Who gets the award?

G

Gwerd

Well-known member
I made a short film for a client a little while ago, it's been accepted into a few small film festivals. Long shot here, but if it happens to win an award and/or money (imagine that!) who gets the award? Who gets the money?
We have a contract and a pretty good relationship- I still want to support them, an environmental group, similar goals overall.
Technically speaking we co-produced, they raised the money, I was the Diretcetera (shot, edit, composed, mixed, formatted, finished etc etc).

They own the film, I made the film....is there an industry norm for this consideration?
 
Is it worth losing a good client? Unless there's something in the contract covering this type of situation, it's all theirs.
BUT....
1. you should be very thankful if/when it wins an award! Be proud of your work.
2. you did work on the it, so you can still list your award winning film as a credit.
3. if/when it wins.... your rates just went up for this client! (and others)

One other comment...cross that bridge when you get to it. You could cause hard feelings just talking about it and tarnish your business relationship.
Best of luck.
 
Thanks Zaza, all things considered I think that is how I'll proceed.

The client actually sent me the email saying "Also, if the film receives any
recognition, this should include the "client". Any earnings, trophies, awards,
etc that come from the film should come to the "client" and reside in our
office." hence the need to respond to them...

I think this issue comes down to whether the film is just a product that they paid for or does it transcend that agreement and stand as art. I'm still feeling pretty strongly that film awards are for artistic merit and should go to the artist.

A difference between what's legal and what's right?
 
The producer gets the overall film award. It might not seem fair (if you are not a producer) but it's accepted as standard practice everywhere. If there are separate awards for directing, cinematography, acting, screenwriting, etc, the people responsible get those.
 
Gwerd said:
I made a short film for a client a little while ago, it's been accepted into a few small film festivals. Long shot here, but if it happens to win an award and/or money (imagine that!) who gets the award? Who gets the money?
We have a contract and a pretty good relationship- I still want to support them, an environmental group, similar goals overall.
Technically speaking we co-produced, they raised the money, I was the Diretcetera (shot, edit, composed, mixed, formatted, finished etc etc).

They own the film, I made the film....is there an industry norm for this consideration?
Click to expand...

You made the film for them but the fact your were paid to make it for them DOES NOT automatically mean they own it. It may be that all they own is a license to use it. Does your contract use the exact words "work made-for-hire"? If so, they are the author for copyright purposes.; if not, you are. Does your contract explicitly transfer all rights to the film to the client? What does it say about erarnings? The exact wording of your contract is the key to what your status is and to who owns the film itself.
 
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Ownership is not relevant. The owner may have had no part in the production. There's no award for owner. Decide who produced the film, not who wrote it , shot it or owns it. The producer gets the award. If you co-produced, you share with equal credit. It's the industry norm.
 
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