Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: What type of form do I need

Ideally you'd have an agreement prepared that grants permission and waives claims and covers all the possible uses you anticipate.

Re: What type of form do I need

I'm not sure it's customary for authors to ask interviewees to sign releases. Requiring an interviewee to sign a legal document could be inhibiting or a turn-off. For this reason, I think the form should be as simple as possible, maybe along the lines of "I, __ (name of interviewee) hereby grant to X the right to quote or paraphrase from our discussion today in ____ (name of publication). Then have the interviewee sign and date it. I assume you are doing this strictly freelance. If you are employed by or under contract assignment to a publication or publisher, consult with them and use their forms and procedures.

Re: What type of form do I need

Although having a signed release is a "best practice", it's fairly rare in journalism to obtain written consent. The mere fact of the interviewee's participation is tacit approval.

If you're merely interviewing, and not photographing, or planning to use recorded voices, etc. (other than for your reference), you probably can get by with a simple letter confirming the appointment, or a very short form.

In fact, if you're recording the interview (again, for your own reference and records), you can probably just start with a short question like:

"Do you understand that I'm interviewing you for an article/book I'm writing and agree that I can use what we discuss today, with proper attribution in this article/book?"

Having the person say "yes" on the recording will probably do the trick.

If you're using photos, etc, it's best to have a signed release.