Question about selling my raw footage

[Kajito Nagib]

I was recently contacted by and individual who is producing a video for his client. At this time he isn't
interested in licensing footage but he is interested in a acquiring some of my raw footage and retaining the rights to all footage purchase. Since I've never sold my personal footage before and I have no idea on how to go about doing this and what to charge him. Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Morton Molyneux]

I sell my stock through an agency and clips have sold for from 20 or 30 dollars up to over 3,000 dollars. It depends on; content, length, resolution, usage and rights. So from a short 10 sec low res clip used on a web site to 30 sec. of HD used for an international commercial of film, there can be a large difference in costs.
If you are selling them all the rights, and depending on how they are going to use it, how long the clip is etc. I would charge them a half or full day rate for it. Especially if it’s not something they can easily go out and shoot themselves.
cheers

Morton

[Kajito Nagib]

thanks Morton. Question the client wants me to transfer ownership of my raw footage to him for a price as if they had paid for its creation in the first place. What exactly does it mean to transfer ownership would I be able to continue to use the footage I created for my personal projects if needed in the future and should I write up a contract or should I expect to sign their contract? I have about 3 hours of footage (16GB's) the footage was shot with a Canon 7D.

[Chris Medico]

Do you have a contract for them already to review?

If so look to see if they are asking for exclusive rights to the material. That would prohibit you from using the footage in any way in the future.

[Dave Sperling]

You probably have a number of options, but might want to get some actual legal advice as well.
As mentioned, if they are wanting exclusive rights then it's the equivalent of giving them the originals and not using (or keeping) any copies.
There are other options, though. They may only need non-exclusive rights - in which case you could continue to use the footage. The question is whether their main concern is in being able to re-use the footage for a number of their projects - in which case non-exclusive would probably be fine - or whether they are worried that the footage might show up elsewhere (such as paparazzi exclusives footage) - in which case they want it exclusively.
Or it could be exclusive for a period of time - let's say 6 months, after which it could revert to non-exclusive.
Are they using the footage themselves, or re-selling it to several clients?

If they are buying exclusive rights, your pricing should probably be considerably higher -- think of 'paying you for the shoot' as being not just your day rate, but including the overhead it would have cost them for preproduction, a field producer, production company markup, etc. -- and don't forget that your lawyer fees to review the contract and renegotiate it if necessary are part of the cost of the footage if they buy it. Also make sure that if there are people or logos in the shots that you can not be held responsible for any rights clearance issues on anything in the footage.

[Jim Michael]

Some good articles on licensing here Licensing Guide | American Society of Media Photographers

Your client is asking for a buyout. My response would be that I would retain copyright and sell them whatever rights they are willing to pay for, and price accordingly. The value may depend on the lifetime of the footage, e.g. would it be dated in a year or so. If the footage would only be of interest and use for them, then that might make the buyout scenario reasonable.

[Kajito Nagib]

thanks Jim for the link I'll have a look. yes they want exclusive rights. If I was hired to create original footage for them I wouldn't have a problem with them retaining copyright but this isn't the situation here so I am reluctant to hand over the rights unless they paid me a lot for it which I doubt they will. My guess is they were trying to get stock footage for cheap while avoiding licenses.

[Paul R Johnson]

About 80% of my work gets sold this way, and sadly, I don't retain any rights to use it. from time to time, I've asked for permission to use a few short clips for promotional use, which have always been granted, but i never take this for granted. However, the fees are pretty decent so I can happily live with it. What I sometimes do is take additional material at useful venues, which is not sold. It's depends on the circumstances.