Legal Guide: Publicising Your Short
Legal Guide: Publicising Your Short
Legal advice on publicising your short including getting all the consents, setting up a website and crediting.
Actors' Consents
Your agreements with actors should give you the right to use their performance and image in the related marketing of your film.
You should obtain:
- consent to take photographs and/or recordings of their performances;
- consent to use and authorise others to use their photographs and/or recordings together with their name and biography in connection with the publicity of your film and for personal publicity e.g. on your showreel or personal website.
There should be no additional fee for these consents.
Merchandising is more relevant to feature filmmaking and in this context, the consent should include use of their photographs and/or recordings and other information for books and other merchandise associated with the film.
Still photographs are crucial to most publicity campaigns. It is often the case that your actors will agree to have their still photographs used in connection with the publicity of your film. In feature filmmaking, the actors may have approval over which photographs are used.
If there are specific publicity services you require consider specifically identifying these requirements in the agreement.
For sample actors' agreements, see the downloadable contracts section of our Related Links: Legal
Setting up a Website
To help with the promotion of your film you may want to set up a website.
There are various domain name registrars that you can buy domain names from. Be careful which registrar you choose as there are many sharks out there. ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has a list of accredited registrars offering public domain name registration who are based in the UK.
The cost of registering a domain name can range from as little as £20 (often when using a fully automated system) to £100 or more for a two-year registration.
The content on the website relating to your actors may be subject to approval by your actors and/or their agents.
If your website contains a facility for users to register their details in order to be updated on developments with the film (e.g. festivals where the short film is being screened) this is likely to involve personal data use and data protection law will apply.
Under such law you must notify the Information Commissioner’s Office about any processing of personal data which you carry out.
There is an exemption from notification for advertising, marketing and public relations. This applies if: the only information you need is an individuals’ address or “other identifier” like an email address; the information is about prospective customers (in this case, potential viewers of your film) and you are not passing the details onto a third party without the consent of the individual to whom the data relates.
Even if you are exempt from notification you will be subject to other obligations under data protection law. For further information please see the Information Commissioner's Office website which provides helpful advice on data protection, the JISC Legal Information Service which provides an introduction to Data Protection, and the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) guidance on data protection.
It must be made clear at the time you gather personal data how you will use the information. If you intend to pass details on, or continue to send information even after the film has had its final screening etc, then this should be clear. Individuals must also have the ability to withdraw consent from receiving marketing emails at any stage, i.e. unsubscribe to notification of film updates.
For more information on setting up a website and what to include on your website, see our Filmmaking Guide: Press & Publicity - Websites.
Crediting
If you have received funding for your film or are planning to distribute it, you are likely to be under a legal obligation to credit those who have worked on your film in the opening or end credits. Filmmakers should follow the convention for films to list the entire cast and crew involved in the production in the end credits. It is not a legal obligation, and therefore not essential to credit in this manner, but you risk upsetting the cast and crew if you do not give them the customary credit they would expect. It may be that you have agreed to give some of the actors involved with the film a “star credit” under the terms of your contract with them. You should look at your agreements with the actors in the film and see whether there are any special provisions about the manner in which you credit the actors. See the section on Engaging Actors for more information. It is essential that you honour the terms of your contract as you are obliged to do so legally.
Related Guides
To check what rights and clearances you'll need to show your film in public, see our Legal Guide: Rights & Clearances Checklist
For more information on the press and publicity materials that you'll need to promote your film, see our Filmmaking Guide: Press & Publicity Materials
For more information on the marketing lifecycle of a short film, see our Filmmaking Guide: Marketing Your Short
See also our related links: legal
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