Horse Death on Feature Film - How do I obtain the footage?

[KevinJaime]

Jaime CA

On the set of the remake of My Friend Flicka, a horse tripped over a lead rope and broke it's neck. Fox, the production company for the film, as stated there was nothing around the horses neck. However, there are many eyewitnesses that say there was a lead rope around the horse and that is why he is dead. Not only was the film rolling at the time of the accident, but an actor was filming his own home video of the event. Two Questions:
1) What legal actions can be taken to force the studio to release the footage
2) Would it be copyright infringment if I obtained the home video and released it to the media if it does in fact prove that Fox is lying about the "accident".

Thank you!

 

[divgradcurl]

1) What legal actions can be taken to force the studio to release the footage

If you have standing to sue -- like if you owned the horse, or were otherwise harmed by the horse's death -- then you could subpoena the footage as part of your lawsuit against them. Other than that, there isn't any way you can force them to give you (or anyone else) the footage.

2) Would it be copyright infringment if I obtained the home video and released it to the media if it does in fact prove that Fox is lying about the "accident".

Depends. If you have permission to distribute the tape to the media from the copyright owner, then no, it wouldn't be infringement. But if you don't have permission to distribute the tape, then yeah, it would be copyright infringement. And if you didn't have permission to acquire the tape at all, then it could be theft as well.

EDIT: Just for the sake of completeness, whether or not Fox is lying is irrelevant to the above questions.