Why you should have release forms.

Azmyth

Azmyth

Veteran
We are wrapped.

Just got a message from a parent of a minor who appeared in the film as an extra, some 6 months ago. Her father was also an extra in the scene, and gave the consent for his daughter. The mother contacted me, they are divorced (imagine that). She was furious that her daughter was in a horror film, and she was mortified by the pictures of her on facebook. I told her that we had written consent from her legal guardian (apparently they have some sort of joint custody) and that if it was where we could remove her, we would.. but if she was in footage that we HAD to use, then our hands were tied. I called the dad, and he informed me to not remove anything, that he had given her written permission and to not worry about it. We are in the clear right?
 
Good on you for getting release forms at the start. You've definitely given yourself the best chance on this. That said, I know things can get pretty ugly when you're dealing with separated/divorced parents and custody issues. I am not a lawyer, but I would guess it would come down to what the custody status was at the time of filming, and whether the father had authority under any custody agreements to singly give permission for the daughter.

If you are planning on keeping footage with her in it, now would probably be the time to give your lawyer a heads up. Assuming everything's good on your end, the earlier they are involved, the more likely they'll be able to settle things quickly, saving you trouble (and money) in the long run.
 
If the parents were together at the time I'd call it a day. Moms has no grounds to touch you. If they were divorced and maybe he only sees the daughter on a certain day that's different. We had a girl who wanted to play Siren. Very hot and an excelled in two or three martial arts in show me some mixed forms. Everything was good, until it got real and it came down to signing. The mom simply said no. Her daughter had too much on her plate. It worked out for us. I think the new Siren is a great choice. Get releases. I have an all in one intent letter/model and injury release. One for the main cast another for smaller roles. If we had shot anything with her minus a contract, we'd be SOL.

-Nate
 
Well the father had full custody, because the mom was never around. She finally decided to come around so he was nice enough to giver her joint custody of them so they both were able to have time with them. As far as what I have been told (her grandpa is on my crew) the dad had full rights to giver her permission to be in the film. He was in the film himself. I checked all the footage, and while I can't "remove" her. She's blocked by another extra in 95% of the shots.
 
My understanding is, if they have 50/50 custody, either parent can sign the release. It would be a hard battle for the Mom to cause you issues.

Just because they have joint custody does not mean the Mom has legal rights on signing contracts. Ask the Dad what his custody agreement says. For instance, if he still makes all the choices for the kids schooling and Mom has nothing to do with that...a court would side with the Dad.

I am not a lawyer but that is my understanding from a friends current situation.
 
I'd send an nasty email to the minor and tell her that pictures of your shoot before release are not allowed. Tell the mom you're very upset about this posting of copywrited images and that you're attorney will be having a little talk with the father for allowing this.

Seriously though, don't forget that a realease is really good if you end up in court and you will win, but winning in court will cost you lots of money. The diplomatic approach might be much better. The woman probably doesn't care about what her daughter did, she just is angry at the father. Give her something to work with and you won't have to get an expensive lawyer involved.
 
Angelshare1 said:
I'd send an nasty email to the minor and tell her that pictures of your shoot before release are not allowed. Tell the mom you're very upset about this posting of copywrited images and that you're attorney will be having a little talk with the father for allowing this.
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Are you kidding? If he sends a nasty email about the picture he starts a war. If he did not want photos published he should have not allowed anyone to have a camera on the set.

If others had cameras and were also taking pictures, he would have to go after every single person who took and posted a photo in order to go after this kid for doing it. That would cost far more in legal fees than simply asking the father who makes the choices for school.

This should be a wake up call for ALL filmmakers on this board. If people have cameras on set and you don't tell them to shut them off and put them away...you have little leg to stand on as far as published photos on the web. Unless they signed something telling them they could not take or publish photos.

I have worked on productions that make me sign something saying that I cannot release any photos I took on the set until after the production is done and released. Others say that no shot be taken at all. And some want them taken and published for advance PR to hype the project.

