan film of Resident Evil (and the Evil Dead if I can get the actor to do it!) and I'm wondering if anyone knows the official policy for indie films using copyrighted characters, and if the makers of said movie are allowed by law to make money off it.


also, if anyone wants to help out with my movie, get in touch with me on this site!(cuz I need the help)
 
The official policy on making money from other people's copyrighted work? Don't, unless you have permission.
 
Technically, even using someone else's copyrighted characters isn't legal without permission. But, with that said, most creators turn a blind eye to it because they know that it helps them just as much as it helps whoever's making the fan film/fan fiction/etc.

The second you start to make money from it, though, most creators no longer turn a blind eye to it. At that point, you're profiting from their work. At the very least, they'll want a cut. At worst, they'll shut you down entirely and sue you for damages.
 
Change the character names.
Change the setting and scenario.
Keep the cliché basis: Secret RAND Corporation... I mean secret Umbrella Corporation makes zombies and tracks their developmental progress. Sigh.

Make it your own (semi) original work.

Check out The Asylum.
See what they're doing with knock offs.
Your primary goal is to develop your skills rather than a product.
However, a fine product has the snowballs chance of funding continued experience developing opportunities.

And stay out of the courtroom. :D

GL & GB
Ray
 
so I guess I'm sticking to a non-profit movie this time around. Oh well, I set out to make this movie because my mind wouldn't let me NOT make this move. I just wondered if making a buck or two was out of the question as a....I dunno...something extra. I'm still making it to hone my directing and acting skills. Are fan films allowed at film festivals? I've honestly never been to one.
 
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nobudgetfilmmaker said:
so I guess I'm sticking to a non-profit movie this time around. Oh well, I set out to make this movie because my mind wouldn't let me NOT make this move. I just wondered if making a buck or two was out of the question as a....I dunno...something extra. I'm still making it to hone my directing and acting skills. Are fan films allowed at film festivals? I've honestly never been to one.
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"Fan films" are illegal period. You are not allowed to use other people's characters. If you aren't looking to make a profit it's less likely you'll get sued, but it is still clearly illegal.
 
nobudgetfilmmaker said:
seriously? Wow, that's stupid. Shouldn't fan films be taken as a compliment? I mean, isn't that paying homage to someone else's work?
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Some creators take them that way, and some don't (some even encourage them to an extent). The point is, you could be sued over them regardless of whether you're making a profit or not. You'll need to look into how the particular copyright holder feels about it and then go from there. Alternatively, if you make it and never post it publicly (so it's just something you and your friends watch or whatever), no one will care.
 
Random question for you, nobudget, why do you want to do a fan film, rather than your own work? Take Resident Evil. You like RE, your friends do, so you want to make a film together. You could just do an RE film for fun, or you could do something heavily inspired by (even to the point of being a blatant ripoff, but legally distinct from). If your friends are onboard for an RE film, wouldn't they be just as onboard for a RE inspired film? Besides which, doing your own thing would allow you to change things that bugged you about the original.

Generally speaking, I think it's probably easier to get an audience if you post on youtube "Resident Evil Fan Film", though if you put "inspired by Resident Evil" in the description, would you get just as many views?

Not saying this to be a jerk or anything, I've just never really understood fan works, be it fiction or film. Doubly so if you aspire to make money at it.
 
well, my first movie, just to see if I could suceed at making a short movie, was a fan film just because we were really just messing around. The movie was so well recieved by friends and many others who saw it that people started saying 'make a sequel' and I figured, "it's our senior year of high school, so why not?" I never set out to make a sequel that would bring in money, but to add a fan continuity to a series I, and my friends, loved. I'm not using any settings from the games, and really the only thing that has to do with RE is Leon being the main character.
 
I agree with Ray.

Change it up a bit so you are safe(r) but it's still obviously a RE flick. That way if you really like it you won't be limited in any way as to where you'll show the film and if you can make money off of it.
 
Have you ever advised a buddy that he's wasting time and effort pursuing a cute girl he's got no chance in h3ll of ever having the "relationship" go anywhere or do anything?

Same thing.

Fan flicks can only go bad.
There's no practical upside to them.
To the best of my knowledge only George Lucas doesn't care if you make Star Wars fan flicks, but even then there are some sensible guidelines his attorneys will enforce.

