Does My Production Need a Lawyer?

Many independent productions, from short films to larger projects, ask themselves at one point if they need a lawyer. The entertainment business can be complicated, and most productions should consider hiring one. A good production attorney can help a production with the following common needs and more:

1. Obtaining production insurance, which normally requires a script clearance report. A production attorney can produce one of these for you, highlighting potential areas of liability.

2. Drafting and reviewing contracts. Professional productions produce a lot of contracts. There will, and should be, contracts with actors, crew, and many of the other people involved in the production. Contracts written by people other than lawyers often have fatal flaws that do not protect your production. Contracts are esoteric and complicated, but that’s what production lawyers are trained for.

3. Intellectual property concerns. From licensing agreements for music to copyrighting the product itself, intellectual property is the fuel that powers the entertainment industry. Production attorneys navigate this twisting area for you.

4. Freeing up your time. You want to make movies. You don’t want to spend most of the time you could be doing that reading contracts and dealing with complex legal questions. Think of a production lawyer as another member of the crew: you hire them because they have expertise and allow everyone else to do the job that they were hired to do.

Most productions should consider hiring a good production attorney. By the time you realize how complex the legal issues of your production are, it may be too late. The Law Firm of Dillon McCarthy can help you from pre to post-production for an affordable rate targeted directly to independent filmmakers.

California Anti-SLAPP

It’s more common than it should be: someone says something that someone doesn’t like and that person or organization tries to use the courts to stop them from saying it. Having a right is all well and good, but it can be prohibitively expensive to fight for that right in court. Thankfully, California has a way for defendants to cut proceedings off before the cost gets out of control: an Anti-SLAPP motion.

Anti-SLAPP motions sound technical, but they can simplify proceedings for some defendants. They stand for “Anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.” In practice, they can be used to stop a lawsuit that is intended to stop someone from exercising their right to free speech.

These motions can be used to end frivolous lawsuits designed to shut critics up. They have been successfully used to shut down lawsuits brought by the government, companies, and individuals against their critics. If you believe someone is trying to stop you from expressing your freedom of speech, the Law Firm of Dillon McCarthy may be able to help.

Immoral Trademarks Fair Game

Today the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in Iancu v. Brunetti. In doing so, they greatly expanded the kinds of trademarks that can receive federal protection. For the longest time the Langham Act, which governs federal trademark law, barred the registration of acts deemed disparaging, immoral, or scandalous. In 2017, this list was struck a blow when the court rules that banning protection for disparaging marks violated the First Amendment.

Erik Brunetti sought to trademark his clothing brand FUCT. It was rejected as immoral. A majority held that this constituted viewpoint discrimination, making it an unconstitutional constraint on free speech.

As of today there is a broader range of trademarks that can be protected. But that doesn’t make filing and obtaining this protection any easier. If you or your business need to file for trademark protection, The Law Firm of Dillon McCarthy is ready with the knowledge you need.