[Frameworks] question about fees for permission to use material

[Caryn Cline]

Dear Francisco, Jim, Gene, David, Ted and Dan.

Thank you all for your insights and advice.  I really appreciate your
taking the time to respond to my query.  Frameworks is such a great
resource!

Best wishes,

CC


On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 1:04 PM, Francisco Torres <fjtorrespr at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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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>>
>
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-- 
Caryn Cline
co-producer, *Acts of Witness*
www.actsofwitness.com
vimeo.com/carynyc
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