Production, whether photography, film or animation, comes with risks. Legal issues surround copyright, distribution, music and sound, talent and finance. These agreements often operate unlike their counterparts outside of the industry. 

Before production, special consideration should be given to company structure and financing arrangements. Funding a movie (for example) is not the same as investing in an angel round of a startup, and it should not be treated the same. If working with someone else’s creative assets (a licensed IP for example), it’s important to ensure appropriate rights and indemnities are included in the license.

During production, creative companies must ensure talent and location releases are secured, services agreements are fair and reasonable and that chain of title to all copyright interest in the production is clear (whether the work is a motion picture or audio visual work, sound recording, theatrical work, photograph or anything else).

Once the creative work is done, agreements surrounding the distribution, licensing and exploitation of the work can be critical to a successful product.