Category Archives: Film & Television

Rachel’s Comment to the United States Copyright Office: How to Fix the DMCA Takedown “Whack-a-Mole” Scheme

I am an attorney who represents recording artists, songwriters, and producers of both film and music. One of my clients has won nine GRAMMY Awards and released over twenty-five albums over more than forty years. Another client is a musician who released several independently distributed albums; she is about to sign her first contract with a major record company. Other clients include a non-famous songwriter whose livelihood depends entirely on her ability to license the music that she writes. I also represent an independent filmmaker who spends his own money to create documentary films that tell compelling stories related to social injustice and race.  One thing that these creators have in common is that their livelihoods have been severely diminished by the impacts of online copyright infringement.... Read more here....
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GETTING CLIENTS PAID: Rachel in The Washington Post About Past Due Film Profits Owed to Her Clients

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By Aaron Gregg

AMC NETWORKS COULD CLAIM CONTROLLING STAKE IN ROBERT L. JOHNSON’s MOVIE FIRM

"Robert L. Johnson, the pioneering founder of Black Entertainment Television, faces the prospect of giving up control of RLJ Entertainment, a new-media company he started four years ago in Silver Spring, Md...."

"...Some debts apparently included royalty payments due to Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry, who produced “Dark Girls,” a documentary examining “color-ism within our own community,” referring to the bias against darker skin within black communities.  Their attorney, Rachel Stilwell, provided a legal document claiming that RLJ Entertainment defaulted on $7,286 worth of royalty ­payments...."

Read the entire article here.