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Music Licensing for Film

Music is a whole other character in a film. It can leave an indelible mark on your audience. For filmmakers, it can help you express the tone of a scene and evoke the emotional response you are seeking. 

Many of us would love to feature the music of the bands we enjoy in our personal lives. Oftentimes, however, this music is too expensive to feature in an independent film. Thus, filmmakers either search for lesser known music that may come cheaper or approach bands willing to write music that the production can own outright. In exchange the band is getting some exposure to their work. 

Songs are copyrighted by law. Therefore, filmmakers must license the use of any songs from the copyright owners in order to feature them in their films. There are two licenses that you will need when featuring music in your film: Master Use and Synch. 

The Master Use license is garnered from the label that recorded the song. They are the owners of the actual recording. If you are going to re-record the song then you won't need the Master Use license. The Synchronization license (which allows filmmakers to "synch" the song to images) comes from the publisher, who owns the publishing rights to the song. Songwriters may be their own publisher or they may work with a music publisher who helps promote their music and collects and disperses the royalties for a typical 50/50 cut of the royalties. 

Publishing rights to songs can be bought and sold. One of the most publicized cases has been the handling of the publishing rights to a portion of the Beatles' songs. In the 1960s, publisher Dick James formed a company with the Beatles that held the majority of the publishing rights to the Beatles' work. When James sold his shares of the company, the Beatles found themselves with new partners who held the majority stake in the company. Eventually these new partners put their catalog up for sale and Michael Jackson outbid everyone, including Paul McCartney who had tried to buy back the publishing rights. Later Sony would pay Jackson millions for rights to the catalog. Needless to say, the Beatles haven't been happy about how their publishing rights have been handled through the years. 

When securing the rights to songs for use in films, most productions hire a music supervisor to handle the process. They have the knowledge and relationships to garner good licensing deals for the usage of the songs. In addition, there are many different licensing deals to consider, i.e. theatrical usage, TV, Internet, festival, etc. And fees can vary depending on how much of the song is used and where in the film. Music is a whole other character in a film and a whole other negotiating process!

Finding Your Name Cast

I am in the middle of casting a part for a young woman (late teens, early 20s), which means countless hours of me pouring over pictures, articles, reels, movies, and TV shows. There are many resources I use online to help me do my research. I thought I would share, especially since I am in the middle of the process right now. 

The ideas below are solely for researching already established actresses. There are many more tools available when doing casting calls and searching for lesser known actresses. This list also assumes you are casting the leads yourself and not using a casting director. Many indie producers cast the leads in their films themselves. I enjoy casting so I usually cast the leads myself and then hire a casting director to help handle the execution of the deals and to cast the smaller roles. 

IMDb Pro's Starmeter

The first step in my research on actors is the IMDb Pro Starmeter. I scroll through it looking for actors in the right age range. I look at everyone I can find in the Starmeter with a ranking of at least 4,000 or above. I keep within that range because it literally takes hours to scroll through this list and most of the more popular actors are in the range of 4,000 and above. I feel confident that I will come across more names in my other areas of research that fall over the 4,000 mark. I then use the IMDb entry to go over the actor's resume and images, get age and height and contact info, and personal details that may help me and the director decide if this actor is the right choice for the part we have available. 

Google

The ole Internet search on actors is a must. I will search by specific actor name or do a general search on up-and-coming actors or award-winning actors or Latino actors, etc. The search terms can be endless. For example, my current search is for an up-and-coming actress so I found articles like this one from AskMen.com or this one from Gunaxin. I love themovie-fanatic.com for articles on highly acclaimed rising actors, but their site is down right now (very sad). Over time, you will find actresses who are consistently found on every up-and-comer list but you will also find gems you hadn't thought of or perhaps never came across. 

Entertainment or Celebrity or Trade Magazines

Magazines such as Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, People or Us Weekly are other great resources for articles on actors. And it gives you an excuse to get your fill of gossip too! Just admit that celebrity gossip is a guilty pleasure.

Other Independent Films

I also check out indie films that premiered at festivals or made a splash from the last five years or so to see who starred in them. This is a great way to find talent who are already predisposed to appearing in smaller, independent films. Once I get a list of films, I go to IMDb and search on who starred in them. 

