808.11 (B) The Work Made for Hire Field / Space
Before completing the application, it is important to determine whether part or all of the motion picture was “made for hire.” For general information concerning works made for hire for motion pictures, see Sections 808.10 (A) (1) and 808.10 (A) (2). For a detailed discussion of this topic, see Chapter 500, Section 506.
When a work is “made for hire,” the employer or other party for whom the work was prepared is the legal author.
• If the entire work was “made for hire,” the employer or other party for whom the work was prepared should be named as author. The “for hire” question should be answered “yes.” The names of the employees should not be given. Often the authorship in this case will be described as “motion picture.”
• If no part of the work was “made for hire,” the individual(s) who made the motion picture should be named as author(s) and the “for hire” question(s) should be answered “no.” Each author’s contribution to the motion picture should be briefly described in the Author Created field or the Nature of Authorship space using an acceptable authorship term, such as “production” “direction,” “script/screenplay,” “cinematography,” and so forth.
• If part of the work was “made for hire” and part was not, the applicant should provide an appropriate response for each author in the Name of Author and Author Created/Nature of Authorship fields/spaces. In some cases, the applicant may need to list the same name twice, with the “for hire” question answered “yes” or “no” as appropriate.
For guidance in completing this portion of the application, see Chapter 600, Section 614.