Initials Work for Hire Agreement Made Easy

Initials work for hire agreement

[Music] another thing to to think about is who's working on the documentary so this is where it gets kind of interesting where I'll kind of use the the PMD element of my background experience but thinking about getting all of the agreements in place you know the work-for-hire agreements from you know the videographer camera person you know generally with with documentaries you're dealing with a very small you know crew is not like a actual feature film production where you have many moving parts and different departments but you know you may have a writer depending upon the type of documentary and the style you know what you have an editor you know if so sometimes the writer is the editor you know as well you know you try to keep you know the filmmaker tries to keep low cost you know for documentary filmmaking so sometimes they they too are not only the the producer but they're also the writer as well but for any voiceovers narration but definitely with you know the videographers you want to make sure that you get all of the the agreements in place for the work-for-hire because again once it gets down to you know the distribution aspects and how it's being marketed out whether it's a festival run or if it's through you know internet streaming you know going through the distribution process the negotiation of those agreements they generally ask for that type of information to make sure that you know they are in the clear from any potential claims and also you know incorporating the indemnification language that I talked about and make sure that the filmmaker guarantees that all of the releases and all of the license agreements and work-for-hire agreements have all been in place and secured by the time the filmmaker is looking to distribute the project so in case you know some people know it'll work made for hire is I'm sure but a lot of people who are probably watching this either do entertainment or are very interested where you know the basics but to be on the safe side just break it down excuse me so in the Copyright Act in Section 101 a work made for hire is a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment or a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work or as part of a motion picture other audio-visual work if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them the work shall be considered a work made for hire so that's usually the case I mean you're not looking a filmmakers not usually looking to hire folks as an employee because then you have to worry about you know the taxes and you know pension and benefits they need to be incorporated in terms of paying out for the employee but the written instrument in designating that this is a work made for hire and that that they are not an employee you know incorporating that language into the agreements is key to distinguishing whether or not this is an employment agreement or a work made for hire agreement special commissioned to do the you know the filming or the editing for this particular especially commissioned project and also how it gets termed outside of the employment context and not just the labeling of it but the fact that you know they they have some creative license and how they go through the editing process or how they write or how they're filming it right and that's not something that is being strictly strictly supervised necessarily by by the filmmaker now from the the PMD angle when you're counseling the client or one thing from a business perspective it can I think about in helping to cut their costs right it's thinking about how to package these folks together sometimes you know videographer may have the editing capabilities so not only you know when they're negotiating those work me for hire agreements to do the project you know consider what is the cost what are they charging for their services and what kind of services are they providing you want to make that clear in the agreement as well so sometimes it's best to you know definitely have someone who has multiple skill sets to be able to complete the project for you for the filmmaker at a lower cost rather than engi separate individuals you know considering okay does this videographer have their own equipment they should and if not are they bringing does the videographer come with you know a great person these are things that you know are key to figuring out the budget allocations for each of those that are coming onto the project and being able to maximize hopefully the profitability for the documentary filmmaker or just the filmmaker in general when we talk about documentaries but just filmmakers in general so again going into those types of agreements some of the key clauses I'm sorry the the key clauses are the services to be rendered which is why I bring and bring this up also whether or not they're being engaged exclusively or not exclusively the availability of them is is very important you know and this all ties back together to a save and the location agreements right or the permit that you're getting from the film Commissioner's Office or the filmmaker is you know you have to consider well you know the time frame of is videographers availability you know pose a problem for let's say what's been negotiated for the location agreement so that's something to kind of think through and planning from you know I'm gonna call it the pre-production phase but planning in who's coming on board for the project how you're going to do the production aspects and generally you know trying to do it within a few days or a couple of weeks - to wrap it up in time for for editing that's all key you know I'm so again that brings it to the next point of the time for completion of the work you know are they being engaged for just the production aspect let's say for the videographer or if this videographer has editing skill sets are they also being engaged to do the editing what's the turnaround time on that you know that's something that's very critical making sure when the filmmakers perspective that they also have the ability to you know have a final approval right of the project and and you know making sure if any re-editing is necessary does that come an additional cost or is that incorporated within the initial fee that that's given out so from a business perspective that's important too so that's that's why I call it the the package deal component other key clauses and those types of agreements is credit you know if money is not it is not something that is consideration for you know these you know for the videographer or for any of you know folks kind of coming in it's really doing the production of the work if it's not money it's definitely going to be credit it needs to be go to get it or it could be a combination of the two right so the credit to be recorded on screen or in ads now this is where it gets tricky because depending upon the distribution strategy for this particular project will also dictate as to whether or not even the filmmaker can make that final determination if it's you know a film project and gets picked up for a cable network they may not be able to they literally will have no say in terms of how the credits will will roll right so the credits may be streaming pretty quickly make it cut out for purposes of cutting the timeframe that this project is actually aired on television so you know the credit is something that a filmmaker can give but in terms of making certain guarantees that's a little more difficult and that needs to be negotiated carefully now the copyright ownership of the work that they're actually incorporating you know that's as the beauty and you know the legal landline aspects of filmmaking is that there are a lot of different creative individuals coming together and adding their creative elements into the project so when you're dealing with the work made for hire agreement you also want to make sure if you're representing the filmmaker that they're getting the assignment of the rights over the copyrighted material and incorporate within the final project in terms of profits and participation points here we're not really talking about you know talent necessarily but if it's you know life story rights and it's someone who's very well known that's something that can be negotiated and will likely be negotiated by someone who is well known as having their story told and you know getting some participation points in the the split profits [Music]