Posted by Stuart on 06/30/07 11:01

<koblesky@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1183055935.895600.134940@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>I am an employee at a Fortune 100 company. I went around the world
> shooting video of our employees at work. Legal insists I get releases
> from everyone in the video. Others say if they are employees you
> don't need a release.
>
> The video is for B2B and will be shown sometimes to a few clients, and
> sometimes at Trade Shows. It is not retail.
>
> Anyone had experience with this? The problem with getting releases is
> twofold:
>
> One - shooting around the world, there are a lot of people in the
> shots - its a hassle.
> Two - Typical of large corporate video with executive involvement -
> gets delayed a lot. I can get releases, edit changes, wait, etc...it
> is 4-5 months - and by the time people have quit! So do I need to
> edit them out, etc..?
>
> thanks ahead of time anyone with advice.
>

This probably doesn't apply in the USA but down here in Australia it is just
normal practise of any film maker to obtain signed releases as a legal
insurance policy. It's not difficult to do and pro-forma release documents
exist - obviously this doesn't apply to news or public domain shooting. At
the very least a verbal request to the employee/s should be obtained just as
a matter of human courtesy. The lawyers are right as the USA is far more
litigious jurisdiction. In plain language it's a good idea to cover your
arse!

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