Documentary Score - what terms

[Jules Bromley]

Hi - I wondered if I could beg some advice.

I've recently been asked to score a Discovery Channel documentary for a London production company.

As ever, the budget is limited, and the musical demands not unsubstantial. Although I'm more than happy to have the work, I'd like to ensure that the licensing terms make sense.

Can I ask what others in this situation usually do? Is it nomal to offer a buyout, or is it sometimes possible to retain some or all of the mechanical and performance rights? Does the fact that the end user is Discovery have a bearing at all - do they insist on buyouts for example?

Many thanks for any advice.

Jules

[Paul Quinn]

I do not have any advice but wanted to say Bravo. That is something you should be very proud of. I Know as a composer I am very proud for you even though I do not know you. Please let us know when It will be aired. Also Since you are abviously a profesional would you be willing to listen to my music and let me know what you think ? Your input would be of much value. You can find it at www.soundclick.com/musicalpaintingsbypaulquinn
Thanks
Paul

[Ola Ness]

Hi Jules.

Congrats on landing that gig. I would say that if their budget is limited then try to avoid a buyout (unless this is your first entry into doing it professionally and you would do it for peanuts anyway). During negotiations you could try to sell it as 'buying the music you write on credit' - i.e. that your cost is higher than what they offer but that you accept it on the condition that it will keep money ticking in for you over time in royalties. You can say to them that this should cover the remainder of your cost - and that it is you who are taking the risk and not them - because of course you will be relying on the show to be aired in the future to get your full pay. I suppose in negotiations it is all about presenting what you want in a light that makes it positive to the other party.

Hope this helps,

Ola

[Jules Bromley]

Hi Ola

Many thanks for the advice.

They seem keen to get something worked out, and haven't (yet) run a mile at my suggestion of retaining publishing. My concern is that some broadcasters are now insisting on holding publishing for programs they commission, because it basically means they then pay performance royalties to themselves. This of course means the production company needs to own the publishing in order to assign it to the broadcaster when selling the program.

This and the fact that many production companies often insist on taking all but the writers share of publishing as a means of topping up their own reveneus, are both practices which are gradually eroding writers rights to income streams. In essence it's exploitation of a market which has become staurated with composers and massively overweighted on the supply side. On this ocassion I think retaining publishing is probably only right and proper, for the reasons you've outlined, but I also feel composers need to sometimes be prepared to lose work in order to protect what little professional influence and dignity we still have.

Thanks again for your help Ola - I'll keep you posted.

Paul - I'll let you know if/when I have a date for broadcast and will try and check out your work in the meantime.

Regards

Jules

[Fredrick zinos]

I agree with Ola. Take something up front but don't make your composition a work for hire, that is a composition that they pay for one time and then own forever. You may be able to make a stronger "back end" deal, that is you get paid X flat fee or Y percentage of GROSS* revenues every time the composition is used.

*Gross is what you want. NET gets so diluted that you'll never see a dime. In fact, figured at NET. "Gone With The Wind" Still hasn't made any money.

[Chris Merritt]

Hi Jules,

When you say limited budget, how much is it exactly?

In my experience a 30 minute show should pay $5k or more, and you keep the writer's share, THEY keep the publishing. This means it is a work for hire and they own the music. If possible, do the deal where YOU keep the publishing, meaning you own the music and it is NOT a work for hire. Then you grant them the rights to use the music in the show however they need. It's hard because you have to convince them that there will be no snags in selling or airing the show.

Discovery is notorious for not only wanting to own the music, but even reusing it in other shows or libraries.

Best of luck!

[Jules Bromley]

Hi Chris - many thanks for your help.

The budget is considerably less than what you've outlined, for a 43 minute show with a high ratio of music content.

I agree with you - if the fee is reasonable, I'm more than happy to part with the publisher's share. When the fee is reduced for whatever reason, then it seems only fair that the writer retain the publishers share. In the past I've done this and granted an exclusive license to the IPC, either for a fixed period or in perpetuity.

The part of the equation I'm not familiar with is where the broadcaster is making demands on the IPC regarding publishing, which makes the negotiations more tricky. Effectively the broadcaster is the one demanding the rights, but they have no involvement in or knowledge of what fee I'm being paid. I guess their argument would be that if I need to retain publishing to make ends meet, then the IPC should be paying a bigger fee, which I can't really disagree with.

I'll let you know how things work out, and thanks again.

Jules

[Chris Alpiar]

I havent done any work for Discovery, but here is a very interesting article regarding Discovery and how they deal with music rights. Particular interest is the comments:

http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=1760

[Jules Bromley]

Thanks for that Chris - that's extremely interesting.

There was never really any question of me holding onto sync rights in this instance - in my experience that's basically what the upfront fee replaces. I realize this is a big issue for film composers, especially when their music is used in commercial soundtracks and all sorts of spin-off products, but it's historically been less of an issue for TV, except for very high profile series. Film composers of course sometimes participate in film royalties directly.

I'm very sympathetic with composers who feel this represents a rip-off, but this seems a little like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. If we accept up-front fees in return for our sync fees, then it's a little tricky complaining if the party we assign those rights to then chooses to exploit them more than we'd expected. Now that we're aware of this kind of exploitation, we're in a position to try and accomodate it in our contracts, although then we come back to how hard composers are prepared to push things if it risks losing work in the current tough market.

Thanks again

Jules