Product question for indie feature film. Do we need permission?

[BruceDowns]

We are shooting a comedy feature length vampire film with many film references. The script calls for the first victim of the movie to be wearing a red Star Trek shirt, with Star Trek posters on the wall. Can we do this? Also we have a scene in a comic book store with a Stan Lee look alike. The scene calls for teens to be playing Dungeons and Dragons, one of the teens is wearing a yellow cheer-leading uniform and her name is Buffy. Is that a problem? Is that a problem? Thanks.

 

[DIY]

If you use their merchandise and logos you will need a release. But you can use mockups, i.e. a red looking uniform with a Star Trek "looking" logo that you made up. Stan Lee, Buffy look-alike is probably safe OK.

Now, if any of this is parody you may get an exception to the release requirement. Sounds like this is a possibility but I would do more research on this exception and see if it fits your scenes or adjust your scenes to fit the exception.