U.S. Copyright Law • Title 17 U.S. Code U.S. Copyright Law • Copyright.gov
| U.S. Copyright Law flows from the Constitution of
the United Sates U.S. Copyright Law is drafted by the House & Senate
Judiciary Committees, voted on by the full House and Senate and signed into
law by the President of the United States. • Article
1, Section 8 • Title
17, U.S. Code •
American Film Schools Copyright Policy U.S. Copyright Law ought to govern Copyright policy
at every film school in America. Film School copyright policy has nothing to do with
U.S. Copyright Law.
AUDIO
RECORDING JOHN LONGENECKER • AFI Copyright Policy / U.S. Copyright
Law • Title 17 U.S. Code Our Goal: Film Schools all across America to abide
by U.S. Copyright Law
The American Film Institute
(AFI) is an independent non-profit organization created by the National
Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon
B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities
Act. The organization describes itself as "a national institute providing
leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence
in the art of film, television and digital media."
The United States Government
provides funding for AFI -- that's U.S. taxpayer money. Thus, AFI ought to be required to abide by all U.S.
Codes including U.S. Copyright Law - Title
17, U.S. Code •
2009 National Endowment for the
Arts Grant to AFI:
$25,000 | 2009 AFI Directing
Workshop for Women | • The NEA no longer provides grants to individuals
-- only to organizations now • U.S. Copyright Law protects the Copyright of individual
authors -- not organizations • An NEA grant to AFI ought not cause AFI to own the
copyright to the scripts and short films AFI Workshop Project • Workshop Participants 1. Writer/Director: write a script for a short film 2. Director: direct a short film Under U.S. Copyright Law the participant
/ writer / director ought to be the Copyright owner. Not AFI.
AUDIO
RECORDING JOHN LONGENECKER • AFI scripts and short films
2009 Directing
Workshop for Women AFI copyright policy: "All Projects"? What's a "project" under U.S. Copyright Law? AFI Projects: Scripts and Short Films Scripts and Short Films are copyrightable -- "projects"
are not. AFI is seeking here to own the Copyright to scripts
and short films. That AFI copyright policy is a violation of Title
17 U.S. Code. Under U.S. Copyright Law the participant
/ writer / director ought to be the Copyright owner. Not AFI.
Project: in 2009 "project"
is a word that may now be commonly used in the motion picture industry.
It seems to have something to do with intellectual property in the minds
of misguided folks who know little about U.S. Copyright Law. "Project"
is a deceptive, misleading word that is a vague substitute for real copyrightable
works: Story • Treatment • Script • Short Films.
AFI may want to control a "project." Good for them. However, leave Copyright ownership to the authors
of Story • Treatment • Script • Short Films AFI Copyright Policy AFI Directing Workshop for Woman Copyright Policy
PDF document
|
This AFI Workshop "Project": Scripts and Short
Films "projects directed under the auspices of [AFI]" --
nothing to do with U.S. Copyright Law "[AFI] Workshop participants" -- nothing to
do with U.S. Copyright Law
AFI does not write: All scripts written under the auspices of AFI All short films directed under the auspices of AFI Scripts and short films are copyrightable by the author AFI says "all projects" directed under the auspices
of AFI -- nothing to do with U.S. Copyright Law.
U.S. Copyright Law / Copyright.gov
• seeks to protect the rights of authors and their original
works of authorship. Story • Treatment • Script • Short Films on this project Copyright to be owned by AFI participant / writer
/ director
A Short Screenplay So, director / participants are the Author of a script
-- an original work of authorship Story • Treatment • Script • Short Films • Participants
ought to own the Copyright to that work.
AFI Info: Participants enter the program with a short screenplay,
which they develop within the Jessica Kaplan Screenwriting Series at the
Directing Workshop for Women. A revised draft of the script is required
at the end of the three weeks.
All (writer / director) participants will direct a
short narrative project.
AFI calls a script and a short film a "project." AFI seeks to avoid describing the original works as
a script and a short film. A "short narrative project" is actually a short film
based on the (writer / director) participants' script.
