Being in the entertainment industry, surprises are always
around the corner and as being a producer, you must be prepared for anything
that can and will happen. Some things include artist fraud, employee issues,
breach of contracts and many more things.
One of the things that have recently happened through the
industry is Aronson vs. Dog Eat Dog Films. This case is a perfect example of copyright
infringement and what is really right in the world of the film industry. A man
had sent in a video to the company after hearing that the company was going to
do a film about the United States healthcare system. Dog Eat Dog used part of
the video in their film and the Aronson said it was against his privacy rights.
The federal judge claimed that Moore was in the right as the emailed waived
rights and he had the First Amendment on his side.
Another good law case is that of the actress Cindy LeeGarcia more recently known for her performance in Innocence of Muslims. She is currently suing the creators and YouTube
after the film rocked riots in the Middle East and North Africa. At first, she
simply wanted to film removed legally from YouTube. She feels fraud has ruined
her career and now wants copyright ownership so that she can have the rights to
who sees the film. Something that is even worse is that the actress is suing
everyone on YouTube that has reposted the video; a little excessive for an
actress.
Lastly, a case that has hurt television shows, TV spots and
publishers is fraud stories. It is nothing new that someone makes up a story
for money but a recent story that could have an affect on future movie deals is
companies like Penguin Group have obtained a copy of breach
of contract demanding their advancements to authors back. This is devastating
in many ways considering one of the authors in the mix has already had a movie
deal for previous novels and was in light of making more.
Things like this as a produce affect many different areas of
production. Whether it is in pre-production like with the author movie deals,
after the film has been released and the actors aren't happy or even when a
bystander of sorts wants claim to your film because of an image he sent you.
When things like this occur, it is always handy to always have lawyers present
before, during and after your productions to make sure precautions have been
put in place for any time.
