[Frameworks] question about fees for permission to use material

[Ted Hardin]

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.

carlileb at 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 <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 
> <mailto: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 <http://www.actsofwitness.com/>
>     vimeo.com/carynyc <http://vimeo.com/carynyc>
>
>
>
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