Hi all,

Very long time no see - hope everyone's well!

I thought I'd post out of the blue as I'm looking for a bit of advice. I got an email today from a high school student, asking to shoot one of my unproduced shorts, The Marry (http://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1320456538/), to help them practice filmmaking. Here's the email, with personal info redacted:

My name is [X]. I'm about to go into my last year of high school here in [X], and I've been looking for opportunities to film short movies. Your script 'The Marry' seemed perfect after hours of searching for short scripts focused on actors around my age. I was wondering if I could use your script to gain experience and to learn film making techniques.

Let me know if that is okay and any additional info I may need. Thank you.

I'm inclined to say yes - I wrote the short nearly six years ago (oh god...) and apart from one other expression of interest immediately after it was posted nothing ever happened with it, not that I shopped it around or anything. I'm frankly surprised anyone came across it! It might as well serve some purpose as I have no other plans for it, and they were polite/respectful enough to reach out to me rather than just taking and shooting it so it'd be good to encourage and reward that sort of behaviour.

However, obviously given it's a practice script for high school students I'm expecting it to not be particularly polished. The last script I had that was shot was made by a professional film company in Australia so I was happy to sign it away as they had work I could view and looked decent, which turned out to be a good move as it played in some festivals and I got the credit. This is different, and as I've stopped thinking I'm going to make a career out of writing I'm not zealously guarding my 'brand' or anything like that - but at the same time it'll still have my name on it... Usually I'd ask to see previous work but I know this is explicitly an educational / practice exercise, which I'm fine with in theory but clearly comes with other considerations.

I know some of you have been in this situation - students looking to shoot something as practice - so do you have any advice, please? Here's what I was thinking of asking / setting as conditions:

- it'd be a non-exclusive use, with no ownership of the script or anything like that
- what are your plans for the finished film? Are you intending to post it online?
- a 'written by' credit in the opening titles
- any rewrites (major rewrites?) need to be approved by me
- send me the link or a finished copy once it's done

Does that seem fair? As I say I'm fine (and a bit surprised but flattered) for this to go ahead and am expecting it to turn out a bit rough and ready, but feel I should put sensible safeguards in place.

Any thoughts, experience or insights welcome. Thanks in advance!

I had a similar situation. Pretty much used the same terms you are proposing.

I wouldn't worry too much about them being students. You might be surprised at what they can do.

I had a bit of a betting war going on with Two Psychos. I ended up giving permission to film it to a filmmaker in Georgia (the country). I gave a student permission to film it as her project for some media class. I told her she was welcome to use it, but she could not show it to anyone outside of her school since the guy in Georgia had big plans for his film. Well, as it turned out, her version was great and it won the local film festival. She was dying to enter it to other film festival because it came out great, but because I'd told her she could not do that, nor post it online (I can't even show it to my friends. It's under protection on Google drive.) The film is now just a film no one can see. Meanwhile, the guy in Georgia is still in post with his version. It's been two years....

I guess in short, students might surprise you with their skills.  :)

Good luck, Jon.  8)

Quoted from Grandma Bear I wouldn't worry too much about them being students. You might be surprised at what they can do. I had a bit of a betting war going on with Two Psychos. I ended up giving permission to film it to a filmmaker in Georgia (the country). I gave a student permission to film it as her project for some media class. I told her she was welcome to use it, but she could not show it to anyone outside of her school since the guy in Georgia had big plans for his film. Well, as it turned out, her version was great and it won the local film festival. She was dying to enter it to other film festival because it came out great, but because I'd told her she could not do that, nor post it online (I can't even show it to my friends. It's under protection on Google drive.) The film is now just a film no one can see. Meanwhile, the guy in Georgia is still in post with his version. It's been two years.... I guess in short, students might surprise you with their skills.  :) Good luck, Jon.  8)

Oh absolutely, it might be amazing. I'm just saying I wouldn't be approving it with the expectation / for the goal of ending up with something I could add to my IMDB page, though it'd be lovely if it turned out great!

I'm definitely going to say yes, just wondered if anyone had been in a similar situation and could add insight. For instance, when Finding Eric was about to be optioned, someone recommended adding a time limit clause whereby if shooting hadn't started within twelve months, the option expired and the rights reverted back to me - rather than it being tied up with exclusivity doing nothing. Which was great advice, Straightforward enough but at 21 I hadn't thought of that, so added it in (luckily it never became an issue). Good to know you did something similar, eldave.

And thanks Pia. Knew you'd have a good story to share! :)

Going off what Pia said, and the fact there's no other interest,  I would give them permission under non exclusive terms, but witold the personal right to change your mind after its been made..that way if they do a stellar job, you can let them show it anywhere.

Once upon a long time ago, I actually had some young filmmakers solicit some help writing a script, and I found ti to be some great practice in writing with some strict parameters. Of the ones I had written, only one came to fruition, but it was nice to see something come to light. I definitely think signing some kind of agreement is a good idea just in case they do a good job and it goes somewhere. Shorts, however, are almost always little more than a calling card so allowing it to go as far as it can would be beneficial for all involved. You just want to ensure your credit remains where it is since it would be your calling card as much as theirs.