How to Protect Your Creative Work with Script Clearance
You’ve never seen Jerry Lewis in The Day the Clown Died.
That’s because a lawsuit stopped the movie from production.
When it comes to protecting your film and television scripts, you can’t simply create something and put your name on it.
To ensure your film or television script is produced without incident, there’s one way to protect your creative work…
A script clearance report.
How script clearance reports protect you.
Script clearance reports break down your script to identify any elements that could cause legal conflict.
You may not realize how many would-be lawsuits appear in your script. Some red flags include business, character, and product names, as well as protected artwork, music, film clips, dialogue, props, and identifiable personalities. There is also the risk of defamation in your dialogue.
Before I show you how simple it is to acquire script clearance and protect your creative work, I need to explain what’s at stake.
Failing to obtain this report could result in avoidable delays, lost revenue, and the possibility that your finished product may never reach an audience.
Here are a few specifics…
Script clearance prevents production delays.
So many films never see their intended release date, or any release date at all.
Your project will stall if there are legal issues over a song, image, character names, stock footage, or anything that could be considered someone’s intellectual property.
Script clearance saves money.
Lawsuits are not only time-consuming, but also insanely expensive.
When legal issues arise, you lose money—money you could have otherwise spent on marketing and distribution.
You’ve already put money on the line—either your own cash or an investor’s.
From paying talent and funding special effects to travel expenses and marketing expenditures, there is a lot on the line.
You don’t want one cent to go toward legal battles.
Lawsuits drain that precious budget, all of which can be avoided once you get your script clearance.
Script clearance stops your project from production failure.
Copyright claims and trademark infringement will not only cost a fortune and stall the project’s completion—lawsuits have killed promising films and television pilots.
It’s very simple to ensure that your project includes no weaknesses that could lead to infringement lawsuits.
Let us review your script, and we’ll go through it scene-by-scene to protect you from lawsuits.
Our team diligently searches for character names, locations, business names, and other crucial elements that you don’t know are protected.
If you want to keep those details in your script, no problem.
We’ll provide you with the contact information that you’ll need to obtain rights to use products, business names, and other protected material.
We’ll also suggest alternatives when a clearance issue can be solved with simple changes. If it’s a matter of switching out a reference or changing a name, it’s worth it to prevent your script from being held up in court battles.