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Research + Clearance Links
At Creative Clearance, we do a lot of research for our clients for script, clip, talent, music and other kinds of clearance. We find the following resources extremely helpful, and hope you will too.
We will be continuously updating this page, so be sure to check back often. Please feel free to
with any suggestions and additions you may have!
Film & Television
Music
News / Newspapers / Bookstores
Photography/Art
Legal Resources
Estate Representives
Quotations & Biography Resources
Search Engines
Stock Footage / Public Domain
Other Tools & Resources
FILM + TELEVISION
IMDB.com - A searchable database database that has everything you ever wanted to know about television shows and films, down to credits, synopsis and release date. Note: while not always totally correct, a good starting point for all things film and TV.
TV.com – a searchable database similar to IMDB.com, also not always correct but a good starting point.
BASELINE'S Entertainment Research Searchable Database - You can search their vast databases for talent contact information, television and films in progress, etc. NOTE: This requires a subscription
ZAP2IT.COM - Search for TV listings, actor info, shows, movies etc.!
TV Land - This site has all sorts of information about old television shows, particularly those which ran on TV Land. Episode titles, cast photos, etc.
Allmovie.com - A search engine for each film title, person and keyword. The result is a comprehensive account for each film.
Film & Television Website Archive - This great web page allows you to search for all kinds of websites, including networks, TV show webpages, bbs resources, and chat
The Vanderbilt University Television News Archive - Vanderbilt University has been recording NBC, CBS and ABC news since 1968. You can search this database by year. It also gives abstracts of the news for any date.
Thomas Register of American Manufacturers - free membership and great for commercial shows.
Academy.com - find out if your favorite celebrity ever won an Oscar
Kaleidoscope - find UK television studio contact info
WhoRepresents.com – requires a subscription, but has agent, manager and publicist contacts for thousands of actors and musicians.
AFTRA
SAG
 Film Emporium - Film Emporium provides insurance services as well as raw film and tape media, specializing in entertainment.
PHOTOGRAPHY /ART
British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies - Need to find an archive in the UK? Chances are they belong to the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies.
Photographers.com - This site has a database for photographers, photo assistants, industry suppliers, models and stock photography.
American Society of Media Photographers, Inc Another good resource for finding a photographer.
Google™ Image Search - Looking for photos on the web? You'll still need to clear them, but Google’s Image Search helps.
Museums Around The World - links page to various museums who have websites.
ARS - database of over 40,000 artists that they represent
Getty Images - huge library of both rights protected and royalty free photography and images
Corbis - another huge library of both rights protected and royalty free photography and images
Retna – celebrity, music, stock and historic photos
Globe Photos - a great source for celebrity photos
Watch - a database of copyright contacts for writers, artists, and prominent figures in other creative fields.
NEWS / NEWSPAPERS / BOOKSTORES
Reporters Desktop - basic overview of important research tools to find things: maps, yellow & white pages, reference/government/reporting links, company profiles, medical news, encyclopedia references free newspaper, archive searches, discussion groups, dictionary, theasarus - and oh yeah, internet seach engines....
News Library - Newspaper search service - a less expensive version of other newspaper on line archives.
Anydate.com - Need to actually purchase a newspaper that's not at your library of choice? Try Anydate.com
Historic Newspapers - Historic Newspapers from UK
The Hollywood Reporter - The latest in entertainment news and resources
The Variety - the daily entertainment news magazine
The Los Angeles Times - current news stories West Coast
The New York Times - current news stories East Coast
Amazon.com - Large on-line book store
Barnes & Noble Online - Another large on-line book store
The Drudge report - news stories and list of news sources to search, including Reuters and AP
Google.com - news search engine - search and browse 4,500 news sources updated continuously.
Authorlink - interesting research meant for editors/publishers/writers
Bookfinder - search for new and out of print books, has information and sources for books.
