Want to use real movies in your next presentation? What about a clip in an online commercial? Now, the real question, do you want to all of this legally? Then Paramount Pictures has a solution for you.
Launching today, ParamountClips.com is a new program that allows you to search Paramount films like “The Godfather,” “Forrest Gump,” and “Grease” frame-by-frame and purchase only sections of the film you want to use. In checkout you can choose from a number of different formats, resolution and languages. The price depends on the type of license necessary for your final product and the film. Using Brando in a national commercial will still cost a pretty penny, but other films not so much.
As of now, the site is geared toward business customers like ad agencies, mobile carriers and foreign broadcasters. So in the beginning, the site requires you have a Paramount contact that is willing to sponsor your registration. But the company says the goal is to eventually open up to consumers and personal use. Thinking is individual use would follow a ring tone type model. By that point, there should be over 1,000 searchable titles.
The move is designed to help find new revenue streams for the library of films Paramount already owns in the face of an ever-declining DVD market. And while most of these films are readily available on YouTube for free, execs think being able to cut and carry classic films easily (and legally) will be a hook. Not to mention the ease of automation the site will provide. Plus, this new platform and pricing opens up movie licensing to a whole new brand of advertisers who previously thought clips were only for the biggest of agencies.
And besides, if someone told you in 1999 that people would pay to download songs, you would have thought they were crazy. Right?
For more information, see this article from The New York Times.
Two reactions: Wow, I would love to access to that footage for promos. Secondly, I feel bad for the actors. I mean, would Marlon Brando really want his face partnered with some hamburger ad? It reiterates to me the value of hammering out the details in the actor’s release contract. It also gives me the sense that big wig studios are out to keep on sucking for money and that makes me sad.
Kinda cool, but as the above commenter pointed out, could be unfortunate for the actor depending how a clip is used.