Option Agreement – Ask a Lawyer Series
Option Agreement – Introduction A scriptwriter contacted us, asking what legal issues to be aware of when selling her completed scripts to film producers. Typically, a scriptwriter (let’s call her the “creator”) would enter into an option agreement with a producer interested in producing the film—unless, perhaps, the producer has the funds to produce it […]
Bell Fund: Short-Form Digital Series (Fiction and Non-Fiction) Program
Bell Fund – Introduction Next in our ongoing series highlighting funding opportunities for digital creators we’re going to take a look at the Bell Fund. What is the Bell Fund? The “The Bell Fund”, is a CRTC certified independent production fund that provides funding for cross-platform digital media and TV content. The Bell […]
Quitclaims – A Creative Legal Tool
Introduction to Quitclaims Quitclaims are legal tools used by producers and creators to ensure that someone or something has given up certain rights in a property. For example, say you are a producer and a great script lands on your desk (or inbox). The creator tells you that it was previously developed by another producer […]
Online Concert Licensing and Royalties – Part 2
The Rights of Online Concerts: This is the second blog about online concert licensing and royalties. In the first blog, I provided a chart that summarized some licensing considerations for online concerts based in Canada. This blog introduces three rights that presenters require with respect to the compositions being performed at commercial online concerts. […]
Canada Day: The Perfect Day to Support Canadian Content (5th Edition)
Since 2015, I’ve been sharing suggestions of how to support Canadian content on Canada Day – including our nation’s films, music, television programs, books, and more. While every day of the year should be spent consuming #CanadianContent, Canada Day is the perfect day to celebrate it, be proud of it, and support the creation of […]
Video Game Copyright Considerations
Video Game Copyright Mark Edwards was interviewed by the CBC for an article about video game copyright considerations in the context of Donut County and Hole.io. The following is additional commentary about the relevant questions for game development companies: What’s the difference between another developer ripping off your idea versus being inspired by it? This […]
Ask a Lawyer: The Way Forward in Canadian TV/Film Production
On March 12, 2015, the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission) released The Way Forward — the first Broadcasting Regulatory Policy to come out of “Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians” launched by the CRTC in October 2013. The CRTC’s stated intent is to make policies to facilitate and to lead Canadian programming into […]