But he cannot go after one kid for the photos unless he goes after everyone for photos. And trust me... if that Mom is mad enough she will start asking other people if they got a letter demanding pictures be taken down. And if she finds out they are not getting the same letter... well, lets put it this way... that war I mentioned will rage on.
 
I think there was some confusion.

I was contacted by the mother, about photos that we posted on the movie's official facebook in the behind the scenes photo albums. She also did not want the daughter shown in the final movie either. We had consent to post both the pictures and show her image in the film via the father who signed off on it. The mom wasn't even present. This was like 6 months ago. The father called me today and told me not to take anything down, that he was handling the situation and that the mom was just trying to cause a stir due to some recent court battles.

Whats happened is we are just caught in the middle of a dispute between divorced parents.
 
Azmyth

So good to hear. I had a feeling the Mom and Dad were in a battle and this was being used as a tool. Glad he is getting it straight!

And yes, I was confused about who posted the photo's. Thanks for clearing that up.
 
Azmyth said:
I think there was some confusion.

I was contacted by the mother, about photos that we posted on the movie's official facebook in the behind the scenes photo albums. She also did not want the daughter shown in the final movie either. We had consent to post both the pictures and show her image in the film via the father who signed off on it. The mom wasn't even present. This was like 6 months ago. The father called me today and told me not to take anything down, that he was handling the situation and that the mom was just trying to cause a stir due to some recent court battles.

Whats happened is we are just caught in the middle of a dispute between divorced parents.
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Where is the link? We need to see these pictures that the mother doesn't want seen in order to give you our IANAL opinions.
 
Michele Seidman said:
Are you kidding? If he sends a nasty email about the picture he starts a war. If he did not want photos published he should have not allowed anyone to have a camera on the set.

If others had cameras and were also taking pictures, he would have to go after every single person who took and posted a photo in order to go after this kid for doing it. That would cost far more in legal fees than simply asking the father who makes the choices for school.

This should be a wake up call for ALL filmmakers on this board. If people have cameras on set and you don't tell them to shut them off and put them away...you have little leg to stand on as far as published photos on the web. Unless they signed something telling them they could not take or publish photos.

I have worked on productions that make me sign something saying that I cannot release any photos I took on the set until after the production is done and released. Others say that no shot be taken at all. And some want them taken and published for advance PR to hype the project.

But he cannot go after one kid for the photos unless he goes after everyone for photos. And trust me... if that Mom is mad enough she will start asking other people if they got a letter demanding pictures be taken down. And if she finds out they are not getting the same letter... well, lets put it this way... that war I mentioned will rage on.
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What I meant was that he should toss a little BS to the wife. The wife probably isn't upset at the pictures, she's upset at the husband for whatever reason. Usually in a divorse there's a lot of fingerpionting and putting children in between. Jumping right for an attorney when a little BS will do is a better solution. Just pretend like your upset with the husband and by the time it blows over, the wife will have moved on to a different thing to be upset about.

In the end a realease does not protect you against a lawsuit. No contract does. It only protects you against loosing a lawsuit. It's better to avoid litigation all together.
 
You'd probably be fine even without a release and even if the father told you to remove the pictures. I have an attorney (okay... he's my dad...) and while releases can really speed up court cases and often deter people from ever suing you, the fact that a parent was present and voluntary at time of filming gives implied consent. They would have to prove that you caused them harm in some way from using those photos/footage and that they were not aware that you were going to use the photos and video at the time they were there.

That being said, they can still sue you. They can sue you no matter what. Eventually they will loose, but it might be too costly to you to be worth it. The key to actual success in these matters is not being legaly 'correct', but instead being able to prevent the person from suing you to begin with. You will almost always win in court, since they are there, in your film voluntarily. The way to 'win' is to have releases so you can hopefully talk them out of wasting both of your time, and being kind, understanding, and basically doing whatever you can to avoid a lawsuit. In the end, releases and the like help you MUCH more out of court than in court, since you are pretty much guaranteed to win once a judge gets involved.

This advice does NOT apply to contracts or any agreement that involves payment. It gets much trickier if money is involved.
 
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