If you modify it ''substantially'' it becomes a different text. Think William Burroughs...
On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 4:48 PM, Caryn Cline <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Frameworkers, > > > > I'm writing to ask your advice. I'm working on a short handmade, > experimental film that takes as its "script" a slightly modified version of > an essay I found in the *New York Times*, which I plan to use as a > voiceover narration on the soundtrack. I wrote to the author to ask his > permission to use it, which he gladly gave with this caveat: everything he > writes for the paper is owned by them. He gave me the name of someone to > contact at the paper, who sent me to the paper's licensing people. I > decided to follow that lead, to see where it went. [I have not had good > luck with trying to get permission for a reasonable fee before, but I > decided to try, as an experience.] > > > > Well, needless to say the people who license for the *Times* want me to > pay them what I regard as way too much money for the use of the essay--$800 > for rights for festivals, galleries, streaming, broadcast, etc.--for the > life of the title. As you know, it is difficult to communicate to people > in these positions that there is absolutely no commercial value in the > film. The money is about 1/3 of my overall budget. Some of my handmade > film buddies advised me to forget about the permission and just use it > anyway, but I feel funny about doing that now, and as one friend who works > in the business cautioned: my project and I are on their radar now. Should > I try to talk them down? (They originally asked for $1300, so this is a > considerable reduction from outrageously expensive to merely quite > expensive.) Should I claim "fair use," and use the text anyway? What are > the chances that they would come after me? I'd appreciate any advice or > hearing about your own experiences with this. Many thanks. > > > CC > > -- > Caryn Cline > co-producer, *Acts of Witness* > www.actsofwitness.com > vimeo.com/carynyc > > > > _______________________________________________ > FrameWorks mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks > >
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