Someone stole my credit!

[GaryinCalifornia]

If you want to play a little rough--or maybe at least give the guy a well deserved scare--you should send him a letter from a lawyer (find a lawyer friend who will put a letter on his letterhead). Because if you don't have an agreement, this producer doesn't have the right to use or reproduce your creative work either (i.e., your cinematography). You can simply state that without a reasonable credit you will seek to recover damages and prevent any further exploitation of the film. (Now, you'll probably never ACTUALLY do these things cuz it's too expensive and not worth it...but receiving this letter with a lawyer's letterhead might convince him he's done something wrong and get him to "voluntarily" correct your credit.) He can't even get it into festivals if he hasn't cleared the rights to use YOUR cinematography work.

I vote for small claims court... just line up the people who know you did the work... and sue for the rights of the film... plus the credit... or instead of the rights to the film... he has to take a pretty big add out in the trades saying he's sorry... free ad space in the trades for you...

 

[Capt Quirk]

Garvin has a very valid point. Small claims might actually be affordable, especially with the entire cast and crew as witness. I say you sue for your footage, and then arrange for the proper credit and reimbursement before releasing the movie.