Learn from previous mistakes: Film/TV Industry Liabilities

The Film/television industry is without doubt something I am very passionate about. Everything that happens within this industry is very important to anyone that wants to get involved in it; that is why we have to carefully analyze the liabilities that come along with it.

Now, I have a question for you: who are the first people you think about in the Film/TV industry? The actors.  Over the years we have seen many disputes between actors suing managers and vice versa.  An actor must be keen and astute when signing a contract with their managers, and most of all be very aware of what said contract stipulates as the terms and conditions in order to reach a settlement in which both parties receive benefits. For example, a very interesting case of contractual relationship gone bad is how Lisa Kudrow’s former manager Scott Howard sued her for a breach of contract, claiming that she had failed to make payments for the management services that he had provided.  Kudrow in FindLaw stated that Howard could not establish that she breached the agreement because there was no evidence that the parties agreed to post-termination compensation. Pitifully for Lisa Kudrow the court accepted to hear a witness testifying that commissions are owed even after years of being fired. It is my opinion that one must never agree to any form of oral contracting. It is better to have everything written down, so in case that something goes wrong you have proof in your hands to defend yourself.

What happens if there is a sexual harassment issue on a television production? Almost 7 years ago writer’s assistant named Amaani Lyle from  “Friends” sued every organization and individual involved in the production and writing of the TV show under the FEHA (Fair Employment and Housing Act) for gender discrimination and racial and sexual harassment. When Lyle was hired she knew that the show was adult-comedy and that the script included sexual themes. She also knew that the writers would be joking about sex.

“She acknowledged that none of the comments were directed at her and that she had been advised, when hired, that the writers would joke about sex. But she claimed in her lawsuit that the writers' talk and actions were so frequent and extreme that they made the workplace oppressive.”- Bob Egelko

The Court went in favor of the defendants because Lyle’s reasons were “frivolous,unreasonable and without foundation.”  In the end the suit was dismissed. They also said that offensive language is not sexual harassment.  I think that Ms. Lyle overreacted to the situation; instead of winning “money” she ended up wasting it. She should have dealt with the situation differently.

Another big issue in the Film/TV industry is copyright and trademarks.  In 2003, Twentieth Century Fox sued Dastar Corp.  for copyright. Fox said that Dastar had passed the work of others as their own. The situation was this: in 1948, Fox bought the rights to create a TV series called Crusade in Europe from the book “Crusade in Europe” by Dwight D. Eisenhower published by Doubleday. The TV series entered the public domain in 1977 because Fox did not renew the copyright on it.  In 1988, Fox reacquired the TV rights for the book and included rights to distribute it on video and to sub-license others to do so.  

The issue was that Dastar bought Betacam videotapes of the TV series, copied, edited them and created a new package and sold them with a different name in Europe. Dastar took the credit of everything without mentioning the original book, TV series or the producers.  The court awarded Fox with double of the profits that Dastar made.  

My opinion of this case is in favor of Fox, because Dastar was wrong in pursuing benefits without giving credit to the people that deserved it. I firmly believe that the court’s ruling was as fair as one could expect.

As you can see the Film/TV industry has a wide variety of legal cases to learn from. My humble advice is this: do things right and you will never encounter problems.