Securing Rights for Film Clip

NicklausLouis

NicklausLouis

As we are finishing up postproduction of our ITOC Round 2 entry Sometimes They Come Loose, I am thinking ahead to the next project I want to helm. I've mentioned this project here before - One - so I won't go into specifics. The questions I have are about how to secure the rights to a film clip.

The script is based on a short story. In the story there is mention of a Twentieth Century Fox film playing on television. While I believe I will have to leave it out of the film due to a limited budget, I do want to explore any possibilities that might be out there.

So I have three questions:

1) Are there any laws stating that rights do not have to be obtained if said clip is shorter than x amount of seconds?

- This is something that I've been told, but I don't trust it.

2) Are there any general estimations on how much securing the rights might cost?

3) Do you have to obtain multiple rights (i.e. film rights, actor's likeness rights, soundtrack rights, etc.)?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Poke
 
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Poke;

I have no official expertise on those questions, but I can say I've never heard of any "under x seconds" rule for video usage. Music sampling may be a different story, but I'm fairly certain you'd need image clearance on a video clip. I doubt you'd need the clearance of anyone other than the individual (or corporate) rights-holder of the video clip in question, such as FOX itself. The variant licenses you might need would include the exact format of its use -- i.e., public performance, commercial duplication, etc...

Out of curiosity, how married are you to that exact clip? If you Google "Public Domain Video," you might be able to find a comparable (though usually older) clip that's generally rights-free.

Regardless, if you inform some PR or licensing person at FOX that you'd like to use the clip for a no-budget indie film contest, I doubt you'd have to pay much, if at all (unless the films will eventually be shown for profit).

Good luck.
 
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I am fairly certain this "under certain amount of seconds" rule is probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard, and has probably harmed lots of peoples production. It would be like saying you can steal candy from a store, but only a certain amount of them.

Unless your film is a Paraody of an event, in which I know there are a different set of rules for obtaining rights of use (as in there are none in certain situations if your making fun of something).
 
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1. Go to http://www.copyright.gov/ to find out about copyright law.
2. That seconds thing is bunk. Every single frame of a motion picture is covered under copyright law.
3. Copyright is like any other commodity, the owner can sell it for as little or as much as she/he sees fit. If you really want this clip, contact them and see what they say. They’ll probably want to know what it’s used for, the extent of the clip, the start time, and end time of the clip. They will give you a limited rights license. What’s the worst that can happen? They’ll say no or want to charge more than it’s worth. I’d recommend emphasizing that this is background/atmosphere footage and they may let you have it for less. Be careful that they don’t try to give you a license that has to be renewed annually, or once the license expires you can’t distribute that scene any more.
4. You COULD pay money to use this clip (since it’s Fox it’ll probably be a pretty penny), or you could go to http://www.archive.org/details/movies and search through the thousands of hours of public domain footage and find something that works.
 
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