Sorry if this has been asked before but nothing I've found so far quite matches what I need to know. I'm brand new to film making and am based in the U.K. I'm trying to get a low budget horror film made and am tripping up over a few legal things.
I've found lots of example actor release forms and a couple of downloadable ones. There are three things I wanted to know:
1) Do these release forms (and actors agreements) have to be witnessed by a solicitor or can they just be signed in the company of the actor and the production company?
2) Do we have to add any particular clauses if there's some nudity? I'm guessing there has to be some kind of definition of what constitutes nudity if we're going to be trying to secure the use of an actor's image!
3) Can we construct our own release form, based on examples, or does it have to be drawn up by a solicitor?
I would really, really (really) appreciate any help.
The Guerilla Film-maker's Handbook has example release forms in it; I've just used those in the past, with appropriate modifications.
To a certain extent merely turning up and acting in front of the camera counts as giving permission for a drama shoot (they can hardly claim they didn't know they were acting in a movie), but it's always best to get a proper release form anyway.
Many thanks!
