All posts by Gregory R. Kanaan
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Cinema Law: Enforcing Your Rights (When They Haven’t Been Paid For)
Q: I did CGI work for a film and our contract states that they don’t acquire the copyright in my work until they pay me,...
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Cinema Law: Can I Fictionalize A Reality TV Idea Without Infringing Its Copyright?
Q: I wrote a novel about a fictional reality TV dating show that bears similarities to The Bachelor and other similar shows. Should I consider...
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Cinema Law: What Are Your Options When You’re Fired From A Job Before It Even Begins?
Q: I was booked as a makeup artist on a production for the month of August. I signed a written employment contract with the production...
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Cinema Law: Does Your School Own Your Student Film?
When I was in film school many years ago, a rumor developed that the school owned the films we made there, stripping us of our...
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Cinema Law: Should I Write a Season of TV For a Producer Without Upfront Compensation?
Q: A producer recently approached me with a finished pilot script and asked me to write the rest of the first season so he could...
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Cinema Law: What to Put in A Life Rights Contract
Q: I’m friends with a semi-famous musician and she’s helping me writing a biopic about her life. I was told that I need to acquire...
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Cinema Law: What You Should Know About Using Other Peoples’ Quotes in Your Film
Q: I’m making a film and I’d like to use a quote from a famous person in the script. Are quotes considered intellectual property and...
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Cinema Law: Getting the (Screenwriting) Credit You Deserve, For WGA Members and Non-Members Alike
Q: Is there some way to ensure that I receive a “written by” or “screenplay by” credit when the client is not a WGA signatory...
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More Than You Bargain For: Negotiating With Talent 101
I used to be terrified of negotiating—my instinct was to immediately acquiesce and avoid the hassle. So when I meet moviemakers in my law practice...
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Cinema Law: What Are Your Rights When Filming a Criminal?
Q: As a producer, what are my rights when filming a documentary subject as he confronts a criminal about a past crime and/or as we...
Summer 2019
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Guide 2019
Summer 2018
Year in MovieMaker
Inside the Issue: Acting
Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker: Richard Dreyfuss
American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Stand By Me, Mr. Holland’s Opus… even while reading like a what’s what of cinema, those titles are just a handful...
1Inside the Issue: Directing
Cold Piece of Work: Richard Linklater Braves Greenland Hurricanes for Where’d You Go, Bernadette
Richard Linklater’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette opens with the answer to its titular question. In an impressively executed overhead shot, the camera gazes down onto placid Antarctic waters as...
Inside the Issue: How To
How They Did It: The Farewell Writer-Director Lulu Wang Shares Secrets to Turning Your Life Story into a Memoir Movie
The week before production started on The Farewell—my sophomore feature about a young woman (Billi, played by Awkwafina) and her family’s attempts to keep their grandmother’s cancer diagnosis hidden...