Copyright and Scholars' Rights

Teaser

"In lieu of an abstract, here is a preview of the article.

I recently spent several hours trying to sort out the rights needed to include a still image from a film in a book chapter for an edited collection of academic essays. Everyone was helpful, but it didn't detract from the fact that considerable persistence was required to ensure a successful outcome. The director was happy about the use, and pointed me toward the rights holders, requiring only that he be kept informed. The rights holders of the film gave me a price, but also required agreement from the performer captured in the still image. The performer was not aware of this, and simply stated that I would need to gain permission from the rights holder of the film. Nevertheless, I got there in the end, and the chapter will benefit greatly as a result. I was also lucky enough to have the support of a sympathetic editor who agreed to pay the rights holders for permission to print this still. Since the British Film Institute did not hold a still of the particular scene, I also had to capture the image from the DVD. This required another set of skills, but with the support of more technologically-savvy colleagues the image was captured without too much difficulty.

This is but one recent example. I have experienced extraordinary assistance from some individuals: one British producer was truly magnificent when I wanted to print images from one of his films in a book chapter. I spent an afternoon with him, collecting relevant items from his storage facility, arranging for the reproductions of stills, and negotiating a very reasonable price for permission to publish. ..."