Questions about contracts and paperwork

M

Moon063

New member
Hi everyone, I'm new here and have a question about contracts and paperwork for a film. I'm in the process of making my first film short that will be on a more "professional" level. The film is going to be a stop motion animation short, the story and screenplay is my own original. However I will be having people making the dolls/puppets, designing the sets, and composing music. As well as a couple of voice actors. So I needed to know what kind of contracts and paperwork do I need to get together for this and where can I find them?
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You can do a search on the forums for contracts and you'll find some stuff, and you can also go here http://www.sonnyboo.com they have some contracts and production stuff

And last, you said this will be a "Professional" level film, I assume you have a decent budget, if so you should definitely include a lawyer in that budget and have them draw out contracts for you.
 
there is really no need for contracts in this case.
It's as easy as hiring these people out on a freelance basis. It's contract work but as a contractor, I know I would not sign anything.
 
capitalP said:
You can do a search on the forums for contracts and you'll find some stuff, and you can also go here http://www.sonnyboo.com they have some contracts and production stuff

And last, you said this will be a "Professional" level film, I assume you have a decent budget, if so you should definitely include a lawyer in that budget and have them draw out contracts for you.
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Thank you for the link, that site was helpful.
I had thought of getting a lawyer to draw out contracts but as this is still a pretty small film with only a handful people involved, I didn't think it was completely necessary.

grinner said:
there is really no need for contracts in this case.
It's as easy as hiring these people out on a freelance basis. It's contract work but as a contractor, I know I would not sign anything.
Click to expand...

Ok thank you! that's what I was planning on doing, hiring them out on a freelance basis but wasn't sure if I still needed contracts.
 
You really should reconsider getting releases from all parties if you plan to distribute the film in any way.
 
Who owns what

Who owns what

It's a nasty and pain in the A@@ truth - you're gonna need contracts and/or releases from all these people - not what you wanted to hear I'm sure.

Music - that's a no brainer, no different that any other film out there.

Someone makes you a doll/puppet. Who owns the likeness ??? What terms? You commission a cutesy doll and use it in a kids cartoon. Then your contract creator claims copyright and rents it out to a horror porn shop. Or you find out he got the idea for your doll from some theme park brochure and now you've got Disney on the phone . . .

You get the idea. Get paper from EVERYBODY.

There are lots of roll your own do it yourself sites out there if you have some grounding in contract law. http://www.entertainmentpublishers.com/
is one site - we've found Mark Litwak's products to be good.

If it was easy everyone would be doing it - small consolation I know. Believe me we all feel your pain.

Best wishes.
 
I have a two-inch binder full of paperwork for just a one-day music video shoot -- W9s, I9s, cast / crew deal memo, photo / video / audio releases, band contracts, etc. There is always a ton of paperwork for a professional level shoot. It's just one of those obnoxious realities.

Don't hire a lawyer to do this kind of stuff, that's just ridiculous, lawyers charge too much. All relevant forms are available either for free online, or ask a UPM if he can help you out, a producer of some sort with knowledge you might know, etc.
 
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