ESTATE REPRESENTATIVES
Curtis Management - Curtis Management represents many famous actor estates including Sir Laurence Oliver and Humphrey Bogart. Includes filmographies of their clients.
The Roger Richman Agency represents many celebrities – they have now been acquired by Corbis
Global Icons - Global Icons represents Marlene Dietrich, George Burns, Bob Hope, and the Hollywood Sign among others.
State of California Successor-In-Interest - if a person has been registered, they may have contacts listed.
MUSIC
ASCAP - Search songs registered with ASCAP
BMI - Search songs registered with BMI
SESAC - Search songs registered with SESAC
Warner/Chappell Music Publishing - Searchable database for songs in Warner/Chappell’s catalog
The Harry Fox Agency - Searchable database that lists all songs represented by the Fox agency with songwriter names, but does not list publishers
MTV.com - MTV's home page with news and information about the music world
AllMusic.com - great place to find record labels and artist information
Pdinfo.com – find information on whether a particular song is in the public domain.
SEARCH ENGINES
Dogpile - Search engine to search other search engines
Google - Search engine where you can search websites, images, groups, news
Metacrawler - Search engine to search other search engines
Search.com - CNET’s search engine
QUOTATIONS & BIOGRAPHY RESOURCES
The Shakespeare Page - allows you to search names and quotations
Bartleby.com - searchable database for quotations from thirteenth century to the present
Biographical Dictionary - searchable database of 18,000 biographies of famous people
Dictionary.com - online dictionary and thesaurus
Encarta - Microsoft's encyclopedia
The Quotations Page - search for famous quotes
STOCK FOOTAGE
Footage.net - Send one footage request to dozens of libraries.
BBC Library footage - has news footage and archival interview and music performance footage
Research Video - has library of major music footage
Paul Brownstein Productions - has library of major music footage and also public domain newsreel
Reelin In The Years - David Peck has an extensive library of material including music videos
Desert Island Films - extensive library of public domain materials
Video Tape Library - large library of stock footage and public domain materials.
The Public Domain Information Project - all kinds of useful information about public domain music and links to other websites. Great site!
NATIONAL ARCHIVES "ARC" Search Form - The best way to access the National Archives vast collection of newsreels, photos, documentaries, and government films. Good for sourcing public domain photos etc.
Focal International - has an online Footage Finder service, which gives users easy access to over 300 members worldwide: footage and stock shot archives; professional film archive researchers, consultants and media lawyers, plus specialist facility houses serving all technical needs of the footage business.
Internet Archive - has nearly 1000 film and video selections for free download in MPEG-4 (.avi) and MPEG-2 (.mpg) formats. These files are extremely large so broadband or DSL is a necessity. Internet Archive is a public nonprofit that was founded in 1966 to build an ‘Internet Library', with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format.
retrofilm.com - public domain trailers/films
LEGAL RESOURCES
U.S. Copyright Office - searching Library of Congress records back to 1898
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office - search patent and trademark databases including drawings
Canadian Trademark Office - search Canadian Trademarks
Canadian Intellectual Property Office - search Canadian copyrights
Findlaw.com - internet legal research
Court TV - access to their site
Stanford University's Copyright & Fair Use Feeling like you need some back up to your Fair Use argument? Or a quick fix on permission/copyright law? Try the Copyright & Fair Use website at Stanford University...
California State Univesity's Consortium for Educational Technology in University Systems - an excellent blow by blow description of real FAIR USE... giving you the text of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use...if you ever think you get to use a Fair Use argument )
OTHER TOOLS & RESOURCES
Switchboard.com - Seachable white pages and email addresses for people.
Bigfoot.com - Searchable white pages and e-mail addresses for people
World Clock - check the time in other countries
Currency Converter - find out what currency is worth today
Dialing codes to other countries - global phone codes, holidays, etc.
Worldpages.com - search the world for phone numbers of people, businesses, maps
192.com - UK phone book/electoral roll
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