The Independent Filmmaker's Law and Business Guide: Financing, Shooting, and Distributing Independent and Digital Films

Today's explosion of independent and digital filmmaking demands a brass-tacks guide to the business and legal aspects of the process. What fundraising options are available to a filmmaker? When should a filmmaker establish a corporation or limited liability company? How do screenwriters protect their work? What are a director's legal obligations to the producer, cast, and crew-and what are their obligations in return? This indispensable guide answers the legal, financial, and organizational questions that an independent or guerrilla filmmaker must face, problems that will doom a project if left unanswered. It chronologically demystifies issues such as founding a film company, securing locations, casting, shooting, granting screen credits, distributing, exhibiting, and marketing a film. It even anticipates the "problems" generated by a blockbuster hit: sound tracks, merchandizing, and licensing.