The Simpsons used Morningwood Penetentiary in one episode. You like gag signs, that's the show for it.

Just out of curiosity how did they get away with a moview like "Supersize Me"?

I've wondered that too. Maybe he got away with more because it was a documentary? Also, imagine if McDonald's had sued. They would have looked like they were trying to censor the movie. It would have been a PR disaster. They were obviously very afraid of that movie.

The discussion so far has been pretty much spot on to what we found, the one thing mising tho is any discussion of how to get the clearances rquired to be able to show the logs/containers. It took us 2 -3 weeks to collect the clearances we needed from brewers etc when we began filming the The Underground TV. Most of the major brewers we dealt with had an agency which handled their product placement. We contacted several dozen different companies for permission and had no refuslas. The releases were everything from a couple of relatively simple paragraphs to three pages of requirements. ( And the three pages were pretty simple to comply with in our case - excessive drunkenness, drugs and other illegal activites, bad light were all prohibited ) The toughest part was tracking down the agent for specific products. None of the clearances cost us anything and of course with our 400,000 home TV market, we didn't even consider asking for a placement fee LOL...
Start out with the corporate web site - that is where we found most of the initial information about who to actually contact for the clearances. And when you find one of the agencies, ask them if they know who handles product xxx. We found a couple of agencies that way also.
If I remember correctly, Miller Brewing and Pepsi were both handled by Davie-Brown entertainment http://www.davie-brown.com/ so there is one to start out with.
It's not all that difficult, it should be just one more step in your pre-production process to ensure your projects success

I am not a lawyer (I haven´t seen "Supersize me" either), but it´s a documentary, and as long as the filmmakers can prove what they claim, McDonalds can´t hurt them.

The following is just my opinion, one fact and a sigh...
I personally think that if you stick a huge neon sign up somewhere high on a pole in a city (or crowded area), it´s your wish for that sign to be seen, in real life, film or photos, and it´s you who must blame yourself for any use of your sign... In Norway where I live, whoever put that sign up has no court case whatsoever! (And Norway is not a banana republic without copyright laws.)

Next time you talk to your Legal Bureau ask them their opinion on giving legal advice to people who are not their clients, OK?

Catch my drift?

Good luck.

Dennis

I have worked on low budget indie productions where properties were not only cleared, the manufacturer actually sent us product for free (such as cases of Coca-Cola).

As was mentioned earlier, the primary concern for a company is that their product is not being shown in a bad light. Otherwise, it's free advertising for them. Remember that product placement is a massive industry, with many companies vying to have their goods prominently displayed.

Even on a no-budget shoot, I'd recommend taking the time to contact the PR firm that handles a given product, you might just end up with a shoot's worth of craft service goodies (but don't expect a free Porsche!)

That's an excellent idea! I might just do that.


Thanks

No Dennis, I don't "catch your drift"!
 

Maybe you'd like to clarify it a bit and for information...my statement was based on MY experience and was never aimed specifically as "legal advice" from me or my department.

So chill.

RB

OK...

So anyway, I'm working on a short for DVC3 and want to use about 30 various seconds (a bit chopped up) of dialog in the background as well as a casual glance at the television. OK, it's Sunset Boulevard, Paramount I believe. There used to be a lot of disinformation about fair use being anything less than some number of seconds, etc.

Should I contact Paramount (silly question) for this short? It will be available on the internet but not widely known about.

Last question, anyone know who to talk with before I start the web hunt for rights folks? I had wanted to submit this before midnight Friday.

I may have to make up my own, similar film and play it out on the screen, like they did in Home Alone with the guy with the Thompson machine gun.

Also, as a quick side note, for fun with signs, check out the Faulty Towers series. The name of the hotel changes in each open...

Thank folks,

Sean McHenry

OK, called and left a message with the Licensing folks at Paramount, filled in the release form and will fax it in. The catch here is, on the web site it says, in so many words, they only review licenseing requests for on-air television, etc. No mention of short indie films or contests, and so on. We'll see if they ever call back.

I honestly don't think they would be interested but I am making an attempt at contacting the right folks before the contest entry deadline.

Sean