I recently participated in a Women In Film & Video (WIFV)-sponsored panel discussion about legal issues for producers. Having just written a book on the topic of rights clearance, I was tasked with explaining the rights clearance process to the attending film and television producers.
Here’s my shorthand explanation of rights clearance – When you clear rights, you verify that there’s no material in your production that is going to get you sued or prevent distribution of your production. Clearing rights properly involves considering copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, defamation, and other laws. Getting the permission you need can also involve doing paperwork, incurring
legal expenses, and transgressing down more than a few dead ends.
So why bother to go through rights clearance process? I decided to start my panel remarks by addressing that very question:
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