[Frameworks] question about fees for permission to use material

[Gene Youngblood]

I recently asked the Los Angeles Times for permission to reprint a couple of photos. They said they have them, but they were “handouts”  that were not taken by a Times photographer, and they don’t know who did take them, or where they came from, so therefore I can’t have them. In other words, not having a legal right to grant permission to copy apparently does confer the right to withhold the things from the world forever.



From: carlileb at aol.com 
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2014 3:10 PM
To: frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com 
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] question about fees for permission to use material

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 <fjtorrespr at gmail.com>
To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at 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 <carynycline at 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
  vimeo.com/carynyc




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