Copyright Guide for Film Students

You would need to obtain permission from the rights holder to use a copyright protected work when:

• Your use is not permitted under a copyright exception such as fair dealing in the Canadian Copyright Act
• You are unsure on whether your use complies with copyright
• You want to mitigate financial and legal risks of potential infringement 

Obtaining permission to use a copyrighted work takes time and diligence. Generally, you would need to obtain a written licence agreement as proof of permission.

Steps for requesting permission:  

1. Determine if permission is required - Is the work in the public domain (copyright expired) or under an open licence that enables reproduction and reuse? Does an exception in the Copyright Act permit your use? If you are unsure, obtain permission or consider if there is a copyright compliant option (e.g., Creative Commons licensed material) available that could be used instead.
2. Identify the rights holder(s) of the material - Check the copyright statement to see if it indicates who the rights holder is. More research would be required if it is unclear who owns the copyright or the copyright has been transferred to someone else.
   • For a work posted publicly online, the person who posted it may or may not be the copyright owner. When reaching out to the individual about your project and permission request, you should ask they are the copyright owner. If they mention they are not the copyright owner, ask if they have the owner's contact information. 
   • Depending on the material and your intended use (e.g., music performance), you may be able to obtain permission from a licensing collective (e.g., ASCAP Licensing for  the right to perform songs and music in a derivative work). See Wikipedia's list of copyright collection societies in Canada and US. 
   • Film and television companies also have their own licensing departments (e.g., Universal Studios Media Licensing)
   • In a work with multiple authors/creators, they jointly own the copyright, in which case you would need to obtain permission from all the rights holders. 
3. Identify the rights needed for your intended use -
   • What are your intended uses? For example, to include a copy of the work or to perform the music and incorporate the recording in your film. Do you plan to show your work at film festivals? 
   • Are you using the work in its entirety or a part of it? If it is the latter, which part of the work do you want to use? 
   • Do you want to modify or adapt the work? For example, rearranging the scores of a song. 
   • Do you prefer exclusive or non-exclusive rights to use the work? Exclusive rights would permit only you to use the work in the specific manners you obtained permission for, which may be harder to obtain unless you commissioned an artist to create a work exclusively for your use. Non-exclusive rights would allow the rights holder to give permission to anyone to use the work in the same or similar rights granted to you. 
   • Duration of your use is an important factor to consider. You may want to be able to show your student film at festivals and events in the future. Obtaining permission to use in-perpetuity is ideal but may not be granted or too expensive. Some rights holders require an annual licence fee. It may affect your decision on whether or not you can continue to use a work included in your film.
   • Territory of your use. Do you plan to show the film outside of Canada? In US and/or other countries?     
4. Plan ahead for permission - Try to request permission well in advance since it will usually take some time (1-3 weeks) to obtain a response from the rights holder. Also, you should give yourself enough time and be prepared to have a backup option in case permission is not granted. The copyright owner or licensing agency may ask you to pay a licence fee if permission is granted, and at that point, you could try to negotiate the price and adjust the terms and conditions of your use as needed.
5. Request permission from the rights holder(s) - Request the permission in writing. Be sure the person you are contacting is the rights holder or has the authority to grant permission (see #2). The letter should include the specific rights you are requesting and details of your intended use. If the rights holder provided a verbal consent, get a written confirmation of the permission and terms of use. A signature from the rights holder is also recommended; a scanned copy with the signature is fine. Film festivals and distributors generally require documentation of permissions from applicants. Also, documentation may help in case of a dispute down the road.

There are companies that specialize in securing rights licences and have attorneys in house to manage legal issues for professional film makers.

Adapted from Stanford University Libraries' The Basics of Getting Permission. 

If you would like to include a recorded song or music in your film, you would need to obtain both: 

• Master use licence - from the record company to use a music/sound recording in a film. 
• Synchronization licence - from the composer or music publisher (if the composer has transferred the right to the publisher) to use or "sync" the music with visual elements in a film. 

 If you plan to re-record the song, only a sychronization licence would be needed.

The website of the Canadian Independent Screen Fund for BPOC creators has more information on synchronization and master use licences and sample agreement forms.