Re: I am in need of

From: db (email suppressed)
Date: Fri Feb 08 2008 - 16:57:11 PST


On Feb 8, 2008, at 2:59 PM, Ball Steven wrote:

> They 'won' cash for making an advertisement for a multinational
> financial company?

Yes. This is a fairly new exploitive trend in the advertising,
corporate, music industries, trying to ride on the viral wave I
think. Flir, a company that manufactures hi-tech surveillance gear,
recently posted a similar project on Craigslist offering "up to"
$2000 for the creation of viral videos using their gear.

Some locals to PDX won a similar contest sponsored by Tropicana (I
think $20k, though I don't know if that included covering production
costs, so even winning could potentially be a financial loss). I'm
seeing a lot of bands offering filmmakers "great" opportunities like
this. "Use our footage and, if you win the contest, we'll give you a
new camera and $6000" kind of things. Of course this usually involves
giving up all rights to submitted work, whether it is selected or
not, "for perpetuity and across the universe."

Admittedly, $10k is nothing I would balk at taking should something I
did win such a contest. But this practice is exploitive in the sense
that it offers a way for corporations to bypass the production
industry professional fee standards by offering "fame" in exchange
for substandard rates of exchange. When one considers that $40k is a
"modest" budget for postproduction services on a commercial, getting
an entire spot, produced, edited and submitted with no limits on re-
use is very nearly free money for the sponsors of such contests.

Here is wording for the contract required to submit to one such contest:

> 3. I hereby grant to Producer, their assigns and affiliates the
> perpetual, irrevocable right and license to distribute, broadcast,
> and otherwise exploit the submitted material, gratis, throughout
> the universe, in any and all manners, formats and media, whether
> now known or hereafter devised, in connection with The Series
> Website, the Series or otherwise, including, but not limited to,
> the non-exclusive, fully paid, universal license to use, copy,
> digitize, sublicense, transmit, distribute, publicly perform,
> publish, delete or display such submitted material, or any portion
> thereof, in any media now known or hereafter devised including, but
> not limited to The Series Website, or the Series. I authorize you,
> and any entities affiliated or in privity with you, to utilize on a
> non-exclusive basis, for eternity and in any manner you see fit,
> the submitted material to you, and to make derivative works from
> such materials. I agree that such use shall be freely assignable
> by you, and that you and your assignees and licensees shall have no
> obligations whatsoever to me. I hereby grant you permission to and
> you shall have the right and sole discretion to edit, alter, modify
> or change any part of the submitted material for any reason in
> connection with your (or your assignee’s or licensee’s) use thereof.
>

Here's another contest:

> Hi all,
>
> My guess is a good chunk of you are not "American Idol" watchers so
> probably didn't see the promo for a new reality show being created
> by Mark Burnett (reality king) and Steven Spielberg to find the
> next great director. (www.thelot.com)
>
>

and from the music industry side of things:

http://www.modestmousemusic.com/video/

Wow. Cool. I get a mini HD camera, OR an iMac, OR a video iPod
(value, $600-$1400?) and Modest Mouse gets a video that would
normally cost them at least $30-75k to produce.

db

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