Animation Contract

7 posts / 0 new

By Actuality Films | Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 9:43pm

Animation Contract

I've done two animated music videos for a musician and I've been greatly underpaid. The musician wants to pitch these videos to some television stations and wants to get an agreement or contract. How much should the animator get in terms of royalties or profits if the artist sells the videos?

If anybody wants to give me thoughts on the subject, I would greatly appreciate it.

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 9:39am

(Reply to #1) #2

Ken Davis

Consult.
A.
Lawyer.

Really........if you want fair compensation , why ask us? There is no piece of advice or information from any poster here ( aside from going to a lawyer) that you could use, or take to court if you have a dispute.

The other thing is, in my opinion...you are probably officially pooched on this project. You had a contract ( regardless if anything was written down or not) and agreement to pay for services, and you fulfilled that service and accepted that payment--thus the contract is fulfilled.
A contract need not be in writing to be binding, but a written contract can foresee and spell out stipulations that bind both parties to the agreement.
The moment you undertook the work, you agreed to the rap artist's terms, and the moment you accepted payment for the work you sealed the agreement.
Coming in AFTER the terms have been agreed to, and asking for more compensation......uh-uh.......that will not fly in court.

You'll be told to conduct your business more carefully with the next project you undertake.

But do not take my word for it, consult a lawyer to get the proper info on your legal rights.

—

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 11:58am

(Reply to #2) #3

wontobe

I went to your web site, so how long have you been in business? Is all that animation yours?

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 2:35pm

(Reply to #3) #4

Actuality Films

Consult.
A.
Lawyer.

Really........if you want fair compensation , why ask us? There is no piece of advice or information from any poster here ( aside from going to a lawyer) that you could use, or take to court if you have a dispute.

The other thing is, in my opinion...you are probably officially pooched on this project. You had a contract ( regardless if anything was written down or not) and agreement to pay for services, and you fulfilled that service and accepted that payment--thus the contract is fulfilled.
A contract need not be in writing to be binding, but a written contract can foresee and spell out stipulations that bind both parties to the agreement.
The moment you undertook the work, you agreed to the rap artist's terms, and the moment you accepted payment for the work you sealed the agreement.
Coming in AFTER the terms have been agreed to, and asking for more compensation......uh-uh.......that will not fly in court.

You'll be told to conduct your business more carefully with the next project you undertake.

But do not take my word for it, consult a lawyer to get the proper info on your legal rights.

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the information. I'm familiar with the idea that accepting work then becomes a contract. We've done two videos for the musician so far and
we'll stick to the price for the money received. I was just wondering about his use of the videos for sale to television. We've entered online video contests where you must sign away the rights to the video you created. In this case, we never did that with our client. I'm assuming that the videos are still our legal property.

Thanks again, I will talk to a lawyer.

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 2:37pm

(Reply to #4) #5

Actuality Films

Animation Business

Hi Wontobe,

Thanks for taking a look at my site....And yes, all that animation work is mine. We've been doing this about a year. What do you think of the quality of the work?

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 5:41pm

(Reply to #5) #6

DSB

I'm familiar with the idea that accepting work then becomes a contract. We've done two videos for the rap artist so far and
we'll stick to the price for the money received. I was just wondering about his use of the videos for sale to television. We've entered online video contests where you must sign away the rights to the video you created. In this case, we never did that with our client. I'm assuming that the videos are still our legal property.

Ken's right about the lawyer. However, in my experience when you create a work and accept payment for it, it's considered "work for hire" and the rights to the material belong to the person or company paying for the work. You are simply a contractor providing a service.

It's a good idea to clarify up front what rights you're retaining and what belongs to the client. On one job I had to negotiate even the use of the work I did for the project on my demo reel - the client didn't want me using it at all outside of the product it appeared in.