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Who owns raw footage?
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Bob Russell wrote: “My thought is to give them the source materials that I created and a list of the Royalty Free clips and vendor and inform them they must purchase their own license for those items to be able to use them legally. Am I correct in my thinking on this?”
I have an extensive Digital Juice stock collection of animations, video, sound effects, music and so on. Almost every project I work on has some Digital Juice content in it so how would I ever give a client any of these stock elements which are only licensed to me if they requested it? Some of these stock elements are modified by me to the extent that the original stock content would be useless to them anyways.
I certainly don’t want to direct my client to the Digital Juice website and show them what I paid for each stock element in their production and how many graphic/video/audio elements were actually used. Besides all of these stock elements are sold in large content library-type packages and not individually.
Randy
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Watch out guys! Here is the gen from Night Train.
If you didn’t make the cameraman sign a release form, then it is actually this person that owns the footage since he (or she) is the artist behind the lens. We know this because we have fallen for this one in the past – and it came to legal blows!
Obviously, as far as the client is concerned, you, as the producer of the whole piece owns the footage – and this is correct since the cameraman worked for you. So, provided you sew up the deal between you and the crew by making them all sign a doc that releases the rights of the work to you then you are home and dry and have the right to do a deal with your client. And basically make this a rule that everyone on any project in the future signs one. Gotta be like this now.
It doesn’t matter what the client paid for – if there is no documentation allocating ownership of the footage to them then you own it. It is the same intellectual copyright law that applies to photographers and other artists.
If you give to them without restrictions there is absolutely nothing to stop them taking it to another prod co for further editing. One may be chilled out about such things in certain circumstances, but you should at least know the official line. I know I am right – coz we’ve seen what can happen!
To save on legal bills, try and “steal” a release form template off the web – or mail me and I will see if I have any ready to go generic text for this purpose. It is a fairly standard doc.
Regards
Spike
Spike Allibone
Managing Director
Night Train Productions Ltd.11 Dublin Street Lane South, Edinburgh UK EH1 3PX
w: https://www.nighttrain.co.uk/ -
[Bob Russell] “My thought is to give them the source materials that I created and a list of the Royalty Free clips and vendor and inform them they must purchase their own license for those items to be able to use them legally. Am I correct in my thinking on this?”
I sure wouldn’t do that. So, my vote is: “Nine, nada, nicht, nebbuh, no, no, no.”
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
Publisher,
Creative COW MagazineCreativeCOW.net
Paso Robles, California USAEmail: ron@creativecow.net https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
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OK, Interesting topic and obviously lots of different opinions. Thought I would toss this in. I will leave the specific names of the companies and individuals out to protect the innocent.
I am of the belief the(my opinion/research) creator of the content owns the footage unless a signed agreement/contract states otherwise. With that said check this out.
A company hires me to shoot some broll footage of my city to roll in on their live broadcast. I wonder around get some nice stuff and they use it out of a live remote truck. Now that company leaves town. The tapes/footage are left behind or recycled. It was a one off thing. Here is the twist…. The tape guys in the truck clip off all the shots onto their personal reel. Then every time a new group comes into town the tape guys offer up my shots to them for use. They then go ahead and use my shots going to and from breaks. Uggh!
I have told them over and over that they(the tape ops) are infringing on my copryright as I shot the footage and it is my footage. They argue it is not mine and actually the company that hired me owns it. So, I say either way, whether mine or theirs, it is illegal for them to have and use the footage as well as the other companies. They laugh as if I do not know what I am talking about and continue to keep my footage on their reels and offer it to others for use.Normally I do not worry too much about stuff like this and consider it the price of business. But, my argument to them is that if they offer up these beautiful shots to everyone else that comes into town, then those companies will just rely on that and not hire anyone to shoot stuff for them. Ultimately I end up shooting these shots once a year in the spring and then end up seeing them the rest of the year on many different broadcasts.
My experience is not alone. I know for a fact that in my circle of broadcast the happens daily around the country to many people. Standard practice by live remote truck tape operators.
Thats my story, not sure what I can do about it though. I tried to contact copyright infringment people and they basically said I have to sue to get any results. Which would mean if I did that it would be the old saying
“you’ll never work in this town again”If anyone wants to respond to this or has some thoughts, I would love to hear them…Thanks!
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Prepare a document with the quotation that you hand to anyone that hires you.
In it state that you own all footage unless otherwise agreed (because you do) Quote the cost – and add a different cost for a buyout (watch for re-sale clauses etc – perhaps a chat with a copyright lawyer wouldn’t go a miss – he’ll bill you though!) In any case, it is a good idea to be clear on this stuff before you get the camera out the bag.
