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The third edition of Michael C. Donaldson’s Bible for Filmmakers offers updated information on legal minefields for film copyright and clearance. It is the go to legal manual for anyone who wants to make a movie.

You just wrapped up an indie film that borrowed clips from other films. You need to get permissions, clips online, enter it festivals, get some terrific music for the score, get it copyrighted.

Once you get into it, you realize there are a ton of legal issues. It becomes seriously overwhelming, but you cannot afford an attorney. You MUST do as much of it yourself as possible.

Legal issues abound when it comes to films. If you don’t have a big studio with a legal team to handle them, things can get sticky.

Michael C. Donaldson has made it a little easier to navigate the legal minefields with his definitive guide Clearance & Copyright, which offers key legal information for film industry workers. Some of the info could also help print authors.

Donaldson’s book packs a ton of information into 26 chapters about film titles, fair use, acquiring rights to other works, scriptwriting and writing with partners, musical scores, copyright and more. The entertainment lawyers also updated some chapters with new information for this third edition.

If film students are not required to read this book as part of a legal class, they certainly should be. Donaldson’s book has everything they need to know about the law and film. It is also incredibly easy to read - unlike other books that are so filled with legalese your eyes glaze over by the middle of the first page.

Near the end of the book, a few of the segments struck me as important for print authors as well. Donaldson covers how sites like YouTube are able to share clips with audiences - and what needs to be done when clips are illegally shared. Immediately, I related this information to document-sharing sites like Scribd, where PDFs of author works could be shared. It also brought to mind the Stephenie Meyer scandal, where an unauthorized copies of the Twilight follow up hit the Internet.

There is terrific information about distributing and selling films online. Though the concepts and information are specifically toward the film and television industry, I think print authors could benefit from the details and find a starting point for their own research on the same issues.

The third edition of Clearance & Copyright has everything you need to know about the legal side of film creation. If you don’t have this book, GET IT. You will refer to it again and again. If you already have it, be sure to get the updated version for your library.

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