Category Archives: Asked & Answered

Asked & Answered: What obligations when author is dead and publisher can’t be found?

Entertainment Lawyer answers a question about using books as source material for a screenplay, when the authors and publishers can’t be located.

Asked & Answered: Dialogue from an existing Play used in new screenplay

Entertainment Lawyer Gordon Firemark answers a question about having film characters quoting lines from a famous play.

Asked & Answered: More about life-rights

Ros asks about agreements for a biopic based on conversations and letters from the subject.

Asked & Answered: The Wizard of Oz and the public domain.

An anonymous viewer asks whether the producers of “Oz: The Great and Powerful”, scheduled for release in 2012 needed to make an arrangement with the copyright holders for “The Wizard of Oz”, or whether a loosely based “homage” can be done without copyright clearance   My Answer: Tweet

Asked and Answered: What rights do I need for a classical music film score?

Paul is planning to use public domain music, reinterpreted for his film score and wants to know what rights and agreements he will need.   QUESTION: Paul wants to know: Does a film producer need copyright permission for a classical film music score, if the score is being reinterpreted by the producer’s own composers and…

Asked and Answered: Orphan Works

Guy asks what to do about rights to a book, when you can’t find the heirs of a deceased author, and the publisher is defunct. Tweet

Asked and Answered: Using a pre-existing film title for a new screenplay

Damian asks about using a pre-existing film’s title for his new screenplay. Here’s my answer: Tweet

Asked & Answered: Original vs. Adapted works

“When is a work ‘Original’, and when is it an ‘adaptation’?”

Asked & Answered: How do I get a lawyer to represent my script?

Q: Dave asks how to get an entertainment lawyer to sell a script. I give my answer

Asked & Answered: Finder’s Fees to friend with contacts? [Video Answer]

In this video, I answer a question about whether it’s OK to pay a finder’s fee to a contact who facilitates sale of a script.