TV Shows

Don't forget TV actors. Often they have a film resume as well and they can bring a certain amount of domestic box office value with them if they are a series regular and get a lot of press from their TV work.  

Fan Sites

Many actors, even up and comers, have fan sites with a gallery of images and even trailers or clips from interviews and films. 

YouTube

Most actors have a few videos featuring their work on YouTube. I love to key in actors' names in YouTube and watch reels, scenes, and interviews so I can get a sense of a personality of an actor above and beyond their character work. 

Go to the Video Store or Troll NetFlix

Sometimes I will go to the video store or troll NetFlix and scan new titles and genres that are similar to the film I am casting. DVD jackets usually have pictures of the cast and may present an actor who may be right.

And last but not least...

Agents and Managers

I also put the word out to agents and managers about my search. I have to be honest here. Agents and managers are very nice but it is hard to get them overly excited about a small, indie film. Definitely put the word out to them but don't get discouraged if they don't offer up any suggestions for you. Most of the work I do with them is after I have already figured out who I want to go to and then I try to make the project as appealing as possible so the agents and managers will be willing to promote the project to their client. 

An effective way to find new ideas is to note the agents and managers who you find are consistently representing cast right for the part. Look at the client list of these agents and managers on IMDb and you may come across a new name there as well! 

New color of blog!

Hi all,

I had to change the color of my blog. I think a white background will make it more readable. I was starting to feel like the background was a bit pukey. It's the same old blog (which is still pretty new!). Thanks for tuning in!

Jane

Digital Download and DIY Web Sites

There are a few Web sites that help filmmakers offer their independent films for sale as a download or DVD.  Let's go over some and how they work and any pros and cons. Feel free to bring up any others that I've missed or any other pros and cons. All of the below offer non-exclusive services so you can still sell your goods on your own Web site or others at the same time.

CreateSpace

This service is brought to you by Amazon. You send them your DVD and they will fulfill orders as they come in.

Pro: You don't need to create or house an inventory of DVDs. This saves you a lot of upfront cash since you won't have to make the DVDs and ship them anywhere. And you have your film listed on Amazon, which is a huge search engine for product.

Con: The dubs may not be the highest quality. Amazon takes a pretty stiff cut of your sales ($4.95/unit plus 45% of the sale if sold on Amazon.com or 15% if sold on CreateSpace E-Store). 

FilmBaby

You send them 10 DVDs at a time and replace them in batches of 10 as they sell out. They also offer the ability for the consumer to download your film for a price that you set. 

Pro: Their cut of the sale is only $4 per DVD sold. This includes the shipping costs to the buyer. And they are willing to cut weekly checks. You can ensure high quality DVDs since you are making them. 

Con: They don't offer much marketing help and you need to provide them with DVDs, which is typically a lot of upfront cash. The less you sell your DVD for, the more their fee takes a bite of your profits. 

IndieFlix

Your film needs to have been an official selection at a festival (though they claim to make exceptions).  You mail them a DVD or tape and they will load it in their system for downloads or DVD orders. They can use their own artwork for the DVD cases or you can provide the artwork. They split the royalties 70/30 in your favor. 

Pro: They do not charge any fees. They only take a 30% cut of each sale. If you are interested, they will approach 3rd party outlets like Amazon, Netflix, Joost, or Hulu and try to make your film available on those sites as well.

Con: Quarterly payments only. The royalty split is hefty if you are selling a pricey DVD edition. It is a 12-month commitment at a minimum. And they will charge you $100 to pull the title from their site and any other 3rd party sites on which they made your film available.

NeoFlix

This service is similar to FilmBaby in that you need to provide the inventory of DVDs. It looks like they will accept and manage your entire inventory up to 1000 DVDs, including merchandise such as T-shirts or posters.

Pro: You don't need a separate storage unit for your inventory. NeoFlix will accept it all. They have some marketing programs to help you promote your film, including a product listing on Amazon. They will handle selling any merchandise, such as T-shirts or posters, as well.

Con: Pricey service. They have a set up fee of $238, a $35/mo. maintenance and customer service fee, and a per-transaction fee of 12% of each order.