Documentary Subjects' Rights

L

leroy

I presume there are no "standard" ways of handling documentary subjects (by subject, I mean the actual person the documentary is about) as every situation is different.

However, I have a subject who is integral to the documentary who is asking for copy of the footage pertaining to them with rights to use the footage so long as it doesn't conflict with my project.

In general, I'm just curious what rights the subject "should" have, and what's the smartest way to handle this.

Obviously I'm not compensating them for participation in the documentary, but I'm not sure if it's smart to give away rights to my footage, although perhaps with proper language, my production would not be adversely affected.

Also, for any seasoned documentarians, are there any other issues that may come up with subjects that I should know about before they come up?

Thanks
 
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I wouldn't give up your footage until after you've cut your film. If you get a broadcast outlet or distribution deal, you don't want anyone else to make claim to your footage. Did the guy sign a release? If so, he's made a binding contract.

You might want to work out some sort of deal with the out-takes, but I'd be very cautious about his use of your footage.
 
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Instead of opening a new thread, I thought I would use this, as its related as far as documentaries:

Say I want to do a documentary. In that documentary I would be needed to use film clips from various(Hollywood) movies to illustrate my subject matter.

Obviously I need to get permissions and rights. Do studios have "stock footage" which they allow to be accessable for such things(obtained with permission of course)? Do they tend to be affordable, or am I paying a whack of money for each clip that I show-I just wonder how other docs have done this sort of thing.

I'm talking clips of between 10-30 seconds of different movies of various genres probably from different studios.
 
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Here's the official page explaining Fair Use under copyright. Do you think your docu would fall into that category? Maybe, maybe not.
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

If it doesn't fall under Fair Use, you might be SOL unless you can pay the royalties. Even for a 10-30 second clip, depending on the film, could be a truly outrageous amount of money.

Remember when Conan was leaving the Tonight Show(all those years ago :P) and he was trying to waste NBC's money? He played under 30 seconds of a Rolling Stones song and it reportedly cost NBC $1.5 million. Now maybe it was that expensive because of the venue, I'm no expert in copyright law(I'm not even a novice), but something tells me if you end up needing to pay royalties, it will be out of your budget.
 
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Dreadylocks said:
Here's the official page explaining Fair Use under copyright. Do you think your docu would fall into that category? Maybe, maybe not.
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

If it doesn't fall under Fair Use, you might be SOL unless you can pay the royalties. Even for a 10-30 second clip, depending on the film, could be a truly outrageous amount of money.

Remember when Conan was leaving the Tonight Show(all those years ago :P) and he was trying to waste NBC's money? He played under 30 seconds of a Rolling Stones song and it reportedly cost NBC $1.5 million. Now maybe it was that expensive because of the venue, I'm no expert in copyright law(I'm not even a novice), but something tells me if you end up needing to pay royalties, it will be out of your budget.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. I'll have to puruse it deeply. Essentially, it would be talking about masks, and showing maybe 4-5 second clips of various movie characters in masks, just for illustration. I'll have to see how it fits. I also know someone in town who gives general advice(he's not a lawyer)but has an understanding of different types of law, and he could probably go deeper into it with me-thanks! This is just in my mental stages, long way from hitting the film yet... :)
 
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Thanks for the link. I gave it a read, rather interesting, and certainly room for movement-alot of what I want to do would fall into Fair Use.

Still, nothing like a good legal consultant to get a better grip on it!


Thanks again!
 
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