When the studios won't give permission

Earlier today, Larry Lessig asked me for a pointer to the Hollywood movie studios' response to my request to use a few seconds of their films for a home movie project I was making with my 5-year-old — not for posting on the Web, just for showing off to family or friends.

As I wrote in Darknet, four of the studios refused outright, two refused to respond, and the seventh wobbled (see below).

This is the quandary millions of us face today: The Hollywood studios demand that we ask for permission to borrow from their works — and then they deny our requests as a matter of course.

Here is the paper and electronic trail of my correspondence with the Hollywood studios:

1. Walt Disney Co..

Oh, this one's a classic! I asked to use 30 seconds from a certain well-known 1964 film. Stephanie Martinelli, clearance administrator for Disney’s Corporate Legal Department, wrote in part:

It is difficult to respond to your request, since we certainly understand your worthwhile intentions. Unfortunately, however, I am afraid we are going to have to deny your request to include footage from MARY POPPINS in your home video project, as requested. Due to the growing number of requests that we are receiving from individuals, school groups, churches, corporations and other organizations that wish to use clips from our productions as part of their video projects and other similar uses, we have had to establish a general policy of non-cooperation with requests of this nature. Unfortunately, we simply do not have the staff necessary to oversee and review all of the details of each specific request that we receive in order to determine whether the request uses fall within acceptable guidelines or whether talent, music or film clip re-use payments to those featured in the footage and other legal clearances would be necessary to obtain before permission for requests of this nature can be granted.

See the full letter (above).

2. Universal Studios

Universal directed me to their website request form at universalclips.com. The form allows a maximum of a 500-character description of the work and 1,500 characters for your request. (1,500 characters, not words.)

The "Target Media" categories included "Commercial DVD" or "Educational DVD" (for schools), but there was no choice for amateur movie-makers or for parents simply wanting to make a home DVD.  Still, I was able to submit license request 7879.

A week later, Universal Studios Media Licensing denied my request to use 39 seconds from the film The Mummy for inclusion in a home movie my son and I were making about ghosts. In a letter, representative Roni Lubliner wrote in part:

If you want a licensing agreement from us to use the footage, you would be obligated to pay the appropriated license fees which would be $900 for each 15 seconds. If you go through this process, you would be protected against any potential lawsuits. Otherwise, I would recommend that you remove the footage from your DVD.

3. Warner Bros.

Warner responded to my request to use two 10-second snippets from the 1988 film Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters and a 15-second clip from the 1948 film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Marlene Eastman, director of Clip & Still Licensing, wrote in part:

Please be advised, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. does not wish to license film clips for use in your personal movies. With respect to lifting material from a DVD or VHS, we do not permit anyone to lift material from a film print, DVD or VHS tape, nor do we allow our material to be edited or altered in any way.

Here is the Ourmedia page and the denial.

A historical footnote: the 57-year-old Treasure of the Sierra Madre is based on a novel by a German anarchist whose point was to satirize the gold fever that Warner now exemplifies.

4. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.

Fox denied my request to use 45 seconds from the film Ice Age for a home movie, writing: “Fox has reviewed your request and does not approve the use of any Fox copyrighted materials.”

See this on Ourmedia's media page or the one-page fax here.

5. Columbia  TriStar Home Entertainment

When I asked studio president Benjamin S. Feingold about splicing a few seconds from his company’s movie Rudy for a personal home movie, he said:

We do have a problem with that. It’s intellectual property. There’s blood, sweat and tears behind it. Financial remuneration is required [and] to have people cutting and slicing up your products is not fair.

But then the head of his legal department told me that I was allowed to borrow a few seconds after all. It's fair use, she said.

6. MGM

MGM declined to answer my request to use 10-second snippets from the 1996 film "All Dogs Go to Heaven" and the 1965 film “Beach Blanket Bingo." Here is the Ourmedia page along my written request to MGM Clip+Still Licensing.

7. Paramount

Paramount declined to answer my written request to use, for a home movie project, 10 seconds from the 1994 film “Forrest Gump”: the scene in which Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump says, “Life is like a box of chocolates ... you never know what you’re gonna get.”

Thoughts Aside

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