Here's the deal, everyone here knows and respects how much effort goes into a film, short and especially a feature.
Kinda like we all respect how much effort it takes to get down a girl's pants.
It aint easy.
(At least not anyone's pants you'd not be embarrassed to admit you'd been down)!


Seriously.
Do The Asylum route:
- Change names.
- Change setting.
- Keep the premise.

Enter in festivals not courtrooms.
 
well, here's what the capcom faq page had to say about the question "can I use one of your characters?"
"Capcom does not object to a one-off use of a character for such things as school projects or a personal T-shirt with the understanding that this is done as a personal activity and that you do not intend to receive revenue by this use of our property. Also, we will not object to such use as long as it is not obscene, defamatory, libelous, offensive or slanderous towards Capcom, our products, or employees, or any third party and does not violate any intellectual property right or a person's right of publicity or privacy. This policy is in no way meant to be interpreted as creating an agreement or grant of license from Capcom to you. We reserve the right to withdraw our permission should this prove necessary."
 
Lucasfilms actually encourages fanfilms. They learned it's good to encourage their fans to keep their franchise popular and on people's minds. There's websites dedicated to Star Wars and Indy fan films.

That said, they still don't let you turn a profit.

We're actually looking at making an Indy fan film ourselves. We're all big fans and it'll be a good learning experience imitating that Speilberg/Lucas style.
 
nobudgetfilmmaker said:
"Capcom does not object to a one-off use of a character for such things as school projects or a personal T-shirt with the understanding that this is done as a personal activity and that you do not intend to receive revenue by this use of our property. Also, we will not object to such use as long as it is not obscene, defamatory, libelous, offensive or slanderous towards Capcom, our products, or employees, or any third party and does not violate any intellectual property right or a person's right of publicity or privacy. This policy is in no way meant to be interpreted as creating an agreement or grant of license from Capcom to you. We reserve the right to withdraw our permission should this prove necessary."
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And that answers your question.

Fan films are fun for friends really just messing around. You can
impress other friends, you can learn about putting together a
project but you cannot make a little money and you can't enter
a film festival. I think making fan films can be good for a beginning
filmmaker. When I was starting I used one act plays as scripts;
copyrighted plays - and having a good script really helped me hone
my skills as a director and later as a writer. I think making fan films
is the modern day equivalent.

I think you should make them with the understanding that you
are, technically, violating the copyright of another filmmaker. It is
not just paying homage or a compliment - you have taken the
rights of a fellow writer away. Maybe they do not want you paying
homage and you have not given them the option to say yes or no.
But you will not be going to jail and you will not be sued.

Maybe someday you will make an original movie using your own
characters. But until you do, you are fine (if very restricted) making
your fan films.
 
Re. Capcom's statement: That inarguably does look like a tempting open door.

I am impressed you hunted that down.

I still advise to refabricate your RE project in your own image.

http://thesaurus.com/browse/resident
http://thesaurus.com/browse/inherent

built-in,
characteristic,
congenital,
connate,
Constitutional Evil, George Washington and John Hancock go zombie!
deep-rooted,
deep-seated,
distinctive,
Elementary Evil, Know a few little kids?
Essential Evil,
fixed,
Fundamental Evil,
genetic,
Immanent Evil,
implicit,
in the grain,
inborn,
Inbred Evil, Know any hillbillies?
inbuilt,
Indigenous Evil,
indispensable,
individual,
indwelling,
Ingrained Evil,
inherited,
Innate Evil,
inner,
instinctive,
integral,
Integrated Evil, My fave.
internal,
intimate,
intrinsic,
inward,
Latent Evil,
native,
natural,
Original Evil,
part and parcel,
resident, Fuhgetaboudit!
running in the family,
subjective,
Unalienable Evil Sci-fi twist?


See?
You can tweak it just enough to maintain the spirit of the foundation without totally ripping it off EVEN WITH Capcom's wishy-washy conditional allowances.
 
rayw said:
Constitutional Evil, George Washington and John Hancock go zombie!
Click to expand...

Surely that would be PRESIDENT EVIL?



I have to agree with Ray, why not put all that effort into an original movie? I personally don't mind fan films, and I'd love to see what you come up with. But if you want to go somewhere with it, why not make an original zombie film? Resident Evil would be your inspiration (and the creators of Resident Evil were themselves inspired by the likes of the "...of the Dead" films and the "Zombi" films), but the story would be your own.
 
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