Sizzle reel: rights needed?

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VivaChiba

I'm planning a sizzle reel to go online for a project and am wondering if I need to secure the rights to use clips/images from other films?

I'm considering blending some of my own illustrations with comic art/anime and possibly using a song by a band I like... this all leads back to the original question: can I do this without obtaining the rights?

Obviously, I can't afford to fork out 1000s of £/$/€s, but this apparently hasn't stopped other film-makers - just do a search on sizzle reel and you'll find loads of "shorts" which incorporate others' work - but I'm wondering if anyone knows for sure (the last thing I want is to be sued by Warner Bros!).
 
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IANAL, but the short is answer is no you can't do that.

Will they sue you, probably not. If they find it, you'll probably just have it taken down.

If you want to do it, use a site that let's you password protect it and just give out the password to potential clients. While it's still not technically legal, you have less of a chance of being taken down.

Also, be aware that in order to post on most sites you have to agree somewhere that you own the copyrights or they under fair use.
 
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The sizzle reel for Looper, here, contains bits from Se7en, among other flicks.

Here is the link to the excellent fan-made X-men reboot. Note that this has been on YouTube for at least 6 months, going by the dates of the comments.

The idea of the sizzle reel is not to show what I can do as a director, but to demonstrate my vision of the project I wish to make, much the same way the Looper director did.

My main concern is that would I be sued if I posted it online as part of a funding campaign, or would I be made remove it?
 
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VivaChiba said:
The idea of the sizzle reel is not to show what I can do as a director, but to demonstrate my vision of the project I wish to make, much the same way the Looper director did.
Click to expand...

I'd call your linked example an animatic; not a sizzle reel.

Regardless, back to your question:

would I be sued if I posted it online as part of a funding campaign, or would I be made remove it?
Click to expand...

There is no answer for this, until it happens. If it happens.

Good luck. :)
 
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Yea, I would call those animatics.

A sizzle reel sells a project or person, using their work or shot footage from the project (or multiple projects).

An animatic is like a living storyboard and professionally I do this all the time (using existing shots from movies as a substitute.) Normally, they are for internal review and not posted publicly.

Is it possibly, maybe, kind of, fair use? Sure, why not, I don't own the copyrights.

If you are looking for us to tell you it's okay, we're not.

If you want to use the "but everyone else is doing it" line, then go for it.
 
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I'm not a lawyer, blah blah blah, disclaimer.

Dude, you can totally get away with it, fuck the world. The vast majority of reels (of any variety) infringe on someone's copyright. Really, the only question is whether you feel ethically okay about it. Are your actions harming anybody?
 
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If you have no involvement in the productions themselves and did not get the written permission of the decision makers, they can send you cease and desist letters and sue you.

Be real. Don't be like these guys who write business plans using other productions data. People will invest in you, if you have you own successful track record.
 
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Animatics & Demo/resume reels are completely different. If you are making an in-house (eyes only) animatic that demonstrates your concept, as opposed to a public document that sells your actual work history, you are absolutely fine with using images from other productions. 'Legal', perhaps not. But, this is a very common practice in all levels of film production.

I once had the great pleasure of interviewing a job candidate that had stolen my entire demo reel and replaced the credits using his name. That was a memorable meeting. :devil:
 
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Sounds like your guy got off easy.

I had an actress in tears and shaking with fear when we were doing a rehearsal years ago because, we found out from what she told other actresses, she got a cease and desist letter from a big production company for showing footage on her demo reel on her web site of an unreleased film.

Can you face the music, if the production company comes after you for unauthorized use of their property?
 
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Agreed.

As I said, the best practice is to keep such materials private, and only share them during specific meetings (pitch, pre-production ...), especially if you intend to make a deal with it. Nothing draws the lawyers in faster than money in the water.

Here's one way to control who views your work online:
- Post the the video separately (to Vimeo) for each client, using a password. I often use the client's own name for passwords, because it's easy for them to remember and I believe they are less likely to share it with others.
- Change the password as soon as the meeting has passed.

I also have a private web forum setup which I use for film students and clients. Similar to IndieTalk, I control each member's access across the site, and what they can view.
 
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Gotcha.

So for private investor meetings, these sizzle reels are cool, but for say, a Kick Starter campaign, it's a BIG no-no.

I thought that such was the case so wanted some views, figuring that people here would've tried/found out already.

The sizzle definitely would've been used to sell the concept, NOT to pretend that Brad Pitt had been in a previous short.

I am curious though as to why these things are popping up suddenly all over the net if directors risk facing legal action.

Here's one called Gemini Man which is all Clint Eastwood.
 
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I had a lunch meeting with a veterian hollywood producer once and we talked about sizzle reels. He has done those for years to pitch to investors and explained it to me just as someone earlier posted... as long as it's not for commercial use, you can put together whatever you want.
 
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JetMonkey said:
He has done those for years to pitch to investors and explained it to me just as someone earlier posted... as long as it's not for commercial use, you can put together whatever you want.
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No, that is two different things. Just because something is "not for commercial use" absolutely does NOT mean you can put together whatever you want and no one earlier in this thread has stated otherwise!

Using someone else's intellectual property without permission is copyright theft, period. However, under certain circumstances it is done frequently in the industry. Those circumstances have been described by Rok and others: If the material is being shown privately to only a small handful of people for the purposes of demonstrating an idea of how a concept will be implemented in the future and it's absolutely clear this is just temp or guide material then unlicensed use of copyright material is common practise, still technically illegal but common. Another good example is that video editors will often use commercial music during editing as a temp tracks, again technically illegal but: Only the director, producer, composer and sound designer will ever see the copyright infringement, no one who sees it will report the infringement and it causes no harm or even any potential harm to the copyright holders. For these reasons this type of copyright infringement is commonly considered acceptable by many/most directors, from Kubrik on down. This is entirely different from "not for commercial use" though! For example, if I were to post unlicensed material publicly on Youtube just for the hell of it and for no financial gain, this would come under the "not for commercial use" heading but is most definitely NOT acceptable.

Putting aside the ethics/morality, the breaking of any law is about someone's desire and ability to enforce that law. Obviously if the copyright holder never finds out about an infringement, they are not going to try and enforce their "rights" but as soon as you make something accessible to the public you not only make it more likely that the copyright holder will find out about it but also make it much more likely that they will want to enforce their rights.

G
 
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