Wedding video business problem!!

J

jsvideoworx

Active member
So I just filmed my 5th wedding and thought I didn’t a good job editing it. My Client has Already payed me the full TALKED about price. And stupid me didn’t have my contract ready to for them to sign. I am getting ready to finish the editing of the movie, and the client asks if they can also have the unedited footage on a DVD. Well this was never talked about. Should I hit them up for more money. Or should I be a nice guy and just give it to them. I don’t want them complaining to me, but yet I don’t really see them referring me to anyone else. All help is appreciated.

Thanks
 
well this is a problem
because I take it you shot hd or even if you shot sd bottom line is that it is going to take
you time and money (dvd's) to put all the footage into dvd's
me personally never give any footage to clients, the final product is all that matters
I'll send them some bloopers or something in particular on a data cd or email but never the whole raw footage, its takes a long time and a lot of dvd's, now if that was stated before production or if they are paying for that as well, then its a different story
 
"Sure, you can get the unedited footage on DVD. We just charge for time and materials on this, so it would run $65 for the first copy and $12 for each additional. Just let me know how many copies of the unedited footage you need. I would keep two copies on hand, one in a safe place such as a bank safe deposit box along with a copy of the finished version of your film. Thank you for your business. I really enjoyed working with you."

In short, don't sweat it. Do what you can to help your customers out, but no need to give things away that cost you time or money.
 
Since they paid you to tape their wedding, I would assume in most courts of law, they would hold sole ownership of the original footage, and therefore you could be forced, (if not cooperative) to hand over what is legally theirs.

Yes?

What you DON'T need to do is spend your time making DVD's. You are most likely just legally obligated to simply hand over the raw tapes or HD files.
 
Charge them for the time to burn the disks and the materials, explaining to them that it is a very real expense for you that was not figured into the original price quote but IMHO you might as well otherwise go ahead and let them have the footage. After all, it has no economic value to you since you can't use it for anything yourself in the future anyway and it is their wedding. You've been paid for the shooting. Any reputable studio isn't going to re-edit it for them. If your costs are covered it's no skin off your nose. Making the disks is more of a PITA than it is a loss of revenue for you. Chalk it up to a lesson learned about the importance of have signed contracts in place before you do any work.
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
Since they paid you to tape their wedding, I would assume in most courts of law, they would hold sole ownership of the original footage, and therefore you could be forced, (if not cooperative) to hand over what is legally theirs.

Yes?

What you DON'T need to do is spend your time making DVD's. You are most likely just legally obligated to simply hand over the raw tapes or HD files.
Click to expand...

Depends. I am not a lawyer but as I understand copyright law, since there is no written contract stating that the shoot is a 'work for hire' and he is not a regular employee of the couple acting within the normal scope of his employment, actually HE owns the original footage (or more accurately, the copyright to the footage - the tapes are just a container for transport and storage). He can't do much to expoit it without releases but FWIW, it's his. There's a big difference between a freelancer hired on a one-off basis to shoot an event and a camerman for a TV station, for example, shooting news footage as part of his salaried job duties.
 
I would agree with giving the MiniDV tapes for free, but charging for DVDs. Because you do not have a contract, you are not legally obligated to give them the tapes, but if they'll take it, there's no reason to charge for them, since you should have already had them pay for the price of the tapes anyway.
 
From a legal standpoint, i've seen that weddings are handled differently, than, let's say a corporate video. I do both, incidentally. A corporate video is owned by the client whereas a wedding video is still essentially owned by the videographer if he or she chooses to retain that ownership. As a matter of fact, I stipulate that I retain ownership of the material in my contract and I've seen this on countless other contracts.
Legalities aside, I would say try to take care of the couple as best you can without breaking the bank.
 
aramikvideo said:
From a legal standpoint, i've seen that weddings are handled differently, than, let's say a corporate video. I do both, incidentally. A corporate video is owned by the client whereas a wedding video is still essentially owned by the videographer if he or she chooses to retain that ownership. As a matter of fact, I stipulate that I retain ownership of the material in my contract and I've seen this on countless other contracts.
Legalities aside, I would say try to take care of the couple as best you can without breaking the bank.
Click to expand...

I've never seen any exceptions to normal copyright law that pertains to wedding videos. If you review the US Copyright Office's detailed discussions of the laws and regulations on their official website you'll find no such exceptions listed, at least not that I've been able to locate. If you can cite a reference I'd love to see it.

"Work for Hire" rules kick in when the person doing the filming is acting in his role of employee, but the fact you're being paid to shoot a wedding video does not itself constitute an employer/employee relationship. The wedding videographer is not an employee of the couple, he is a vendor selling a retail service on the open market who receives a professional fee for his services. He owns the copyright to his work just as the still photographer owns his. Of course he may choose to transfer that copyright to his client if he wishes or the client may insist he do so as part of his contract offer but such arrangements transferring ownership must be in writing. OTOH, if you hire a number 2 operator with camera to provide additional coverage or if the couple hires you to shoot their wedding and then you subcontract someone else to go do the actual shoot, turning the raw footage over to you at the end of the day while you pay them a wage for their time, then you are an employer, the other shooter is your employee (even though just for the day), and you own the footage. It partly depends on whether the shooter is being paid to be a technician who works a camera under direction or is hired to be the creator of a finished copyrightable work.
 
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First off, thanks for all your help, this is very much appreciated. To add to my problem, I am wanted to use this footage for a demo video for my website, which I failed to mention. I have my contract ready to go now, is it too late to have her look over it and sign it? No matter what I still want to retain the copyright to all the material. I was going to put a statement either at the front or end of the footage on dvd, “stating that it is intended for home use only and cannot, should not be reproduced under any circumstances”. I will be looking for written consent for showing the demo on my website, if she doesn’t agree then I will just give her what she wants and be done with it.
 
Steve House said:
I've never seen any exceptions to normal copyright law that pertains to wedding videos. If you review the US Copyright Office's detailed discussions of the laws and regulations on their official website you'll find no such exceptions listed, at least not that I've been able to locate. If you can cite a reference I'd love to see it.

"Work for Hire" rules kick in when the person doing the filming is acting in his role of employee, but the fact you're being paid to shoot a wedding video does not itself constitute an employer/employee relationship. The wedding videographer is not an employee of the couple, he is a vendor selling a retail service on the open market who receives a professional fee for his services. He owns the copyright to his work just as the still photographer owns his. Of course he may choose to transfer that copyright to his client if he wishes or the client may insist he do so as part of his contract offer but such arrangements transferring ownership must be in writing. OTOH, if you hire a number 2 operator with camera to provide additional coverage or if the couple hires you to shoot their wedding and then you subcontract someone else to go do the actual shoot, turning the raw footage over to you at the end of the day while you pay them a wage for their time, then you are an employer, the other shooter is your employee (even though just for the day), and you own the footage. It partly depends on whether the shooter is being paid to be a technician who works a camera under direction or is hired to be the creator of a finished copyrightable work.
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I guess I was just saying, from all the research I've been doing, that most videographers appear to retain the rights to the weddings they shoot. It appears you are substantiating this.
 
I suggest you assume the customer is willing to be reasonable.

Offer to sell her DVDs with all the footage for a certain price. Then offer a substantial discount, or even FREE, if she'll sign a release allowing you to use the footage on your website. Chances are she'll take you up on it happily.

Do you absolutely HAVE to have her permission to use the footage on your site? Does the footage belong to you and not her? I don't know -- I'm not a lawyer. But most customers tend to be pretty easy to work with, so at least give it a shot. If push comes to shove, then talk to a qualified lawyer.

Good luck!
 
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