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Hello, Thank you so much for your response, I am trying to work with them on writing a new contract since the one he quoted only referred to the written work- not artwork, and I think it's highly unlikely they would pay me anything near $70 per hour! Thanks! Laura Quoting Britt Griswold <[log in to unmask]>: > If you are going to be doing work for hire, you need to charge what > you would cost the company in salary and benefits per hour. As an > independent contractor, $70 an hour is a more accurate price to > cover your expenses of insurance , studio, retirement, income , and > equity in the studio which you should be building up. > > If you are using art "assets" that you would normally reuse on > future project (often done in 3D files) you would not want to sign a > work for hire, because then they can sue you when you use them the > next time and produce images they would argue are "derivative" of > the work they now own... That is like eating your seed stock. > > Britt Griswold > Manager, http://www.science-art.com > bgriswold_at_science-art.com > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Jenny Keller [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:51:52 -0700 > Subject: Re: [SCIART] contract work questions > > Hi Laura, > > A contract with the wording "work for hire" does, indeed, mean that the > client gets everything -- rights, originals, etc. You are basically a > 'hired pen'. If it doesn't matter to you whether or not you can ever use > the illustrations again (if, for example, the illustrations are so specific > to the job that they would never fit another context), and if they are also > granting you the right to use the illustrations in your portfolio (as they > appear to be willing to do), then if the money is right, signing such a > contract would not necessarily be a terrible thing. The operative phrase, > however, is 'if the money is right'. If it's an all rights buyout or work > for hire, my default is to at least double the price I would have asked for > otherwise. > > The company's statement that an agreement that would allow you to license > the illustrations to other entities "doesn't hold for independent contract > work," is not true, actually. They may be sure that THEY don't want to pay > you to develop materials that you can license to others, but it can > certainly be done -- I do it all the time. A contract is whatever > arrangement two parties agree to. > > Since the people at this company are clear that they want a 'work for hire' > agreement, I would say make sure the price is worth it. They *are* paying > by the hour, so at least you won't get stuck with a set price if they start > making a ton of revisions. > > Be aware that once they own all the rights, it's basically as if they > created the work. Among other things, that means that if one day you were > to create a derivative work from one of those illustrations, THEY could sue > YOU for infringement. It's something to keep in mind as you work: if you > had to create another illustration of the same subject, how would you do it > differently? You might even want to keep some of your most brilliant ideas > in reserve, if you know you plan to publish later on the same topic. > > Good luck, and don't let 'em push you around! > > Jenny > > Need to leave or subscribe to the Sciart-L listserv? Follow the > instructions at > http://www.gnsi.org/resources/reviews/gnsi-sciart-l-listserv > > > Need to leave or subscribe to the Sciart-L listserv? Follow the > instructions at > http://www.gnsi.org/resources/reviews/gnsi-sciart-l-listserv > Need to leave or subscribe to the Sciart-L listserv? Follow the instructions at http://www.gnsi.org/resources/reviews/gnsi-sciart-l-listserv