Michael C. Donaldson
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Michael C. Donaldson
Michael C. Donaldson (born October 13, 1939) is an American entertainment attorney, independent film advocate and a recipient of the International Documentary Association's Amicus Award, an honor bestowed upon only two others, Steven Spielberg and John Hendricks, in the 25-year history of the awards. He is a proponent of the 165-year-old fair-use doctrine and, through its use, is known for saving documentarians hundreds of thousands of dollars while preserving their First Amendment rights. In addition to serving as general counsel to Film Independent (home of the Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival) and the Writers Guild of America/West Foundation, Donaldson practices at his Beverly Hills law firmDonaldson Callif Perez LLPwhere, in 2008, entertainment attorney Lisa A. Callif became a partner, and Chris Perez was named partner in 2021. United States v. Stevens Donaldson played a significant part in the Supreme Court of the United States’ ''United Sta ...
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Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was 40,921, reflecting an increase of 3,234 (+8.5%) from the 37,687 counted in the 2010 Census. As of 2010, it was the 60th-most-populous municipality in New Jersey. Montclair was first formed as a township on April 15, 1868, from portions of Bloomfield Township, so that a second railroad could be built to Montclair. After a referendum held on February 21, 1894, Montclair was reincorporated as a town, effective February 24, 1894.Snyder, John P''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968'' Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 129. Accessed July 6, 2012. It derives its name from the French ''mont clair'', meaning "clear mountain" or "bright mounta ...
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Variety (magazine)
''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based in Los Angeles, to cover the motion-picture industry. ''Variety.com'' features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, cover stories, videos, photo galleries and features, plus a credits database, production charts and calendar, with archive content dating back to 1905. History Foundation ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. As a result, he decided to start his own publication "that ouldnot be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his father- ...
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United States Copyright Office
The United States Copyright Office (USCO), a part of the Library of Congress, is a United States government body that maintains records of copyright registration, including a copyright catalog. It is used by copyright title searchers who are attempting to clear a chain of title for copyrighted works. The head of the Copyright Office is the Register of Copyrights. Shira Perlmutter, who took office on October 26, 2020,and currently serves as Register. The Copyright Office is housed on the fourth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building of the Library of Congress, at 101 Independence Avenue SE, in Washington, DC. History The United States Constitution gives Congress the power to enact laws establishing a system of copyright in the United States. The first federal copyright law, called the Copyright Act of 1790, was enacted in May 1790 (with the first work being registered within two weeks). Originally, claims were recorded by Clerks of U.S. district courts. In 1870, copy ...
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Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nominations, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, Cecil B. DeMille Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2014, ''Time (magazine), Time'' named him one of the Time 100, 100 most influential people in the world. Appearing on stage in the late 1950s, Redford's television career began in 1960, including an appearance on ''The Twilight Zone'' in 1962. He earned an Emmy Awards, Emmy nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ''The Voice of Charlie Pont'' (1962). His greatest Broadway success was as the stuffy newlywed husband of co-star Elizabeth Ashley's character in Neil Simon's ''Barefoot in the Park'' (1963). Redford made his film debut in ''War Hunt'' (1962). H ...
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Filmmaker (magazine)
''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP (Independent Filmmaker Project), which acts in the independent film community. Background With a readership of more than 60,000, the magazine includes interviews, case studies, financing and distribution information, festival reports, technical and production updates, legal pointers, and filmmakers on filmmaking in their own words. The magazine used to be available outside the US in London but has not been on sale in the UK since early 2009. Annual features 25 New Faces of Independent Film: Each year (typically in the Summer issue), ''Filmmaker'' publishes its list of independent film's emerging talent. The list typically contains directors, producers, actors and animators. Past lists have featured Ryan Gosling, Andrew Bujalski, Anna Boden & Ryan F ...
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Eddie Schmidt
Eddie Schmidt (born August 29, 1970) is an American director, showrunner, producer, writer, commentator and satirist. He is perhaps best known for producing several feature documentaries that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including '' Valentine Road'' (2013), ''This Film Is Not Yet Rated'' (2006), and ''Twist of Faith'' (2005), and for directing and showrunning television projects including ''Ugly Delicious'' (2018), ''Chelsea Does'' (2016), and '' The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey'' (2016). From 2009-2011, he served as President of the IDA (International Documentary Association), and was its interim Executive Director for the latter half of 2008. Life and career Born in Staten Island, New York, Schmidt attended Vassar College, where he received a BA in Drama/Film in 1992. Later, in 2005, he was named a "Vassar Innovator" by the school, placing him in a distinguished group of alumni from the college's history including Nickelodeon founder Geraldine Laybourne. Documentary ...
