Beg, Borrow, or Steal? Deciphering Fair Use for Filmmakers
Understanding Fair Use can save documentary filmmakers time and
money.February 9th, 2009 | Jen Swanson David Van Taylor first
engaged questions of Fair Use when he was working on his film
Dream Deceivers in 1990, a documentary that explored the lawsuit
filed against the heavy-metal band Judas Priest by the family of
James Vance, a teenager who tried to commit suicide after
smoking marijuana and listening to the group's lyrics. The film
incorporated copyrighted music and clips. Van Taylor cleared
everything except one clip for broadcast and educational
distribution. But the biggest rights holder, Sony Music, denied
him home video rights altogether, so Van Taylor could not
distribute Dream Deceivers on video. It wasn't until 2005,
however, after reading an article in The Independent (read the
article here), that Van Taylor first began to consider Fair Use,
the First Amendment clause that allows new artists to borrow
from copyrighted materials under cert