Movie Clearance Process
Clearance is the legal process for getting and ensuring a filmmaker has permission to use any and all intellectual property elements that will appear in a film. This can include sets, actors’ “likeness”, music, stock film, music, any artwork that appears in the film, photographs, and trademarks (Saper Law, 2022). While clearance is a legal issue, concerns over clearance also affect the creative aspects of film.
Todd Robbins
We interviewed Todd Robbins, an attorney and Manager of Content and Production Clearance at Netflix, to learn about film clearance and the legal issues reviewed. Prior to Netflix, Robbins worked at multiple studios (including Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Marvel Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television), and worked on Grey’s Anatomy as an assistant for Shonda Rhimes (LinkedIn). Robbins is well versed in the film industry, and provided us insight into how media companies like Netflix approach clearance issues.
Generally, Robbins’ clearance review falls into three categories:
Property
Property refers to intellectual property created or owned by someone other than those making the film. Within the studio, employees of the production studio sign work-for-hire agreements to ensure all copyrighted material they produce are owned by the production company. This can include sets made for the film, music made for the film, the script of the film, and the film itself (Grimes, 2022). For third party intellectual property, studios proactively seek licenses to use that intellectual property in their films, such as artwork, stock film, music, photographs, written works, sculptures, software, and trademarks (Saper Law, 2022). However, Robbins explained that trademarks can be treated differently than other intellectual property in clearance review:
People
People refers to releases signed by actors or anyone appearing in the film, including crew who might accidentally end up in the film (Saper Law, 2022). Physical appearance in film is not the only concern when it comes to clearance with people, portrayal is also a legal concern, as Robbins explained:
Location
Location refers to the particular locations where a movie is filmed. Permits and location agreements with property owners are needed in order to film at a particular location (Saper Law, 2022). Permits are generally issued by the city or state, and location agreements are made with the actual owners of the property, which as Robbins explained, can make the process for obtaining clearance a lot more difficult:
References
Todd Robbins - LinkedIn. (n.d.). https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-robbins-3029b263
Saper Law (2022, February 15). Film clearance basics. https://saperlaw.com/2007/06/13/film-clearance-basics/
Grimes. (2019, April 5). Trademark and copyright clearance in film / television projects. Grimes LLC. https://www.gandb.com/2019/04/trademark-and-copyright-clearance-in-film-television-projects/