No Photos of Food!

"NO PHOTOS on Social Media!  We don't want to get sued."

I was late to a production meeting last week. I asked the producers if they would mind scheduling the first big meeting of the production on a friday as I was working Wednesday and Thursday. They asked when I was working and I mentioned till 2pm, so naturally, on Thursday at 3pm the meeting was scheduled.  You know, because every experienced producer knows productions ALWAYS wrap on time. ;)

I walked in just as the meeting was ending.  The topic was all amateur stuff NO ONE at the meeting really needed to here, minus the couple of lackeys that Romeo keeps around with promises of leading roles in future films (which I might add Romeo loyally delivers on!)  But then again, those are the guys mucking everything up so I guess it's a weakest link in the chain kinda thing.

During the meeting, a lot of inane hilarity ensured,
The sound guy announcing that hard work paid off and he was accepted into the Set Lighting and Technicians union...
Romeo suggested the AD hire a male 2nd AD because as he put it, women cannot be trusted to work together in that kind of an environment and that as he believes.
I should have paid more attention but the whole thing kind of offended me and I didn't want to dirty my mind with the details.   The most peculiar stuff came when Romeo started preaching about how many movies' he's done and how of all these films, people got him into trouble posting photos, and so we are forbidden to post any photos of the production, anywhere, in regards to the film, to avoid spoilers, make no mention of cast, and especially no photos of the food!?!

Really, is posting photos of food dangerous?
According to Romeo, posting photos of food can get us sued.  Let's say, as he put's it, we post a photo on instagram of our set and there is a can of coke on the set.  I guess allegedly we can be sued because as he vaguely and with zero reference to  his source claims,  there is a new law on the books that says Instagram is a private enterprise and that the minute you promote something you've done, for gain, you can be sued for not getting the proper authorization.

I didn't dare say anything, only because Romeo insists on yelling about everything, and he's not open to suggestion of logic or experience in matters.  The bottom line is Romeo has done X man films in one year, so he's the boss and it's the only way-   Which is fine by me.  Ill blog it.

But just incase a neophyte film maker is taking to my blog, I'll clear up the Fair Use situations that my fearless leader Romeo dreads with us posting photos.  ---  Fair use means that if something exists and has a pop culture life, outside of what it is, like say Pepsi, then it is fair use to use it.  Ask.com someone posed the question which one reader so eloquently puts it:

Coke is a brand, but it's also an icon of popular culture. It has a life separate and discreet from its existence as a trademark. If the Coca Cola company has the right to control the context in which its brand appears, that's censorship. 
More than that, it infringes on free speech. 
It places Coke (Disney, Microsoft - pick your icon) beyond criticism in any artistic medium, making a mockery of law that was put in place to prevent wholesale copying of products. 
A world where corporations have total control over how they're portrayed? No thanks.

But to be honest, I think there are more sinister roots to these photo demands. I believe there is a fear of the research that sooner or later someone at these agencies is going to do, looking into his productions, and how he's pulling them off so cheaply by paying his name talent nothing.  He's also feeding us nothing as well, as he put it, one time he fed everyone some food and the whole crew didn't want to do anything for a whole hour, so now it's all SUBSTAY because after that, everyone's moving and grooving.  

Did I Say Anything about one of our Marquee names in this film?  Because if I SAY ANYTHING about who ever is in our film, socially, that's also a no-no.  So I won't "SAY ANYTHING" about who our lead is and I especially won't "SAY ANYTHING" like use the title of a film he is known for four times in one paragraph....