A client asked me about producing an instructional DVD for him that he would want the final rights to for DVD distribution. My thought has always been that once the project is done and I'm paid, what the client does with it is their business. I'm curious if any one has any different thoughts on this matter and if I should beef the price up on production since they intend to sell the final product. Any thoughts are appreciated.
Prices on video production with intention of Distribution
- Thread starter daylan
- Start date
Zblock
Well-known member
Well if they have money to spend you can bump up the price. I'd only push if they didn't have enough money to pay you and you could say "well I'll take such and such a percentage off the sales" otherwise set a good day or project rate and be happy with that. If they're able to pay more... then maybe charge a bit more.
Steve House
Veteran
Just a side note, their paying you to make the video for them does not in itself make it their property, at least as far as copyright is concerned. The copyright to a copyrightable work belongs to the creator of the intellectual property unless either it is a 'work-for-hire' explicitly stated to be such in your engagement contract or you otherwise explicitly transfer copyrigt to the client in writing. When it comes to their distributing the video, they'll need to own the copyright or have a written license from you to get very far.
It doesn't seem unreasonable to me to have your price quote to them include an increase that takes into account the potential economic value of their owning the rights to the work. A classic example is the pricing of Xerox copiers ... it isn't based so much on the cost of developing and manufacturing the machine as it is on the expected dollar value to the customer of having the resulting copys when they use it. So how much do you think (realistically - many folks like your client often have a vastly inflated idea of the potential demand) they might stand to make on their sales of your video? What would be a reasonable piece of that action in return for your contribution?
craigbowman
Veteran
There are five different rights associated with a Copyrighted work. Thats the reason why along with the notice of copyright you will often see the phrase "All Rights Reserved". Steve House is correct about the terms under which you produce something for a client. Your client in this case is obviously aware that they want to own all the rights to the work. Its up to you to decide how you conduct your relationship with clients and how you wish to be represented in legal matters.