Reference to TV show

F

fbeltran

New member
I have a piece of dialogue in my screenplay that makes reference to the "Little house on the praire" TV show. I was wondering if I need to get permission to make reference to it or to any of the show's characters. An example of the dialogue in question:

"You think Michael Landon could get through an episode of Little House and
not cry? I mean sure you’ve got the blind daughter, but that’s one episode of
tears max. But then they mind*** you, opening with that little girl running
through the fields. Am I thinking sobfest - NO. I mean if you want to tell
me that bad *** happens on Walnut Grove, you’re going to have to tweak that
opening. Have the little girl running through the grass when - BAM!"

I was also thinking about including a cutaway of a TV, in a bar, showing an episode of this TV show.

I will appreciate any copyright infingement guidance you can provide about the above.
 
i can't imagine referencing it verbally is a problem in the least. showing an actual clip of it would probably be a tougher problem. there might be some laws about how long of a clip (e.g., you could use up to 5 seconds of a clip, similar to certain audio laws), but i'm not sure.
 
The "audio laws" you refer to are an urban filmaking myth. It does not matter how short it is, if it's recognizable it's protected. I think reference to a work is fine so I don't think you have a dialog problem but you would have to get a release for any footage or sound that you use. I would double check with a lawyer about the dialog but I'm pretty sure your fine.

Copyright clearances are a real pain and you can get in trouble for things that you wouldn't even think of. Posters, greeting cards some public buildings. It's very complicated to use anything you did not create and that is recognizable.

A cheat would be to find some production music that matches the sound of little house and stick in some stock footage that sort of matches the look of the show and with the dialog ref. your audience will think that it's on the TV but you will have not infringed on anybody.
 
Thanks

Thanks

Thanks for your feedback. It makes sense.

The workaround proposed (stock footage and music), although clever, it may get me into some trouble down the road because of potential misrepresentation or what not. I'd rather not use it at all and just stick with the dialogue.

Regards

- Fernando


Noiz2 said:
The "audio laws" you refer to are an urban filmaking myth. It does not matter how short it is, if it's recognizable it's protected. I think reference to a work is fine so I don't think you have a dialog problem but you would have to get a release for any footage or sound that you use. I would double check with a lawyer about the dialog but I'm pretty sure your fine.

Copyright clearances are a real pain and you can get in trouble for things that you wouldn't even think of. Posters, greeting cards some public buildings. It's very complicated to use anything you did not create and that is recognizable.

A cheat would be to find some production music that matches the sound of little house and stick in some stock footage that sort of matches the look of the show and with the dialog ref. your audience will think that it's on the TV but you will have not infringed on anybody.
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