Join us for a special conversation on rights clearance for documentary filmmakers!

Overview

[This Essentials Workshop is FREE for all Gotham Members!]

Documentary filmmakers walk a legal tightrope when bringing real stories to the screen. Whether you’re using archival footage, published letters, music, or interviews with real people, understanding the legal rights involved is essential to protect your project—and your reputation.

In this focused and informative session, Jeanne Hamburg (Chair of Media Law Practice, Norris McLaughlin, P.A.) and Stephanie Jenkins (Co-Director of the Archival Producers Alliance) will guide documentary creators through the critical steps of rights clearance and also navigate practical concerns facing documentarians, helping you avoid the pitfalls that can stall or sink a film.

What you’ll learn:

• What to do when you cannot obtain a life rights agreement (and what to do if you can)
• What rights are protected under copyright—and how they apply to documentaries
• How to identify and contact copyright holders for footage, letters, photos, and more
• How to conduct copyright due diligence using U.S. Copyright Office resources
• The difference between licenses, options, and assignments—and when to use each
• The risks of relying on “fair use” and how to approach it strategically
• Public domain myths and facts—what you can and can’t use freely
• Legal considerations around music licensing, including sync rights
• When and how to get publicity releases and privacy waivers for real people featured in your work
• Common missteps in documentary filmmaking—and how to avoid them

Whether you're an emerging or established documentarian, this program will equip you with the knowledge and tools to navigate rights clearance with clarity and confidence.

Instructors

Jeanne Hamburg

Norris McLaughlin P.A. - Chair of Media Law Practice

With over three decades of experience in virtually every type of soft IP matter, Jeanne Hamburg plays a lead role in litigation and transactions involving copyright and trademark. Based in Norris McLaughlin, P.A.’s New York City office, she assists domestic and international clients in a wide swath of industries including the financial services, B2B, software as a service (SaaS), consumer-packaged goods (CPG), nonprofit, and media and entertainment sectors. She is uniquely positioned to handle every matter that crosses her desk due to the unusual breadth of her background with each practice area informing the other. She has been recognized as a New York Metro Super Lawyer® every year since 2009, an honor only five percent of New York attorneys receive, and has repeatedly been ranked in the World Trademark Review 1000 – The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals, which lists the top 1,000 trademark attorneys in 56 jurisdictions globally. She is also a member of the Media Law & Creative Economy practice group, which she founded and has been ranked Tier 1 in Media Law International (MLI).

Stephanie Jenkins

Archival Producers Alliance - Co-Director

Stephanie Jenkins has been making historical documentaries for fifteen years, primarily as an archival producer and producer with Ken Burns. She has also contributed research to multiple outlets including The New York Times Op-Docs “ENCORE” series. In 2033 she co-founded the Archival Producers Alliance and co-wrote Best Practices for Use of Generative AI in Documentaries. The APA is working closely with non-fiction mediamakers and archivists to protect the historic record in the age of Generative AI.