To expand on Francisco's idea, you could also ring up the original
author and record an interview about his essay. Paraphrasing, perhaps
even 'quoting' his original writing, would be acceptable. Look up cases
that are about how Fair Use protects references to copyright material.
You would have original interview footage so you should be fine. I'm
not sure what your piece is about, but you could also channel your inner
Craig Baldwin and quote the exchanges you had with the Times. As a
final protection strategy, when releasing your film--if you clearly
'give it away for free' there are many cases (even musicians) who have
not been sued as of yet.
I also have to say that it's interesting that the NYTimes would be
tracking a handmade film.
Good luck. Keep us posted.
carli...@aol.com wrote:
Unless it's super-vital, write your own narration as a replacement.
Fair Use would only kick in if you were citing the article in a
criticism, review or parody.
Is the author absolutely sure that the NYT owns the copyright?
Oftentimes the rights revert back to the outside author upon
publication. $800 btw sounds like what would be charged for
non-commercial use. It's quite reasonable, considering, but of course,
it's not really possible.
-----Original Message-----
From: Francisco Torres <fjtorre...@gmail.com>
To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks@jonasmekasfilms.com>
Sent: Thu, Feb 20, 2014 1:05 pm
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] question about fees for permission to use
material
If you modify it ''substantially'' it becomes a different text. Think
William Burroughs...
On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 4:48 PM, Caryn Cline <carynycl...@gmail.com
<mailto:carynycl...@gmail.com>> 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 <http://www.actsofwitness.com/>
vimeo.com/carynyc <http://vimeo.com/carynyc>
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