Could your Flickr photos make it big in Hollywood?

You've probably heard stories about someone's Flickr photos being used — for good or evil — by businesses that stumble across them.

But today's story just about tops them all. Cinematical tells us about a guy whose random picture of a friend ended up being featured prominently in one of the year's hottest movies.

Jeremy Keith of Brighton, England, says he was contacted in March about his Flickr photo called Andy in the VAB. "Please contact me with regard to possibly allowing us to use a part of this image in a feature film," the writer said.

With so little information to go on, Jeremy ignored the initial e-mail and a follow-up.

"I never got around to responding to the emails," Jeremy writes on his blog. "I figured that, whoever it was, if they really wanted to use the picture, they would notice the (Creative Commons) licence and realise that they didn’t have to ask permission."

But the studio persisted, finally pinning him down just weeks before the release of Iron Man. And there you can find it as part of an award ceremony montage just a few minutes into the film.

"It fills the screen," Jeremy writes. "The camera lingers over it while performing its best Ken Burns effect. Not only was Robert Downey Jnr. photoshopped onto the picture, Jeff Bridges was on there too! The Dude!! …On my picture!!!"

Jeremy says he waived any reimbursement, making him a hero to Creative Commons advocates everywhere and a dolt to the remaining 95% of the world. (For the record, I applaud him, but there's no harm in the average Flickr user taking some cash when offered.)

I know many of you folks have been contacted about your photos, songs, writings, etc. that you've posted online. I'd love to hear your stories of strange, creepy or rewarding examples in the comments.

Comments

[Andrea Hill]

a) I have a geek crush on Jeremy Keith and am uber-excited that you mentioned him. It's like my worlds are colliding..

b) I had a friend who had a self-portrait on Flickr and was asked about its inclusion in a book. I believe she received a few copies as payment. (Her blog post about it: http://bit.ly/mwlE )

[Rebecca Cullers]

how cool is that?
That is way cool.

[LPT]

I've had two instances where my "all rights reserved" photos on flickr were used.

The first one was similar to the above only in the fact that the people who wanted to use my photo in their online travel guide asked permission. I went ahead and granted it with no reimbursement other than the boost to my ego that someone wanted to use my simple vacation photo and gave me credit for it on their site.

The second instance was a little weirder. I received a message through flickr from someone I don't know that a photo of mine was being used on a web site and was being credited to another person that I also did not know. I checked the site and it seemed pretty obvious that someone had indeed submitted my pic as their own. I e-mailed the site owner and they correctly attributed me. I still have no idea how that random flickr user was able to identify the photo as mine or why the second person chose to represent it as theirs, but at least the site owner was agreeable and quick to make the change ...