Hi. I have some questions regarding the use of archived television material in a student short film.

Say for example, that in a short fiction film, one of the main characters has a thing for the sport of boxing. There will be scenes of the character watching boxing matches on tv, and scenes in which (using archived television material) boxing heroes are implemented into the character's thoughts, dreams and so on.

My questions are:

1. Do I need permission from the company or person that owns the rights to the archived material.
2. If so, how would you go about obtaining such permission.
3. If I choose to refer to one particular boxer several times throughout the film and show different archived clips of this boxer, do I need permission from the boxer as well?
4. This last question has to do with a case in which a fictional movie implies that fictional events took place having to do with a truly existing boxer. I'd like to know where I stand if the film depicts events that never really happened in real life - and assuming the events could possibly be interpretated as insulting or degrading - could I be sued? I've come across many films referring to real-life persons not always in the best of light, and was curious as to what the limits are on what you can or what you can't make up about a true-life publicly known person.

Thanks for any help!

wouldnt make a big deal about it if its just a short film. usually people make fusses over copyrights and ownership only when YOUR making money
(or say you are trying to screen or sell a feature film)

I wonder what are the rules sounds like an interesting question but I am very glad not to have to deal with contacting all those people for copyrights issues.

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