A Book to Read on Copyright
 

I have just read through the book "Clearance and Copyright: Everything the Independent Filmmaker Needs to Know" 2nd edition (Los Angeles: Silman-James Press, 2003) by Michael C. Donaldson, a Los Angeles-based entertainment atty. in practice for more than 20 years.

It deals with all the major copyright/rights issues that come up here on a regular basis in a clear and comprehensive fashion. As Donaldson points out in the introduction, the book won't make you a clearance and copyright expert, but it will give you a broad enough overview of important issues that your time with an atty. will but much more productive--you'll at least know the right kind of questions to ask. The chapter on music clearance (yes, all music has to be cleared) alone is worth the price.

The book is organized in chapters that take one through every stage of film/video production from securing an idea through post-production and distribution. It also contains a number of useful sample agreements for various situations/rights.