Film Money

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I got an out of the blue request on my youTube channel. Some company out of New York wants to use my lovely video of Maeve and Dani in one of their videos and put it on Animal Planet.

I should be overjoyed. Somebody wants to put one of my short films on the TV. National Exposure. YeeHa! Well sort of.

I guess I've been in Hollywood for too long. Or maybe I've been exposed to too many members of the proletariat because my first thought is "How much do I get paid?" I've been in contact with the company and their response is they are happy to use these clips at no cost to themselves. Of course they are. And I'm sure they are charging Animal Planet nothing for their services, right?

On the one hand it would be really fun to have my dogs on basic cable. On the other hand, I feel like I would let them be taking advantage of me if I did it for nothing. I'm sure the pile they have of cute puppy videos is huge so if I start to make a stink, they will just put my video aside and move on to the next.

Do I sell out and put my puppies on TV for free or do I take the stand and potentially lose the deal?

[cranefly]

Whether to channel Harlan Ellison or Cory Doctorow, that is the question.
It's a tough one.
Stepping into your shoes, I suppose I'd want assurances from them that they are not getting paid while I am not. In other words, sure, use the footage free as long as you are not profiting from it. Otherwise, some sort of compensation is in order, out of fairness to all.

On the other hand, I don't have dogs and footage of them and someone knocking at my door wanting to put it on TV. So I'm not exactly the best person to be trying on your shoes.

I wear ten and a halfs, BTW.

P.S. Perhaps you could indulge in a bit of turnaround and tell them that you are doing a documentary on people who profit from other people's creations without compensating them, and you'd really like to include them.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Just turned down my new friends at Next Millennium Productions. I guess we will not be seeing my puppies on the TV.