Legal stuff

bootsycox

bootsycox

Member
Ok kids I'm getting real close to shooting my first no budget film. It is a "slasher" flick! I am wondering about legal stuff though. My cast and crew know that they are not getting payed, most of them are kids who want the experience. Do I need to buy insurance for the production, in case something goes terribly wrong? Should I have each person sign a release to cover my behind? I would probably kill myself out of remorse if anything bad happened, but that would stop the lawyers from attacking. What do I do? I have been such a worried mess for the last 2 months. I just need to finish this project. Help me dvx users you are my only hope!
Tyler
 
If you're really serious, talk to an entertainment lawyer. The "the people on the internet said I was covered" does NOT hold up well in court. And entertainment lawyers answer these types of questions often.
 
If you have the cash, get the insurance (it's like $2000 for a year of $1,000,000 coverage). Otherwise, you should be fine with just having them sign a release about the pay, and waiver of their safety. I've shot two features, and didn't have insurance on either one. The first was a slasher flick, and the second was a Christian parkour action flick. We just kept things as safe as we could, and didn't have any problems. One way to avoid problems is to rehearse the action scenes. For the slasher film, this meant drilling the end knife fight with sticks before giving them the blades. Yes, the blades were dull, but damage could still have been done if they messed up. For the PK flick, my actors trained with me for a month and a half to prepare their bodies for the parkour. This allowed me to also know what was within their ability range. When we shot, they didn't do anything they hadn't already trained at ground level.

So that's my advice-insure the picture if you can, but if not, just use releases and waivers, then rehearse and be safe. Good Luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top