How Not To Be A Stupid Filmmaker: Other Infringements

There's a trend happening with some short filmmakers – stealing. It’s not intentional (I hope) but it’s evident nonetheless. It all boils down to using other peoples’ stuff. Music infringements are the most prevalent (as discussed in an earlier piece here). But there are other “thefts” that can still hurt your film when it comes to getting it sold and seen. And there are just way too many new films being made with one infraction or another. They all end up in the trash bin.

The most worrisome part about this trend is that there’s a mindset among too many filmmakers that seems to scream: “If it’s out there, it’s mine!” Maybe it’s a generational thing? Or an Internet thing? YouTube? It’s unclear where it all started. What is clear is how many films are submitted to buyers like Mini Movie Channel with elements that have been taken from other sources. This is frustrating for buyers because a lot of these films with “red flags” are good and should be seen.

No-Budget and Low-Budget filmmakers have always used “stolen” locations, but that's just one aspect of current films that can cause problems. It’s one thing to get away with not having a location permit for your shoot, but depending on the location, it can come back to bite you. One film that was rejected recently by Mini Movie Channel had a scene that took place in an art gallery with lots of wonderful paintings on the walls. There had been an exterior establishing shot that showed the name of the gallery. Even though the filmmaker probably had permission to shoot there, he didn’t have written permission from the gallery's owner. For one reason or another, he could not get that written permission after the shoot took place. Furthermore, he did not have written permission to include any of the paintings in the scene.

Another film required a scene that took place inside a movie theater. But the filmmaker had used an exterior shot of Mann’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, which established that the interior scene was taking place inside the famous landmark. You can do “drive-bys” of famous places, but the minute you infer that your story is taking place inside one of them, especially privately owned ones, it’s wise to get permission. It’s even wise to get permission from your friend who let you shoot in his apartment.

Using clips from other people’s movies can be a real deal breaker. One film had a TV playing in the background and the program was recognizable. It was a late night talk show. The whole soundtrack for the short film was from the TV show playing in the background. A celebrity was being interviewed and they showed a promotional clip from her latest movie that was about to be released. Then the TV show cut away to a commercial. This presented major problems for the producer who had no written permissions from anyone. In order to clear the elements from the TV show, the producer would have needed written okays from the television network, the production company of the late night talk show, the host, the celebrity, the studio who owned the promotional clip, and then the people who owned the product in the commercial that was seen. There was also music in the TV show and it had to be checked to find out who owned it. Needless to say, the pursuit to get all those clearances in order was daunting and the producer, although he tried at first, finally gave up. And in this situation, if one entity had said “no” then all the other permissions would have been useless.

Another film had interspersed clips from old Marilyn Monroe movies. It was effective storytelling but no one will ever see it commercially because the cost of the rights to those clips was prohibitive.

Note to filmmakers: be sure you have the right to include everything you have in your film. You cannot assume that just because it’s “out there” being used by other people that it’s yours too. And I’m just gonna bet that if you saw something from your movie being used by other people without your permission you wouldn’t much like it. Am I right?