As many of you know, I’ve been contributing to MovieMaker Magazine’s Cinema Law column, an ongoing blog that discusses how the world of filmmaker intersects with the law. You can imagine why that would appeal to me. Anyway, my sixth article was published last week, so by way of self-aggrandizement, I thought I’d post links to all six of my articles to date in reverse chronological order. Please click through and if you have any questions you’d like me to address in an upcoming Cinema Law article, please email me or submit a comment on one of the articles listed below.

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Cinema Law: Do You Need Adaptation Rights For Fact-Based Material?

Q: I’m really interested in making a film about a real-life event, but I can’t afford to secure the rights to the book that recounts it. Since the story is true (and has been documented in newspapers), would I still need the rights to the book to tell this story?

Cinema Law: Why Using Volunteers is a Risky Way to Keep Costs Down on Your Film

Q: Is it legally permissible for a California LLC to use unpaid labor to produce a short film? If not, is it possible to use a deferred salary approach to defer cast and crew compensation until after the short earns a financial profit, if it ever does?