Filmmaker needs one of my YouTube clips - What to do?

Cafe Society
1

I wondered if this was better for Cafe Society, MPSIMS or IMHO. But it is about music and TV…

I’m going to have to be coy about this, but I swear it’s all true.

Years ago, I went through my shelves of videotapes from the 1980s and digitized a bunch of interesting music video clips and uploaded them to YouTube. These were all odd things, and not a one of them was ever made available commercially.

(I’m aware that I violated the rights of the owner of the material, but again, none of it had ever been made available for sale. And of course, they could have asserted those rights and YouTube would have removed it. So, the position of the copyright absolutists is duly noted.)

Most of the videos were seen by, at most, a few hundred people. Some of the e-mails have been fun - like hearing from the actors in the clip. (The cost of the clip came out of the artists share of the royalties, but none of them were given a copy of the video they paid for.)

A handful of the clips have become wildly popular. One has been seen more than a quarter of a million times. Not “Leave Britney Alone” popular, but seen by quite a few people.

I was just contacted by a filmmaker about this particular clip. They have written me and they want to use it in a film! They have tried to license the rights from the original broadcaster. The broadcaster is willing to license the rights, but they don’t have a copy. Again, the original broadcaster doesn’t have the videotape of this clip.

So, what do I do? Have any of you been involved in a situation like this? Obviously, I don’t have any rights to this material, but I’d have to travel back home, go through my tapes and make it available for the filmmaker. And frankly, I could use some money for my labor.

I recall that Auntie Beeb ran into a similar situation with early episodes of Doctor Who. Was the person who recorded those William Hartnell Doctor Who episodes compensated?

2

I think you should demand a speaking role in the film.

3

I am blessedly free of any desire for stardom. Seriously, I’m the sort of person who digitized his music video collection for fun. I’m a huge geek.

4

Any chance you could link to your YouTube page? I’d love to see your clips! Or PM, if you want to retain privacy.

5

I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me you have a right to negotiate to be compensated for your efforts, regardless of the copyright in the material. If I were you, however, I would get something in writing making it clear that I am not claiming a copyright, that I am merely being compensated for services provided, and that the filmmaker takes full responsibility for obtaining all necessary permission from the copyright holder. There are probably applicable boilerplate contracts with words like indemnify in them out there, but as I may have mentioned, I am not a lawyer.

ETA: I don’t know who the parties are in this particular situation, but some people hear “filmmaker” and think big corporation with Hollywood budget. You may need to keep in mind that a filmmaker these days can be a kid with a cellphone.

6

No, it wasn’t really shot on a cell phone.

7

I don’t understand why you need the original tape. You digitized the video. Can’t you just send him a copy of the digital file? (if it’s on YouTube he can just download it anyway, but you might have a higher res version)

8

HALT!

Broadcasters may or may not own the rights to reproduce the work. They may only own the broadcast rights, and not the reproduction rights.

You might still be on the hook for reproducing the work.

Get an indemnity or some sort of assurance that you’re allowed to reproduce the work.

9

What type of film? If it’s a non-profit, low budget flick, I think you can squeeze by the Fair Use provision in copyright law if it’s relatively short.

On the other hand, if you are seeking compensation, you should get a lawyer or agent, and/or communicate with the copyright holder. I would imagine that you could work out a deal and get a cut of what the copyright holder gets. It’s probably not going to be much, but it is something and you won’t get sued later.

10

I want to avoid mentioning the title to cover my ass. After it all happens, I’ll link to it.

The filmmaker said it was a “low budget film”, but a little searching indicates that this is the child of a name filmmaker.

This was uploaded a number of years ago, back when the maximum resolution one could upload to YouTube was 320 x 200. At best, I’ll have to re-digitize it.

As I said, I claim no rights to this at all. I’m just wondering what is fair to ask for my effort.

As far as I can tell, it was an original production by the broadcaster. If it had been produced by an independent production company, they would have kept copies. It takes a broadcaster to think of saving money by erasing master tapes.

11

The idea that it’s OK for you to violate copyrights as long as the owners are unaware of it and thus don’t complain is nonsense, both legally and morally.

If you think you need to cover your ass (and you do), then you need real advice from a real lawyer and not just a bunch of people weighing in here who do not know the law and aren’t obligated to protect your legal rights.

12

…the copyright owner who cared so much that they erased the tape.

Read the OP. The filmmaker is paying for the rights to use it in the movie. But the broadcaster…

Erased the original tape.

Ultimately? Any copy I make for the filmmaker will benefit the broadcaster, who will pay for the right to use it in the film. This is found money for them. Where is the harm?

13

I have no idea what an actual Intellectual Property Lawyer might advise, but I think my IANAL response would be along the lines of “You get everybody with any claimed proprietary interest whatsoever in this thing in a conference room and I’m willing to participate, provided I get total indemnity” - after first shipping your files to an untraceable server in Nigeria and shredding your computer.
Granted, I’m dating myself, as I assume such things are not done in an actual conference room nowadays, but over Tweety or SpaceyFace or whatever.
Regardless, a very interesting situation - you have a chance to be a part of cultural history! And get a publishable article out of it: [del]Dear Penthouse Forum[/del] Dear Rolling Stone: I had this really old music video I saved on VHS, and …

14

Offer to do what the ‘film-maker’ wants, provided he goes to the trouble of contacting a genuine, qualified lawyer who will draw up a proper, legally binding, signed and witnessed contract between you. This contract has to make it clear that the film-maker is asking you to perform a particular task (e.g. re-digitising a named piece of artistic property) and send it to him, and that the film-maker indemnifies you against any and all legal claims regarding copyright, mechanical copyright, intellectual property rights and every other kind of ‘rights’, now and forever, in the entire universe, amen.

In other words, offer to do it, but make him do all the legal donkey work to create the magic piece of paper that makes you legally fireproof.

Of course, the same contract should also specify what sort of payment you are going to receive, from whom, and when. (Clue: the only money worth even talking about is money in advance. If you start trying to chase your money after the film-maker has what he wants from you… well, good luck with that, and be prepared to receive the money on the second Thursday after national Take Your Unicorn To Work day).

15

Seems to me the task the OP is being asked to perform is really in the service of the copyright owner, not the filmmaker. The copyright owner wishes to sell the rights to the filmmaker, but is unable to do this without a copy of the film. The OP can provide that copy, but it’s still the owner of the material who can transfer it (legally, not necessarily physically) to the filmmaker.