When is a talent release form necessary?
The easy answer is “all the time.” The actual answer is much more complicated. The only need for a talent release is to protect the producers from litigation if the talent were to come back later in a court of law and say, “I never gave you permission to photograph (record) me.” If the producer hands the court a signed talent release form, the issue is instantly eliminated. In practice, talent releases are always obtained whenever productions occur which are entertainment or fictitious in nature – dramas, comedies, advertisements. If the performers are portraying someone other than themselves, then a talent release is absolutely required. The talent release must be signed before the cameras ever begin recording. If a producer records without getting the release and later the talent refuses to sign the release, all the time and money spent in shooting anything that person was seen in was wasted because reshooting without that person is now a requirement. In the news world, talent releas
