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Licensing Delima – representing myself
I have a video on youtube that got a lot of views, I have been contacted by a ad agency that wants to license 15sec of my video for a cell phone commercial. I do work with a Viral Video agency, folks who usually act as the middle man in these situations. Unfortunately my rep and the ad agency did not play nice, and the whole deal fell apart – something about terms – but they never even got to the $ talk. My rep said they wanted to make sure to I got what my video is worth and the guy from the ad agency wasn’t giving them all the info. Here’s my thought, some money is better than NO money. In the whole course of my videos life (3 years) nobody has ever asked to license it. I’ve made money off ad revenue but no licensing, and this video has seen it’s peak, so I don’t know what I’d be waiting for. So, I emailed the guy at the ad agency and he is still willing to work with me. But now I’m basically representing myself. He is asking me to give him a rough quote for a 12 month license and I have no idea where to start. One more detail – this if for an ad in Brazil
can anyone have some advise -
5 Replies
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Boa tarde. (Man, I wish I could learn Brazilian Portuguese: it’s to my ear, the sexiest-sounding of all the languages. Now I gotta go cue up some Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto or Seu George music. 🙂 )
Start with the amount of time it took you to capture and edit the original event the clip is from. Multiply that against your hourly or day rate. ( Don’t know your rate? Search on this same forum, just a few posts down, for way too much information on how that works)
Now, double that, and ask yourself if that sounds fair for a one-time one year price, if the rights revert back to you.
Consider too, what it would cost someone to duplicate the same event/shot, if they could. Your price should come in a little lower than the cost of cutting you out of the deal. If the footage is a once in a lifetime, can never be repeated thing, it’s also worth a bit more.
Lower the price if they’re willing in exchange to put a tiny on screen credit in a corner of the video with your name on it. It need not be large or up there long, say, 3 seconds, in disclaimer-sized font, but if the commercial takes off, it will help publicize you.
Boa sorte!
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Your best guide might be to find out what good stock-footage firms charge for similar licenses, and ask for the same or a little less.
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There is no “way to peace.” Peace is the way.
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Hey Emio,
[emio tomeoni] ” I do work with a Viral Video agency, folks who usually act as the middle man in these situations. Unfortunately my rep and the ad agency did not play nice, and the whole deal fell apart – something about terms – but they never even got to the $ talk.”
First off – be careful that what-ever you do next, does not violate the agreement with the Viral Video Agency. Also, not that agents have a habit of talking with one another, and if do one of them wrong, you will get “black-listed”. Or find yourself paying a higher percentage for future agreements.
[emio tomeoni] “So, I emailed the guy at the ad agency and he is still willing to work with me. But now I’m basically representing myself. He is asking me to give him a rough quote for a 12 month license and I have no idea where to start. One more detail – this if for an ad in Brazil”
As Mark says, anyone can copy your video. However, if they copy your video after having asked to buy it, this could cause major embarrassment for the end-client – the cell phone company. So they won’t likely be doing that.
The question is: Is your clip central to the commercial? And what networks (eyeballs) will it be shown across? (Online, Satellite, Cable, Terrestrial, Cinema etc.)
Will the client be looking for an exclusive deal?
If not, Getty Images are a good place to start calculating prices for regional advertising – I did a quick test, and got prices ranging from £2,350 – £4,750 using their “Calculate a price” service.However, this is where a good agent becomes a must, and sometimes like with your current one, it is a good idea to walk away from a bad deal. However, a good agent can secure you a per-pr-showing deal. So if your video is shown 20,000 times over a 12 month period, at say even a meager £5 a showing you may regret not having an agent. If you go by your production costs x 2, rather than commercial rates you should be happy, but not adequately compensated.
Do keep in mind that the agency wants to use your video to make big sales with – not for a casual advert in your local paper.
Hope this helps.
All the Best
Mads@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk -
This is solid, sound advice, – and based on it – I’m feeling confident in my next move.
I can’t thank you and the rest of the folks who responded enough.once this is done i’ll report back – good or bad!
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