OT: contract with clients

Sorry this has nothing to do with FCP X.... Just about using FCP 6 and trying to get paid for it! :-)

Just finishing a job and learned a great lesson: always have the client sign a budget/schedule document.

Now that I learned that lesson I was curious to know what type of document you guys use to make sure that if your client doesn't pay what he's supposed to, then you have leverage to request what is due and eventually threaten with legal issues.

Thx

You mean , like this?


?ab

p.s. how do you embed video here? The Video Link button doesn't work. At least not for previewing your post.video: []

Marcus, thanks for that link. The video itself was great and the link to Creative Mornings has provided a great new creative resource for me.

thanks

Brilliant link marcus - thanks.

Just passing on what was passed on.. To answer the OP's question and my curiosity as well, because I'm in a similar situation, would anybody be kind enough to post a sample contract? So much of work I do has been 'on good faith' unless I freelance work for a facility in which case they have you sign a contract they have drawn up.

thanks marcus to ask this again.... haven't been lucky since my post which is surprising because this would mean that most people here:
1- are full time employees in one company, so no contract needed
2- are working for clients w/o drawing a contract
3- are not working

4) Don't want to share a private legal document
5) Don't want to publicize a document they spent much money on crafting for themselves
6) Are generally stunned that you can't google "boilerplate design contract" and ready the many boilerplate contracts that exist in cyberspace
7) Are disappointed you didn't watch the video linked above.

Have a good sunday too

Anyone have a link to a contract template?

How about 50% up front and the balance COD.

i always find the best way towards getting what's due is to threaten the client and indirectly - the client's family. for a nominal fee you can also hire someone to hack all their email accounts and even extract their online banking details.

speaking as an editor who has not only been directly stolen from, but also who has worked for complete scum and also taken ex-employers to court, to no avail, i heartily endorse the above techniques.

of course you could just keep asking please and smile sweetly. . . . just kidding,

Bluey,

I am actually going through this myself. I finally have put my foot down. You as the editor have all the power in the world. You keep the project file and hard drives until you are paid in FULL.

Key points to have in a contract (I am currently writing one for myself).

1. Late fees accru if payment is one week late. Two weeks late gives you the right to abandon the project and look for other work.

2. You watermark any online previews, dvd's with your company logo/info.

3. No work begins until the contract is agreed upon by BOTH parties and it is signed. No more starting to transcode, synch, log before the deal has been made.

4. You are not responsible for hard drive failures. You should cut on your own personal drives serving as a 3rd back up copy. You are not liable for their hard drives. Once you get the footage onto your drives, give production back their backup or master drives.

5. Additional screeners must be requested with giving a 24 hour notice.

6. Make sure that your rate is mentioned in the contract along with your hours. For example: The rate of $3000.00 is for a 40 hour work week. Five - eight hour days. Work performed beyond 40 hours will have overtime applied at time and a half.

or

You can always do 50% up front, 25% on first cut 25% on final delivery.

7. You can always state that you will not deliver any materials, project files, screeners if payment is behind.

Remember, they may own the footage but you own the way it is put together, it is your intellectual property. You have ALL OF THE POWER because you are the mechanic prepping the plane for flight. People know not to mess with the cook that is preparing their food. If you spell this out in a contract they will know that you are serious and a professional and will not put up with amateur producing.


8. If all else fails take a baseball bat to the back of their legs or you could just publicly bash them on facebook.
You could always try and take them to small claims court. Believe me, I feel for you!!

Good luck.

Best,

JC

Jeff,

Great points, I like the first part of #4 but not the second; many projects go over 1TB and if you're working on multiple projects at a time, you'll have to buy a bunch of hard drives.