[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Christian,

My two cents…

1)You were not paid, so it is NOT a work for hire.
2)He/she who creates (without a work for hire agreement) owns copyright. Once a work is created, it is automatically copyrighted. That’s the law.

In my opinion, you are the legal copyright holder. If anyone replicates or distributes the product without your permission, they are in violation of copyright.

I would get paid before advancing any further or offering any more “free” services (including sending them the contract that they have requested).

From my experience, some salesperson is going to see what you did and try to persuade your client that his/her company can do it better and cheaper. (If this has not already occurred).

But like Nick says, I am not a lawyer and I could be wrong.

Good Luck!
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

I agree with Nick. This is too serious of an undertaking NOT to involve a lawyer. Running a successful business costs money. Attorney fees are a line item in the overall budget and business plan. Annie up.

Good Luck!
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Tymm,

There have been many discussions/posts about this on the COW. If you do a search, you will find a lot of past posts/discussions, opinions, etc. The opinions here seem to vary on the definition of a “Work for Hire.” Some believe that the client owns everything and/or the finished product no matter what. Some believe that the client owns everything and/or the finished product only if there was/is a WRITTEN “Work for Hire Agreement” between you and your client.

[tymm Smith] “…this is the first time a client has gotten really worked up about this.”

Does this mean that this is a long-time, valued client that may continue their business relationship with you/your company? Does the client spend a decent amount of money with you/your company? If so, regardless of what you (and others here on the COW) feel, I would do what your client asks and take them down to avoid losing the client and their future projects.

Good Luck,
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

LOL! I’m thinking of getting the 5-pack special for only $44.99.

Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Rob,

Sounds and looks to me like you have what it takes for a promising career: a very good work ethic and good sample reels (I checked out your MySpace page). I think you just have to keep playing the game of networking (including meeting people on the free gigs) until it pays off. It may take some time, but you should do fine.

Keep on truckin’
Bruce

P.S. I’m jealous. I wish I could afford to license AC/DC’s music for my projects 🙂

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Rob,

When I graduated from college in 1990, I wanted to be an ad campaign designer. I had unsuccessful interviews for about a year trying to get a job as a media account manager/sales rep (I had absolutely no advertising experience when I graduated). After interviewing for, and not getting, a sales position for a production company, I became interested in video.

I approached an acquaintance who owned his own post house about an internship. He was kind enough to offer me a 6-month, 20-hour per week, non-paid internship doing consumer photo and film transfers to VHS tape, duplication and simple editing. In return, he was willing to invest his time and equipment in helping me produce a project of my choice for my portfolio. I ended up being hired as his first full-time employee and worked there for 8 years. BTW: I also worked a 40-hour per week full time job during that 6-month internship so I could make a living (on my own and not living with parents).

I get kind of miffed when I hear young college grads complain that the only work they can find is “work for free” gigs or non-paying internships. I feel it stigmatizes their generation in a bad way. During my 6-month internship, I gained more knowledge and hands-on experience than I could ever have asked for. It was priceless. To this very day, I consider myself very lucky to have been “chosen” from the hundreds of other non-experienced grads who also wanted my “work for free” internship.

Good Luck!
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

[John Nelson] “Is this the right or wrong way to go in letting the client know how much it costs to to their particular project?”

In my opinion, it is the wrong way. An invoice should list actual numbers that represent hours, units, etc. incurred – nothing obscure like “2+ hours.” To me, it looks kind of “hokey pokey” and is not a very professional practice. If I ever got such an invoice from one of my vendors, it would be the last invoice I’d get from that vendor. Also, I’d get rid of “Investment: $500.00” and just call it what it is: “Sub Total.”

If I need to discount a project in order to bring it on/under budget, I list all actual items and time spent and then create a discounted item line with “Discount courtesy of Bennett Marketing & Media Production” (i.e., -1 x 500.00 = -$500.00). This is also a very common practice from my vendors. I do group/add up some expenses, like travel expenses, as a single line item (i.e., taxis, parking, airfare, lodging, etc.).

I suggest investing a few bucks into purchasing invoicing software such as QuickBooks. It will prove very beneficial if you ever hire an accountant to do your quarterly and year end reports, or ever get audited (a very common occurrence in our world of professional production).

As far as differentiating a “good” from “service” in determining if it gets taxed or not, I tax everything. The government can be very obscure in what it defines as a “good or service.” For instance, for “transcription services,” one would think that it should not get taxed for the final client invoice. But, the government may see it as a service that renders a physical deliverable good of a Microsoft Word file that has a tangible value (and thus should be taxed). I have friends that have been burned on this and it has cost them thousands of dollars in back taxes.

Just my opinions…

Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Matt,

Thank you for the clarification. I am not too up on the techno lingo and processes (I take the attitude “that’s what I pay my editors for”).

I believe my vendor created whatever masters/sources that the needed from my supplied materials/programs. I remember for the first supplied DVD was burned a certain way out of FCP in order for the CSS protection to be added by my vendor. For the second disc, we supplied that source material on an external hard drive. What GLMT did on their end wasn’t a concern to me – all I cared about were the prices, quality control and deliverables with copy protection.

Got me a few thousand duplicated sets with CSS protection, so I guess they do in fact, know what they are doing 🙂

Cheers!
Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

Hi Nick,

Late last year, I subbed out a 2-disc DVD set replication job with CSS copy protection on both discs. My preferred vendor, Great Lakes Media Technology out of Mequon, Wisconsin, did a great job. I only paid for a “copy protection” set up and a minimal price-per-disc charge. There were no glass mastering costs.

Yes, this process is for replication/pressed discs (versus burned discs). I usually find the magic number of copies is usually 500 pieces in order to do this feasibly/economically.

The DVD masters had to be burned a “special way” in which my editor understood how to easily provide.

As far as people “breaking the code” to copy the discs… I figure the vast majority of people/consumers are using their “pre-installed” or demo/lite copy software, which cannot copy CSS protected discs. If they have software that can break the code and copy, there’s not much we can do about it, but then again, it will be a very small amount of people/consumers.

Bruce

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC

[Bruce Bennett]

“Now here’s something else, Bob. I have eight different bosses right now.” – Peter Gibbons, Computer Programmer, Initech

Bruce Bennett
Bennett Marketing & Media Production, LLC