* How can you use a state's film tax credits to fund your film? SEE PAGE 63. * You have an idea you want to pitch to a production company; how do you safeguard your concept? SEE PAGE 77. * How can you fund your production with product placement? SEE PAGE 157. * How do you get a script to popular Hollywood actors and deal with their agents? SEE PAGE 222. Find quick answers to these and hundreds of other questions in this new edition of The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers. This no-nonsense reference provides fast answers in plain English-no law degree required! Arm yourself with the practical advice of author Thomas Crowell, a TV-producer-turned-entertainment-lawyer. This new edition features: * New sections on product placement, film tax credits and production incentive financing, Letters of Intent, and DIY distribution (four-walling, YouTube, Download-to-own, Amazon.com, iTunes, and Netflix) * Updated case law * Even more charts and graphics to help you find the information you need even more quickly. This book is the next best thing to having an entertainment attorney on retainer!

* How can you use a state's film tax credits to fund your film? SEE PAGE 63. * You have an idea you want to pitch to a production company; how do you safeguard your concept? SEE PAGE 77. * How can you fund your production with product placement? SEE PAGE 157. * How do you get a script to popular Hollywood actors and deal with their agents? SEE PAGE 222. Find quick answers to these and hundreds of other questions in this new edition of The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers. This no-nonsense reference provides fast answers in plain English-no law degree required! Arm yourself with the practical advice of author Thomas Crowell, a TV-producer-turned-entertainment-lawyer. This new edition features: * New sections on product placement, film tax credits and production incentive financing, Letters of Intent, and DIY distribution (four-walling, YouTube, Download-to-own, Amazon.com, iTunes, and Netflix) * Updated case law * Even more charts and graphics to help you find the information you need even more quickly. This book is the next best thing to having an entertainment attorney on retainer!

"Since the publication of its first edition in 2007, "The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers" has quickly become one of the best-selling legal guides for independent filmmakers. Now in its second edition, "The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers" is used as a textbook in film and law schools across the country, and graces the desks of indie filmmakers and studio executives alike. Backstage Magazine calls it "An [an] excellent, potentially career-saving resource." The book's hands-on, straightforward style demystifies the complex world of contracts and copyrights so critical to the business success of any independent film. Its revolutionary combination of graphics, cross-referencing, and step-by-step explanations have been praised by filmmakers for helping them find the information they need at a glance without having to read the book cover to cover"--

This no-nonsense reference helps independent filmmakers recognize and solve the critical legal issues they might face throughout the course of making a film. Author Thomas A. Crowell, TV producer turned entertainment lawyer, will help you to understand and negotiate crucial production contracts, handle actors and their agents, and navigate the perils of copyright infringement and other lawsuits. Updated throughout to address important changes to the law, and incorporating discussion of online distribution, crowd funding, social media marketing, and international productions, this expanded third edition will provide you with the skills to: Protect the copyright to your work. Finance your film and watch out for common financing traps. Understand how tax credits and other incentives are used in film financing. Work with other screenwriters, and protect your script ideas. Adapt a book or comic into a screenplay. Know how to spot the difference between copyright infringement and fair use. Hire crew members, actors, and post-production staff. Draft a production services agreement or a license to use someone else’s work. License music for soundtracks. Negotiate a distribution agreement or understand how to distribute your film alone. Learn how to best position your film for Netflix. Make money from YouTube. And much more! Written for accessibility and ease of reference, this book is a vital resource for any student or independent filmmaker wanting their films to be successful and free of legal disasters.

This is the only book that combines conceptual and practical instruction on creating polished and eloquent images for film and video with the technical know-how to achieve them. Loaded with hundreds of full-color examples, The Filmmaker's Eye is a focused, easy-to-reference guide that shows you how to become a strong visual storyteller through smart, effective choices for your shots. This book has struck a chord worldwide and is being translated into several languages After a short introduction to basic principles, a variety of shots are deconstructed in the following format: - Why It Works: an introduction to a particular type of shot - How It Works: callouts point out exactly how the shot works the way it does--the visual rules and technical aspects in action - Technical Considerations: the equipment and techniques needed to get the shot. - Breaking the Rules: examples where the "rules" are brilliant subverted

Budgeting and scheduling are easy in principle but hard in practice. The successful producer has a solid plan for juggling dozens of activities and costs while retaining the flexibility to cope with those inevitable last-minute changes and stay on course. Preplanning the budget and schedule of any media project is absolutely essential, and the 2nd edition of Scheduling and Budgeting Your Film: A Panic-Free Guide shows you the intricacies of handling both budgeting and scheduling successfully. This new and updated edition explains the fundamentals of line producing in an easy-to-understand style, and includes tips and techniques that apply no matter what kind of scheduling or budgeting software you’re using. Author Paula Landry includes detailed examples of breakdown forms, organizing resources, distribution expenses, and hidden costs, and discusses how to set realistic priorities and find industry and state tax incentives. The new edition also includes discussions of transmedia and multi-purpose shooting, special considerations for VR, 4K and 3D shooting, new web platforms and mobile technology, crowd funding, film festivals, and much more. Each chapter is filled with handy checklists, tips, practical advice, and anecdotes, showing how scheduling and budgeting are done in the real world; Principles apply to any type of media project: film, video, music video, projects hosted online, and corporate and educational videos; An accompanying eResources page offers downloadable forms and templates, and other essential resources.

In this comprehensive guidebook, three experienced entertainment lawyers tell you everything you need to know to produce and market an independent film from the development process to deal making, financing, setting up the production, hiring directors and actors, securing location rights, acquiring music, calculating profits, digital moving making, distribution, and marketing your movie.