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Kansas firm sells candid Wal-Mart videos
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[walter biscardi] “Why would it belong to you if the client paid you to do the work AND they paid for the raw tape stock?”
In the comments on the WSJ article an ex company employee stated Flagler provided the stock and maintained the library on his own. WM suggested they re-use old tapes.
It seems he owns the tapes but what the video is used for is another issue.
I did a similar thing when I recorded a conference on climate change 8 or 9 years ago. I was asked not to use tapes in the cameras to save money. They also wanted me to record the live mix to vhs LP. I compromised using S-VHS at sp. Realizing the historical value at the time I immediately ordered enough DV tape stock for 3 or 4 days of recording from 3 cameras on my own dime. If I ever get time I’d like to go through this stuff and make some dvd’s. I know the scientists and dignitaries would be behind me. Nothing else was ever done with it due to lack of budget.
“everything is broken” ……Bob Dylan
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David, if you go back though the posts in this thread, you’ll see numerous people claiming that they own the copyright to everything they shoot unless there is a signed “Work for Hire” agreement. Regardless of the law, our company never claims copyright. I just don’t need any legal problems. We can debate this forever and until some court decision finally puts it in black and white, the argument will go on forever.
[David Roth Weiss] “Whoever assumes that or anything else is just opening themselves to disapointment.” I agree, of course. As for your question, first of all, Dick Wolf’s camera guys are his employees. If Dick hires a guy to shoot his grandkids birthday party – now what? I asked some colleagues that very same question earlier today. About 10 years ago, I shot interviews for Stephen Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah. Who owns the copyright to that stuff?
We have seen posts above where some have said that they own the footage and the client does not. I just bought a book at NAB this afternoon titled “Media Law for Producers”. In it, there is mention of the “creator” owning the footage but the book does not go into “who” the creator is.
As I stated in my post, we give it all to the client. I don’t want to be tempted. I don’t want my employees tempted. We did a job for the band Megadeath a few years back and I had to sign a multimillion dollar liability agreement with Columbia Records before we could shoot anything. We’ve done work for some very large companies and some have us sign an agreement and some don’t.
On another note: this guy Flagler was making millions of dollars all these years? Holy crap. How many of us figured that he was making that much money? It’s no wonder WM went Chinese, they had to pay Flagler’s invoices. On the legal side, can he sell evidence? Doesn’t the opposition just have to subpoena the tapes? As for the comment from, I believe, Bob Cole, shouldn’t someone had advised the client to not record something? We’ve done that on a few occasions. maybe Flagler had the whole thing planned. Isn’t it just a bit odd that he knows where all of the “evidence” is located in 15,000 tapes? Did the footage belong to Flagler himself or to his company? If he sold the company, shouldn’t the tapes have gone along with the other assets? This whole thing smells bad to me.
Whoa! Lot’s of unanswered questions. But now that we know some answers on dollar amounts, I now have a much lower opinion of the person in question.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD . -
[Ron Lindeboom] “Ron and Steve’s position on ownership “
I didn’t say that I don’t own it. I said that I don’t WANT to own it.
All I need is for someone to go on-line and call me a thief and then the you know what hits the fan. And, as I’ve said before, pulling something off the web is like pulling pee out of the sea.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD . -
Hey there Rennie, a lot of us feel the same way you do in regards to making sure our work doesn’t end up looking like garbage.
A friend of mine is a very, high end compositor that uses a Flame to process some fantastic TV spots. After finishing one last year, the client took the DVD version and had some text changed before it aired, obviously because it as cheaper for a Final Cut quickie. Can you image how that looked on TV? However, it was no longer his to control and the client thought it looked just fine. We’re still sick over that.
As far as needing to make money on copies because you didn’t make enough in the first place tells me that you need to charge more up front. Charge for your time. Don’t do anything free for incidental clients. They don’t appreciate it. They don’t care. Having said that, we just put a few extra days into a project for the city we live in because it was a special video aimed at children, to get them to go to the library. I guess that sometimes, you just have to, don’t you? My advice is not globally applicable.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .
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