Speaking as a film producer and a legal geek in equal weight, it was an “interesting development” to see that the filmmakers of Borat has been sued by some of those that appear in the film.
Here are some of my thoughts as a film producer,
- As I previously blogged here, “this film has to have a canon-proof “Release Form” signed by people appearing on film. Otherwise, the filmmakers will be dealing with law suits until their film company go bankrupt. And I wonder who offerred them errors and omissions (E&O) insurance?”
- A law suit (especially one dismissed by the court) is a great way to generate free and extremely effective publicity. (big smile)
- There may be a very nice little documentary about this Borat lawsuit. (smile)
Here are my thoughts as a legal geek,
- I would love to see the film’s “release form” signed by those appeared in Borat.
- TMZ.com has the lawsuit court document for download.
- As in any lawsuits, I will have to look at the court documents from both sides and all the other legal “fun stuff” before I can comment on validity of the exact case itself. (Remember the lady that sued MacDonald’s for hot coffee burning her? Well, that case actually had some merits as I later found out in business school.)
Here is an excerpt from the WSJ Law blog,
Before you roll your eyes in disgust, there’s one detail that elicits some sympathy for the plaintiffs. They say that the film’s producers took them to a bar before the scene to get them “loosened up” and then fed them more booze in the RV where the scene took place. The catch? One of the defendants, according to the lawsuit, was under 21 at the time. Messrs. Doe “engaged in behavior that they otherwise would not have engaged in,” says the lawsuit.
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Monday, 13 November, 2006 at 1:24 pm
[...] Nov 13th update: The filmmakers of Borat have now been sued. [...]
Monday, 13 November, 2006 at 6:43 pm
“engaged in behavior that they otherwise would not have engaged in,”
The Plaintiffs attend or attended the University of South Carolina. I don’t know what the specific “behavior” was, but I bet they have previously engaged in it!
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I think you have a point here. (smile) You know, I think they just want some money out of this but it will be interesting to see what comes out from this in the following days and weeks.
Thursday, 8 February, 2007 at 11:44 am
[...] views and attitudes about anti-Semitism, racism and sexism I previously blogged about Borat. Now, looks like the legal defense team for the producers of Borat are trying something [...]