Who Owns the Master

[Mark Suszko]

Whatever you decide, don’t forget this entire conversation is public record and might be admissible in court.

[Steve Wargo]

Maybe the friend in the training department needs to be the one who informs someone above the new “hero” that you are the actual owner of the footage and that she is about to screw up years of work trying to save money that will never even show up in the company books.

We are going through a similar situation right now where a “hero” at one of our largest clients has informed the internal video department that they need to have a back up video company on call because we are usually backlogged and she fears that a job will pop up and we won’t be able to do it. It so happens that I have an adaquate source of great editors, shooters and producers that can perform any task. We have three FCP systems and the hardware to support them. We charge them the same price as we did when we first started working for them, 6 years ago. When we do HD jobs, they pay a small premium for the HD camera and possibly a charge for the HD deck. (HDCAM, not HDV)

You might want to arrange a meeting with the “hero”, the training guy and several others from the company. Discuss the fact that they get a lot of small freebies because they are an ongoing client. The reason is that they are loyal clients and are rewarded in small ways for being such. Bring up the fact that you legally own the footage but they are always allowed full access because of the loyalty factor. Discuss still photographers and their way of doing business.

However, you can count on the fact that she will look into the legal end and you will be presented with a “work for hire” contract if you want to keep working for them. It will be a shame to see a great client/vendor relationship go down the toilet because somebody wants to save a company a few dollars. Loyalty is drowning in the business practices of the “ME” generation and us old timers who do business on a handshake and know the value of long term relationships are losing ground to people who have no idea how a business actually works.

Good luck on this one.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Gary Chvatal]

I’ve been in the position of the inside guy many times…and have had the VP try to get footage/masters from my vendors for a song. One time it got ugly. The Marketing VP wanted to sell the footage and completed project to a stock house that would re-cut and sell the material as spots to other similar companies. This would reduce the comapnies overall cost on the original prouction and “the savior” would look like a real hero.

But the savior had no right to do so…and the production company would not give them the footage…but offered a sale. The VP was very angry and was sure she was in the right but the corporate attorney led to to realize she had no rights.

Realize…you have already lost this client. You can take the high road…and hope you do not end up with any additional expense (due to residuals that you have already mentioned.) And you can explain that you cannot give them the footage due to your relationship with your suppliers…but you could sell them the master for $(fill in the blank) price.

Make it worth your while…your training guy may still use you…the new marketing guru has her own ideas that don’t include you…get some oney while you have an opportunity.

[Steve Wargo]

Here is a sample of a contract that shows the client as owner of all footage.

https://contracts.onecle.com/hansen/reach.svc.2003.03.18.shtml

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!