Option-purchase agreements are used in many situations to acquire rights to literary property (i.e. books, screenplays, stage plays, magazine articles, etc.). For instance, producers (and studios) often use option-purchase agreements to obtain the right to make a movie based on a writer’s screenplay. That is, producers use this agreement to obtain permission from the writer to use the desired literary property.
In a huge turnout, over 80% of the voters from SAG and AFTRA chose merger, when in 1999 and 2003 they couldn’t get 60%. So what changed? Why now? And what does it mean to you? Clearly the two unions are stronger and more unified when combined. The New York Times described the merger as [...]
Recent deals indicate movies on the Internet are ready to become a gold mine for film producers. For years, it seemed like Netflix and iTunes were the only providers of online movies; and unfortunately, they did not pay producers a lot of money. But suddenly new Web-based services are appearing everywhere and are aggressively buying [...]
Sundance Film Festival starts this week and the hot topic is “hybrid deals” – making a deal to open your film in theaters and on VOD the same day. Everyone wants to repeat the recent success of “Margin Call” (starring Kevin Spacey) which was made for $3.4 million, opened “day and date” taking in $5.3 [...]
Generally, there are two ways to obtain music for a film. The first way is to hire someone (i.e. composer) to create music specifically for your film. The second way is to use pre-existing music (i.e. music not created for the film). The scope of this article is limited to the very basic issues affiliated with using pre-existing music in film.
Due to the onslaught of the digital age and internet piracy, the traditional economic structures of the music industry have changed dramatically. As a result, CD sales have been plummeting for several years and major record companies have been forced to create new business models in order to increase financial profits.
Writers and Producers are always concerned that their work (i.e. ideas, treatments, and screenplays) will be stolen. Unfortunately, whenever you convey your idea to someone, there is really no one way to protect it. However, there are specific steps that you can take to increase legal control of your work.
