Can an officer of a company give permission for you to film their workers?

TwistedLincoln

TwistedLincoln

Veteran
I'm going to be shooting a short promotional video for a local business in the coming weeks. The video will basically showcase how their company operates, and gives a brief tour of their facility.

The question is: can an officer of the company sign a release form giving permission for me to film the company's workers during the course of their duties? Or do I need to get each employee to sign something? It's a closed building, so there won't be any members of the public there, only workers.

The video is only going to be used internally (to be given to prospective clients or new employee applicants), but since I'm getting their permission to show it to future customers as a demo of my work, I want to cover all the bases. Really, I can just shoot it after hours and just bring in some of my own people to pretend to be employees, but there's a pretty good chance that's going to look fake, so I'd rather shoot the real thing.


Oh, and by the way, I wasn't sure where to post this, so I just stuck it here. With all of the legal questions we've been getting lately, maybe it's time for an "I'm not a lawyer, but can make my best guess" forum section... :laugh:
 
Well, here's the thing: if the company has employment contracts with their workers, and if the workers had to sign a personal likeness release granting the company the right to film them and reproduce their image/voice, and if the company has the right to assign that, then maybe.

But you'd be foolish to rely on that. Here's the thing: let's say a disgruntled employee quits and decides they don't want to be in that company's video anymore. So they sue. The company could just say to you "oops; we thought we had that right to use them, but I guess we don't, so -- now it's your problem."

Get signed releases from everyone.
 
That's how it generally works, on shows. Part of your deal includes a release to permit the producing entity to use your likeness as part of promotional or 'behind-the-scenes' materials.

No SAG card in it for us, though. Even if we speak.
 
I worked at a call center years ago and our client at the time (readers digest) had wanted to film some CSR's in action for the company to be shown internally and while we weren't actually employeed by readers digest but by the call center we had to sign releases if we wanted to be in it. We were all given the choice too and weren't forced into it or anything.
 
Let me revisit this: an officer of a company certainly doesn't have the right to sign their employees rights away. Not unless he's been specifically authorized by the employee to do so.

Cover your bases -- get written releases from anyone and everyone.
 
No NEVER!
Each single person must sign a contract that allow you to use the footage showing him.
Always take many copies of that contract and let them sign it.


.
 
I agree with the general idea of CYA.

However I believe it's unlikely that a disgruntled employee will file a lawsuit. It's way too expensive to take someone to court. If there's one 3 second shot of a man sitting at computer in the corporate video what are the grounds for the suit? Was this man harmed in such a way that he can claim punitive damages? On the other hand if you have a scene were a handful of men make lewd comments about a female coworker you better have releases from everybody - maybe even a lawyer on the set. My point is that the fear that "they'll sue" is more often than not unfounded. But if you worry about such things and lack good judgment you should get a release from everybody.
 
Well...it has been established that your image taken in a public place, can be used in even a downright defamatory manner, and you have no recourse. It's not much of a leap to suppose that a court would find the same, if your image is captured in a workplace that is not your own private property, to which management may choose to grant access.
 
It can be used if you are in a public place UNLESS you use it for advertising. Feature Film or TV show or documentary, you're cool. Advertising gets you into the world of "Implied Endorsement", and that is where you run into trouble.
 
Thanks to all for the quick replies. Sadly, I think everyone is right: as with almost all of these murky legal issues, I'm sure I could get away with cutting corners, but that's no reason to do it. I'm going to get everyone I shoot to sign.

Of course this leads to another question: is it safe to film everyone as I please, and just get releases from those people that end up in the final cut? That would save me from having to explain a release form to 50+ people even though only a handful will actually be in the thing.

Somehow, though that idea sounds a bit like cutting corners... *sigh*
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top