Chapter 8 Excerpt

“Performance Video Production”

Paperwork and Agreements

The vast majority of shoots by club bands or up and coming artists can get away just fine without needing location or appearance releases. Let’s face it - your not big enough for anyone to care. It’s only when some big money starts to roll in (or the perception of money rolling in) that not having these agreements become an issue. That being said, you have to consider how big an act you are and where you’re located in order to determine the kind of agreements you need.

Crew Agreements

You probably won’t need an agreement with each member of your crew until you start paying them, with the exception of work done on spec, which means you’ll pay them later when some money comes in. Here’s a quick list of items that an agreement should cover.

1. • How will the crew member be paid? By the hour, by the day, or by the project?
   

2. • When will that payment occur? At the end of the shoot or at some other time?
   

3. • How much time will the crew member be spending on the project, and what happens if you need him beyond that?
   

4. • What equipment, if any, will the crew member bring to the project?
   

5. • What kind of credits will he or she receive in return for their services?
   

This aren’t all the points that you can cover, but it’s enough for everyone to have an understanding of what’s expected of them.

Location Releases

Don’t assume that people will be just too happy to have you shoot on their property because it will be “good publicity.” Most property owners are now pretty hip to the fact that they can and should get paid for the likeness of their trademark, so it’s best to hash this out before the shoot. I was shooting in a famous Hollywood studio and was stunned to find out that the fee to shoot the outside of the building or the entrance where all their gold records were placed was $5,000. They wanted a fee to even film inside the studio, but waved it because I was a paying client and the shoot was during my session.

That being said, you can set up a camera to shoot in almost any bar or club in America and no one will ever say a thing, but just try it in even a dive bar in Hollywood, New York or Nashville and the club owner will be on you with his hand out so fast it’ll make your camera flip. If that’s the case, you’ll need a location release from the club owner, but you’ll probably have to pay to get it signed. This is also the case in just about any club, theater or venue above about 500 people that caters to national acts.

Many clubs will either charge you a token fee to shoot inside the club or wave the fee altogether, but if you shoot the marquis and the venue signage, they’ll want to get paid. That’s why you should always have an agreement in those situations and it should be with the owner or the venue manager, not a bartender with no authority. If you only get a verbal yes to shoot, you are open to them coming back at you at a later date with their hand out. In that case, you have zero negotiating power, and your only options are to either pay or not use any footage that features the venue.

What happens if you shoot without the release? Realistically, nothing if only 25 friends and fans see the video, but if the band blows up (makes it big) and the video goes viral to the tune of a couple of million views, the venue’s owner, manager or attorney might be filling your phone with texts asking for you to cease and desist showing it (or taking it off your DVD) or pay them a lot more money than you would’ve paid in the first place for the privilege of using the club’s likeness.

Appearance Releases

That’s also the reason why you get an appearance release from audience members if they’re shown, even if they are fans. They’re not officially “talent”, but they’re treated as such if they’re in your video. Sure, some like the attention and are initially flattered, but if the band blows up later there’s always someone that thinks you’re making way more money than you really are and thinks their appearance is the reason why. Most fans are only too happy to sign off on a agreement as it makes them feel special that they’ll be in a video.

So what do you do with a crowd? The safest way is to get everyone to personally sign off, and that’s best done as they enter the club at the door. Another effective way is to give them a ticket stub that states that they may be filmed and that by entering the club they agree that you can use the footage and their likeness for as long and in whatever way you want.

If you’re just a club band with a mailing list of 500 and playing out in the sticks of Arkansas, chances are that you’ll never need any sort of agreement from anyone, but if you want to cover your butt, get one anyway. These things have a way of coming back to haunt you as you get more successful. Clubs and audience members rarely think about free exposure, they think “exploitation” and they want some bucks (usually a lot more than they’re worth). In order to avoid all that, be sure to get a location agreement and appearance agreements from anyone if you think the video will go anywhere beyond your private viewing. Check out the DVD for some examples of agreements.