Looking to get into independent filmmaking? Think your artsy Chad Kroeger biopic would shake up Sundance (and the music industry) if only you knew how to get the rights to tell his life story? Well-known entertainment attorney and independent film advocate Michael C. Donaldson and Lisa A. Callif have written just the right book for you: The American Bar Association’s Legal Guide to Independent Filmmaking – and we here at Row Three want to give it to you. You know, for free. Because we love you. That’s a $49.95 value, folks – and if you are making an independent movie, you surely know that you need to save every dollar possible (and hell, if your career takes off, who knows, maybe we will get a special thanks in your first film).
Here is the guide’s official synopsis:
Independent filmmaking is fraught with potential legal pitfalls: how do you get someone’s life rights? Or protect your script? When you’re actually hiring people, what do cast and crew contracts need to include?
The American Bar Association’s Legal Guide to Independent Filmmaking discusses everything creative professionals and the lawyers who represent them will need to know from script stage through screening – financing, copyright, hiring a staff, distribution deals, etc. – and includes a CD-ROM with all the contracts, employment and nondisclosure agreements, and licensing deals you’ll need. The book also features case studies throughout each stage of the filmmaking process and boxed tips on how best to work with your lawyer.
The Legal Guide to Independent Filmmaking is perfect for both burgeoning artists with an idea, in need of a guide to help get them safely to inception, as well as the entertainment and intellectual property lawyers representing them. Filmmakers and their lawyers will find this book indispensable from the “eureka” moment through opening night.
If that’s not enough, Casey Affleck used the book. He even said it helped him “navigate the tricky waters of getting ‘I’m Still Here’ made” and that the authors “know every corner of entertainment law, every shade of grey.” In other words, if you’re into making movies, you should probably check this book out.
Contest Rules
In the comments section, leave us your dream movie idea. The only catch? It has to be the sequel to a movie already in existence. Be serious, be cute, be funny – whatever the case, we are looking for some serious creativity here (*cough* Titanic 2: Jack’s Back submissions – not creative, not funny *cough*). Below is an example submission for formatting purposes.
TITLE: Once Upon a Time in L.A.
SEQUEL TO: Chinatown, The Two Jakes
CAST: Jack Nicholson, Natalie Portman, Josh Brolin, James Hong
PLOT (75-125 words): After the murder of L.A. County’s District Attorney (Brolin)
retired private detective J.J. Gittes (Nicholson) finds himself pulled back into a case when a mysterious young woman (Portman) mistakenly… yada yada yada… blah blah…
TAGLINE: Water, oil… BLOOD!
One entry per person.
You must leave your email.
The entries will be judged and voted on by Row Three staff.
Deadline: Wednesday, January 19, 2011
TITLE: 3 Men and a 25 Year Old Lady
SEQUEL TO: Three Men and a Baby, Three Men and a Little Lady
CAST: Tom Selleck, Ted Danson, Steve Guttenberg, Emma Stone
PLOT: Daughter to three post middle-aged men, Mary realizes that her fathers have earned a vacation. She decides to take a week off from her new job as a high-powered business executive and travel with Jack, Michael, and Peter to Las Vegas. While there, Mary loses track of the three old men and in order to find them, she embarks on a cheeky adventure through Caesar’s palace, Criss Angel’s house, and the Sigfried and Roy estate. An adventure chock full of Las Vegas sites, sounds, and people. This is an original concept that doesn’t borrow any ideas from any other Hollywood movies ever made. Ever.
TAGLINE: And she thought they were the ones raising her!
TITLE: Night Club
SEQUEL TO: Fight Club
DIIRECTED BY: Sophia Coppola
STARRING: Reese Witherspoone, Meg Ryan, Val Kilmer
PLOT: Meet Joan (Witherspoon). She’s just your every-day office secretary who simply can’t find a man. And worse of all, she’s unsatisfied with her every-day life. Attempting an emotional escape, she signs up for several book clubs and weight-watcher teams. However, one day she comes across a very interesting woman, Elaine (Meg Ryan), who shows her a new way of life – night clubbing! Meg turns her life around and takes a night out on the town — every night! She even meets and falls in love with suave ladies man George (Val Kilmer), who she fights to turn loyal. However, as dance consumes her life, her new friend Elaine doesn’t seem to be who she expected…
TAGLINE: How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never…DANCED?!
TITLE: “Kasparov vs The Machine 2: Checkmate!”
SEQUEL TO: “Game Over: Kasparov vs The Machine”
STARRING: Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Steve Jobs,
PLOT: Knowing that he cannot challenge IBM yet again, Chess Master Garry Kasparov now shifts his ego-fueled focus on Steve Jobs and his iPad revolution. Coming out of retirement may not be easy for some but Kasparov relishes his new challenge: a giant chessboard comprised of 64 iPads, all playing chess against the All-time World Champion. It’s Man vs MACHINES! Steve Jobs waits nervously in the wings as he watches not only the marathon matches, but also former #1 Champion Anatoly Karpov as he emerges as Kasparov’s water/food/rubdown provider throughout the day. There is no Day 2 … it’s one iPad, one match. Will the machines need recharging … or will Kasparov?
TAGLINE: Kasparov has an app-etite for revenge!
TITLE: 12 Angry Men 2
SEQUEL TO: 12 Angry Men
CAST: Henry Fonda, Lee J Cobb, Martin Balsam
PLOT: The film begins exactly where the first film left off. Juror # 8 (Fonda) begins his walk home from the courthouse, and has a change of heart. He decides that the kid was guilty after all, but as the trial has concluded, he can’t go back and sway the jury back to their original guilty stance. In desperation, he runs back into the courthouse, and attempts to steal the switchblade from evidence so he can execute the boy. Foiled by an alert security guard, Juror 8 is unable to get the knife, but does escape with the cardboard diagram of the old man’s apartment. He attacks the boy with it, but his victim only suffers a few mild paper cuts before Juror 8 is subdued by police and a weeping Lee J Cobb.
TAGLINE: Unreasonable Doubt
Great so far. Also, the deadline has been extended on this contest one week.