Who signs what?

M

mikewest13

Well-known member
I've asked this before, but never got a response, so here goes again.

What does each person on your crew sign in order for you to retain the rights to you movie.

I am writing/directing/producing an upcoming short and don't want to get f*%ked later on.

I know that actors, composers have to sign release forms to let you use their image and music. what do the rest of the crew sign if anything. i.e. hair and make up, sfx, production designer, DOP, grip....

any help will be much appreciated.

Mike
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You need personal likeness releases from everyone who appears in the picture (either via image alone, voice alone, or both). You need music clearance from musicians for every piece of music that appears (whether incidental or as part of the score). You need copyright permission for every copyrighted element that appears in your pic. And you should have a "deal memo" from all your crew members specifying exactly what their services are and what they'll be paid for those services.
 
For the deal memos,

can it specify that it is a deferred or credit project?

does it have to include anything to do with rights?

Mike
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That's a good call, Paul. Very legalistic. Pages and pages. There are other releases available, but none that are as detailed as Litwak's. As I remember, it cost me about $100 for the disc and I feel it was money well spent. Sometimes, I use shorter forms, but if I was doing a union gig, I'd definitely use these. For the feature I did in '05/'06 I used the Litwak forms and they were good enough for my distributor.
 
You know, I should have bought the disc to start with. Would've saved me hours. But, like you say, Mark Litwak is on the side of the indie Director/Producer. I even called him once in the middle of filming my feature. He spoke to me for about 5 minutes for free. Really helped me. Very cool guy. :beer:
 
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