Chapter 5: Welcome to Reality: Legalities and Rights

• Protect yourself with ample documentation

• Follow up an oral promise with a written memo or email version of the points made and agreed upon

• In a meeting or on the phone, take notes and date them

• Even in this electronic age, keep hard copies as well as computer backups of correspondence and memos sent and received, and dated

• Keep each draft of any screenplays

• If you’ve made some form of contribution to the story, follow that up with a brief memo outlining that contribution

• This is a valuable verification of your ownership; register it before you begin to pitch it around

• Be objective and realistic about excited interest in your project. It may be wonderful, but the people may not be

• Check them out thoroughly - search the web, ask other filmmakers and do a credit check

• See what the other side has to offer first

• Never sign any binding contracts without thoroughly dissecting each point with your attorney

• If you can’t keep it, don’t make it

• In most cases, it is expected

• In this ideal scenario, everyone is happy, and no one sues them

• Should you suspect that you may not get paid what you originally agreed upon, you can consider holding onto all video, film, or digital material until you’ve cashed - and cleared - their check

• The Screen Actors Guild (SAG)

• The Directors Guild of America (DGA)

• The Writers Guild of America (WGA)

• The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians–Communication Workers of America (NABET–CWA)

• The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)

• The American Federation of Musicians (AFM)

• The Producers Guild of America (PGA)

• IATSE

• How the credit is phrased

• Proper spelling

• Font style and size

• How long it stays on the screen

• Whether the person’s name is by itself or part of a group of names

• Other contractual details

• Advertising on posters

• On-air promos

• Produced by

• A film by

• Directed by

• Story by

• Written by

• Composed by

• Credits to executive producer(s), and associate producer(s)

• Television

• Film

• New media

• Terms of the project

• Job descriptions

• Fees

• Contracts

• Schedules

• They take care of payments of residuals, based on a contractually agreed-upon percentage of a project’s profits

• They make payments to the members’ pension and health plans

• They take part in negotiations and arbitrations on the part of their membership

• They have established specific rules and regulations around their members’ work rules, timetables and work conditions

• Current with legal rulings

• Relevant to your specific needs

• Written in language that you can follow

Most Favored Nation

• Shooting script

• Budget

• Shooting schedule

• Financing plan

• Bios of key production personnel

• How much money that time is worth

• How much time you all agree that it could take the project to develop, write, shoot, edit and mix