Read your contracts

[ShaneKislack]

Did a PR job and the company sent me a contract to sign...after I shot it. Deep under the definitions, they include ADVERTISING purposes under the PR umbrella. Then a little later, they want me to sign off as a work for hire and they own the copyrights.

This was a quick turnaround job, so the contract wasn't presented before hand. However, they did sign off on my estimate which stated PR use only.

[CaptainTom]

modify their contract to fit your original understanding. sign it, photocopy it, send it to them with your invoice.
Everything is negotiable, and you have the upper hand since they don't have a contract yet.
All of my contract work for PR agencies is "work for hire" and they receive publication rights, while I maintain copyright.

[Mindy H]

Most of the bigger companies that I have dealt with always seem to have that somewhere in the contract when they have sent them to me. I haven't had one company that wouldn't remove that portion of the contract when I requested it though.

For some projects, I have had to give a price for the 'blanket' release which is way higher than what they were quoted for the orginal scope of the job....but, eventually they cave and just remove the clause.

[ShaneKislack]

You're right, Tom. That's what I'm doing.

One question though, PR generally doesn't pay very well and the theoretic trade off is you could "possibly" sell the images editorially later if that person hits big. So, say a year from now someone wants to use that image for a feature in a magazine. What right do you have to sell it when the original client could just give it to them as PR?

ShaneKislack added 1 Minutes and 50 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Thanks Mindy.

[CaptainTom]

Originally Posted by ShaneKislack

You're right, Tom. That's what I'm doing.

One question though, PR generally doesn't pay very well and the theoretic trade off is you could "possibly" sell the images editorially later if that person hits big. So, say a year from now someone wants to use that image for a feature in a magazine. What right do you have to sell it when the original client could just give it to them as PR?

If you maintain copyright you have the ability to sell the image later. They can give it away if it is for PR.
What I have been trying to do is to get my leads through the agency, but contract directly with the company/subject. My contract then states their usage, the PR agency does not have to deal with employee issues, and the client becomes MY client as well as the agencies.
A drawback is that the agency generally pays me quickly, but if the client is contracted with me, I have to make sure I can collect. More work, more flexibility, more risk.

Good reply from Mindy !