FYI My previous post on this matter might be worth a read. Basically if you don’t do what I’m suggesting here, you STILL own this footage unless your client makes you sign something to the contrary. All TV & prod cos should be wise to this now and make you sign something first. IE They should be prepared to pay your buyout rate straight away. If nothing is signed in any direction you can, if you want go to a lawyer and issue a “cease and desist” kind of thing, and hand it to anyone who is selling your footage on. You will succeed in stopping your problem until a settlement is reached. There is a difference between suing someone and warning them.
In the future, if a client asks you to sign their doc instead this is at least good because this brings ownership out in the open and you can attach a price to it. If they don’t bring anything out at all then you basically have the upper hand. And there is nothing to stop you both signing each other’s (provided of course they agree!).
Do sort this out – it ‘s the most professional thing to do. Anyone ignoring this issue now can easily be seen as a sloppy operator.
Why not try sending those tape guys a repeat fee invoice? They are wrong when they say you don’t own it. You do.
Spike Allibone
Managing Director
Night Train Productions Ltd.11 Dublin Street Lane South, Edinburgh UK EH1 3PX
w: https://www.nighttrain.co.uk/ -
Forgot to mention!
We are in the UK. Makes a difference, as copyright law is quite different in the States and elsewhere.
If you hate copyright – go to Russia apparently!
Spike Allibone
Managing Director
Night Train Productions Ltd.11 Dublin Street Lane South, Edinburgh UK EH1 3PX
w: https://www.nighttrain.co.uk/ -
That makes total sense to me…
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“When a client comes to us to produce a project, we quote a price – for a finished project. The client gets a finished tape, or disc, or file, whatever, and that’s it. Anything that our company acquires, makes, films, records, etc. during the production process belongs to us, not our client. If you buy a car from Ford, you don’t have a right to the machinery Ford used to make the car.
On the other hand, the client paid for the finished project. It’s theirs to do with as they see fit.
”
That’s what I mean makes sense to me 🙂 -
[Richard Boyd] “Anything that our company acquires, makes, films, records, etc. during the production process belongs to us, not our client.”
That is completely opposite all the productions I have ever been a part of. All of our clients, all of the clients of the companies I worked for in the past, especially the corporate ones, want the raw footage to use in future projects or for archival purposes. They paid for the time and the tape stock, they own the raw footage.
Using your logic, The Carter Center here in Atlanta hires you to document the President and Mrs. Carter in Africa on a health tour of Ghana. You edit the project and deliver to the Carter Center a final DVD master of the project. Now you’re free to do whatever you want with the footage of the Carters? I don’t think so. I would think the Carter Center Lawyers would have a lot to say about something like that.
Using your logic, a major restaurant chain hires you to create a series of training videos. This involves you documenting how their restaurants work, how they move product, how they market and sell various items, everything that a new hire has to know, you document that. You deliver to this major restaurant chain a series of DVD’s. Now you’re free to use that footage from inside that company and use it as you see fit? Again, I think the restaurant lawyers would have something to say about that.
Using your logic, a Casino hires you to produce a 150 part training guide for the dealers that will cover all of the games. You have complete access to the training facility, dealers, the gaming commission and all the house rules for the games. You produce all of these videos and hand the Casino their 150 DVD’s. Now you’re free to use all of that footage showing exactly how that Casino deals and protects their games as you see fit?
I think you see where I’m going here. Those are three real projects. I would never even think about keeping any of that footage because I don’t have that right. The client pays for the project, they own all of that footage. I don’t have any perceived “right” to turn around and say that anything I shot belongs to me.
You’re welcome to run your business as you see fit, but I would never recommend to anyone in this business that they are entitled to the raw footage just because they produced it. The client owns it unless otherwise specified.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
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Walter,
I understand your concerns. Here’s the difference between your position and mine:
Even though I may own footage of Jimmy Carter, I don’t have permission to use his image. The same is true in the other cases you mentioned. I agree, I do confidential work in the petrochemical industry and defense industry all the time. But, in my case, if the client wants a re-edit, or wants to do another project along the same lines, I have access to that material and my competitors don’t. I don’t want some other production house producing a project that I shot using my footage. That’s the difference. I own my footage, the clients owns their name, image, and information.
If for some reason they insist on having the raw footage, I’m reasonable, but I don’t give it away for free, unless the job contract specifically allowed for that up front. BTW I’ve worked for Fortune 500 corporations for 15 plus years using this arrangement and never had a problem.
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