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Alex Gibney
Philip Alexander Gibney (; born October 23, 1953) is an American documentary film director and producer. In 2010, ''Esquire'' magazine said Gibney "is becoming the most important documentarian of our time". Gibney's works as director include '' The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley,'' '' Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief'' (winner of three Emmys in 2015), '' We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks'', '' Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God'' (the winner of three 2013 primetime Emmy awards), '' Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room'' (nominated in 2005 for Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature); '' Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer'' (short-listed in 2011 for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature), ''Casino Jack and the United States of Money'' and ''Taxi to the Dark Side'' (winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature), focusing on a taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed at Bagram Air Force ...
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Reporters' Privilege
Reporter's privilege in the United States (also journalist's privilege, newsman's privilege, or press privilege), is a "reporter's protection under constitutional or statutory law, from being compelled to testify about confidential information or sources." It may be described in the US as the qualified (limited) First Amendment or statutory right many jurisdictions have given to journalists in protecting their confidential sources from discovery. The First, Second, Third, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits have all held that a qualified reporter's privilege exists. In the recent case of '' U.S. v. Sterling'', the Fourth expressly denied a reporter's privilege exists under ''Branzburg''. Furthermore, forty-nine states and the District of Columbia have enacted statutes called shield laws protecting journalists' anonymous sources. United States Department of Justice guidelines (United States) The United States Department of Justice created self-impos ...
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Pro Bono
( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who are unable to afford them. is also used in the United Kingdom to describe the central motivation of large organizations, such as the National Health Service and various NGOs which exist "for the public good" rather than for shareholder profit, but it equally or even more applies to the private sector where professionals like lawyers and bankers offer their specialist skills for the benefit of the community or NGOs. Legal counsel Pro bono legal counsel may assist an individual or group on a legal case by filing government applications or petitions. A judge may occasionally determine that the loser should compensate a winning pro bono counsel. Philippines In late 1974, former Philippine Senator Jose W. Diokno was released from ...
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Class Action
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action originated in the United States and is still predominantly a US phenomenon, but Canada, as well as several European countries with civil law, have made changes in recent years to allow consumer organizations to bring claims on behalf of consumers. Description In a typical class action, a plaintiff sues a defendant or a number of defendants on behalf of a group, or class, of absent parties. This differs from a traditional lawsuit, where one party sues another party, and all of the parties are present in court. Although standards differ between states and countries, class actions are most common where the allegations usually involve at least 40 people who the same defendant has injured in the same way. Instead of each damaged person brin ...
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Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened to Socal or CalSo), it is headquartered in San Ramon, California, and active in more than 180 countries. Chevron is engaged in every aspect of the oil and natural gas industries, including hydrocarbon exploration and production; refining, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power generation. Chevron traces its history back to the 1870s. The company grew quickly after the breakup of Standard Oil by acquiring companies and partnering with others, especially Texaco. Socal was one of the Seven Sisters that dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. In 1985, Socal merged with the Pittsburgh-based Gulf Oil and rebranded as Chevron; the newly-merged company later merged with Texaco in 2001. Today, Chevron manufactures and sells fu ...
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Crude (2009 Film)
''Crude'' is a 2009 American documentary film directed and produced by Joe Berlinger. It follows a two-year portion of an ongoing class action lawsuit against the Chevron Corporation in Ecuador. Synopsis The film follows the progress during 2006 and 2007 of a $27 billion legal case brought against the Chevron Corporation following the drilling of the Lago Agrio oil field, a case described by activists as an "Amazon Chernobyl". The plaintiffs of the class action lawsuit are 30,000 Ecuadorians living in the Amazonian rainforest who claim their ancestral homeland has been polluted by the oil industry. In addition to the legal struggle, ''Crude'' shows interviews from representatives of the plaintiffs and defendants of the class action lawsuit, and explores the influence of media support such as Vanity Fair, celebrity activism including support from musical artist Sting and his wife Trudie Styler, the power of multinational corporations, the shifting power in Ecuadorian politics, and ...
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