Interview permissions w/ youth subjects

[Chicken Warrior]

Hello,

Just got my HV20 at a boxing day sale today and I'm hyped about making some social commentaries/documentaries.

My question is, in Canada (and I imagine this is the same as in the States), do I need parental permission for all youth (under 18) i interview? Legally, I would assume so, but I ask because I can't recall ever seeing this in my limited experience working around producers.

For example, I'm not yet 18: I've been interviewed by three or four different local news stations and I've never been asked for parental permission, formal or informal, written or otherwise. If news stations don't need it, why would indie filmmakers?

I would like to interview other youth at local highschools and I know if I asked them to bring permission forms to their parents and send them back to me I would only ever get a fraction of the forms back, even if I provided SASEs.

I don't really imagine i would run into legal issues working on as small a scale as I plan to, but I'd rather play it safe.

Thanks for any help,

CW

[Mal]

News (unfortunately for you) is DIFFERENT than documentaries.

News crews can go around pretty much anywhere and film just about anything without a single premission of any kind. Special laws protect them doing so.

Indy filming and docus (to a great extent) aren't so lucky.

Yes, you'll need a parent/guardian of anyone under age I'm afraid.

It's one of those things starting out doing films....how far do you go to doing every thing by the book?
Do you get ALL permissions? Only use music for which you have permission for? Cut out scenes of great interviews, because you noticed during editing that there was a radio playing in the background, and it was playing a song for which you can't get permission?

Unfortunately in this YouTube-world we live in, many don't abide by law.
I think it's good that you ask these questions.

I would like to answer it like this: It would be a good excercise to start off doing EVERYTHING by the book, and get all permissions. That way you can know that you've done everything right, and your project will stand up to examination for public broadcast. Expect a whole lot more work and frustration though; as with most things in life, doing the right thing isn't as easy as doing it the lazy way.

Sorry, didn't mean to come off so "preachy"...

[Chicken Warrior]

No, that's very helpful - thank you!

I am very careful when it comes to legalities, it's just that this one will be very difficult to work around.

[PTravel]

I don't know the law in Canada, but in the U.S. minors can disaffirm any contracts they've entered into upon reaching the age of majority. This means that, even with the parents' agreement, a minor, upon turning 18, can decide that they don't want their image used in your documentary.