Clearance & Copyright: Everything You Need to Know for Film and Television

Very informative.

This terrific book is a "must-have" for filmmakers, be they fiction or non-fiction, documentary or dramatic. To those not in the legal profession, the matter of copyrights and clearances seems like a dark, scary jungle we all wish we didn't have to go through but authors Michael Donaldson and Lisa Callif are there like friendly guides to help you stay out of danger and get to the other side safely. Co-written by one of the master architects of "Fair Use" for documentarians, why make your film making journey all the more treacherous? Mr. Donaldson discusses his heroic efforts that brought Errors and Omissions Insurance companies into the world of documentaries. He certainly deserves a medal for that! This book is quite an enjoyable read, full of real-world examples that will often amaze you. Yes, even the big boys of the feature film world get bit from time to time. Learn from their mistakes. You'll be told quite clearly what you can do, can't do, must do and must not do. If I had read this before I started to make my film, I'd probably have enjoyed the journey a lot more!

Solid. Real world advice by those who are actually doing it. I beg you, the true indie to read it, twice. Somebody has to tell you to about the real world. Downloading the forms if you have the hard copy like I did could be a little clunky but it's worth the effort to type out the links. I assume the Kindle version might be a click away to the forms. You got the script, you want to get your project going, don't mess it up on a legal technicality that will kill your deliverables. I have nothing to do with Donaldson's law firm and as an indie producer I insist you read it and also check out all the great and real advice they have on YouTube too.

I am the co founder of Chippendales and during that time dealt with our trademarks a great deal. After selling that I was a music lawyer and now I do business affairs and project development in films. Michael and Lisa's book is terrific. It is my go to bible for matters of clearance and copyright. It is so detailed that a screenwriter was having problems filing a copyright and I was able to open to the chapter in the book and walk her through it on the phone. The downloadable forms are an added plus. This book is a must for anyone involved in the business side of making films, TV or music

This book is great because it covers so many things you would have never thought about. The writing in this book is also relaxed and is easily readable by people of all ages/education levels. Right now I am a college Freshman and it's really nice to be able to read this book since I am making a feature film. This book shows/gives great examples of cases and explains step by step what everything means. I personally think anyone who is a writer/director/producer should have this book as you will use it often.