Re: Talent release forms

The further this discussion goes, the more potentially ridiculous the legal agreements become.

some observations:

1. the chances that this or any homegrown, no-budget, amateur production will ever earn a cent are essentially nil.
2. it IS insulting to offer a complex, detailed, comprehensive legal agreement to people who are offering to sacrafice time and energy to you for nothing.
3. a simple release in plain English can be astonishingly effective. Check out the story of the rental units that rewrote all their leases into plain English: since everybody actually understood the agreements, litigation was reduced and they ended up benefiting financially.
4. few lawyers will advice you to use a simple, plain english agreement for the same reason that few doctors will advise you to go skiing.
5. I'll bet that treating your volunteers honorably will do more to prevent future litigation than the most "iron-clad" agreement there is.



Boodro wrote:
Everyone brings up really good points. You definitely want to keep
your people happy while on set regardless of how much you're paying
them. Not only does that keep people more productive, but it may stick
with them and make them less likely to sue you later on down the road
if they had a good time.

But when it comes to legal** matters, and more specifically money, it
doesn't matter how much you fed or paid them...or what they signed for
that matter. If you're making a substantial amount of money from the
film a few years down the road, and someone feels that they are
entitled to a portion of that, all it takes is a good lawyer to find
one loophole in your free internet waiver and convince the jury that
your production would not have been such a huge success without said
actor/actress. Nothing that you'll get for free will be iron clad
enough to protect you.

Maybe you should invest a little in having your lawyer write up a good
waiver for you that has a little in it for everyone, but in the end
protects you and your investment the most. Something like, "The
undersigned waives any initial and all future monetary compensation
resulting from this film, and in return will receive free exposure/
acknowledgment through the marketing and screening of the final
production...blah blah blah." Actually, on second though, you may want
to leave out the blah blah blah part, that's not very professional.
But you get my point. Think up some of the different accusations or
cases people may bring up, have your lawyer come up with a legal
roadblock for each and word it so that it isn't insulting or obvious.

** Disclaimer: In no way do I claim to be, or ever have been a lawyer.
By reading this disclaimer you waive all rights to bitch about my
free, non-professional, legal advice. =P
.

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