About the Book

Creating a movie is more than just a labor of love: it's also an investment of time and money. But while countless hours are spent setting up shots and editing footage, many producers spend too little time taking care of the legal aspects of their productions. As a result, producers often learn the difficult lesson that no matter how good their films may be, a distributor can't sell a movie unless all of the necessary rights and permissions have been secured. In fact, without the correct agreements in place, producers may be surprised to find out that they may not even own their own films!

In fact, film and video production is a litigation lightning rod: actors get hurt, copyrights are infringed, and contracts are broken. Big-budget producers have lawyers on retainer, but many independent filmmakers are left legally exposed. Now you can arm yourself with the practical advice in The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers.

Topics include:

• Cast and crew agreements
• Working with the Screen Actors Guild
• Understanding copyrights and clearances
• Using state tax credits to finance your film
• Raising money from investors
• Optioning screenplays
• Understanding “fair use”
• Licensing music
• Protecting movie pitches
• ...And hundreds of more topics, critical to film and television production. For a full table of contents, click on the “Table of Contents” link at right.

For more information about Mr. Crowell, as well as a sample of his articles, please check out WWW.THOMASCROWELL.COM