What’s next?

There are many legal issues that plague the entertainment industry.  The rapid growth in technological advances has opened doors to more copyright and intellectual property theft.  Due to the undefined lines in copyright and intellectual property laws are often violated.  During my undergraduate degree instructors often stressed the importance of obtaining written permission for copyrighted images and music.  They recommended websites like creative commons and Getty images that allowed use of their products free or at a discounted rate.  Although the options are there many people still use, download and pirate protect products.  This is partly because everyone else does it without consequence.  Social Media and rapid advances in technology have blurred the lines of what can and should be shared.

Recent economic studies have showed changes in how and what people do and purchase.  Rachael Botsmon best described this new economic model as collaborative consumption.  Collaborative 

 Consumption describes the rapidexplosion in traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting,gifting, and swapping reinvented through network technologies on a scale and inways never possible before.  This new model has becoming extremely successful and profitable as seen with companies such as task rabbit, eBay and Craigslist.  This also applies to the great successes of mobile apps.  The intellectual property protection for these companies and many like them were secure long before anyone knew these types of products and services were released.  How was it done?

The Facebook feud was one of the more famous and exploited stories of intellectual property theft.  This was such an explosive and interesting story that filmmakers made it into a movie.  It didn’t due to bad in the box office, but how did it play out in the courtroom? 

New York Comic Con Exhibitor Event Management Part One

There is no better case study than to embark on an adventure head on.  For more than 5 years I have worked as a contract event manager and event producer.  Every event has it’s own obstacles and challenges and this weekends event was no different.  This week I event managed the Artwork Now booth at “New York Comic Con.”  This event was massive and a huge project.  I worked on the logistics for this event since January of this year.  Everything from the travel, lodging, food, materials, equipment, contractors, vendors and even shipping fall on the event manager’s shoulders.  As crazy as this sounds it can’t be truly understood until experienced.  

New York Comic Con was sold out to the point that exhibitors, which included the Artwork now team had to show up 30 minutes prior to the scheduled time.  Imagine this opening day more thousands of 4-day passes holders flooding the exhibition floor eager to get the exclusive Comic Con deals waiting in line for hours to buy a single limited edition collectable or print.  Lines stretched as far as the eye could see with families, friends and die hard fans.  Do you think you get the picture?  Not even close.  Now imagine isles packed with thousands of polite event attendees moving at a half a step per minute.  It was insane.  This event was a massive undertaking to say the least.

My role as the event producer and event manager meant I made everything happen, extinguished all fires and of course secured sales with a smile.  Sound like an easy task?  Well let me be the first to say I am beat.  As I write this post I am sitting in LaGuardia airport recapping one of the most exhausting careers of my life.   First lets examine the challenges.  On day one I needed to locate and purchase two tools, two sandbags, a New York printer, two box cutters and a custom framing company to get our artwork framed the same day.  This would be easy in Fort Lauderdale with a car, but catching cab in New York carrying these items was no easy task.  On day three our 8.5 x 11 and 13 x 19 printer decided to take a dive.  This was our most important printer because customers found these sizes appealing.  

Where could I find a 8.5 x 11 printer at 6:30 pm on a Saturday night?  Well after calling numerous stores that had closed at 6:00pm including Staples and Office Depot I finally found a decent printer at Best Buy, but it only printed 8.5 x 11.   This was just enough to get buy until midway through day four.  We thought about sending help to get ink, but it was already 1:00pm and if we sent someone to run around New York chasing ink and paper it really wouldn’t have made a difference because the event ended at 5:00pm, so what to do?  Well mail them out on Monday was the solution I came up with in order to keep costs low and reduce unnecessary confusion.  The customers were fine with it and we didn’t need to recreate the wheel.

As I sit here and think of all the things that could have been done better or more efficiently I realize things were done to the best of the situation.  All challenges were given solutions and all barriers were broken the opened up doors that allowed new and potential customers to get a product that both made them smile and gave them something to gush about with friends and family.  Please let me know what you think of the event report thus far.  Also ensure you check out New York Comic Con exhibitor event management part two.

Documentation

This week’s post will delve into the world of non-compete agreement, nondisclosure agreements and contract management.  Some may be familiar with these documents as they are very common in the entertainment industry.  They can be very beneficial when protecting your assets and client relationships. Documentation outlines responsibilities for all parties involved.  It's always exciting to start negotiations for a new contract or deal.  This signifies a beginning of a new relationship that with hopefully yield significant return for all parties involved.

I am building the foundation for Movis Media Group.  I have asked countless industry professionals about how the structure should be set up and each had something unique to add to the puzzle I am putting together.  Although these industry professionals were from different parts of the media and production industry, they all had something equally important to add as far as the administrative part of the business.  When I was first starting out in the production industry I was so eager to get calls about new projects I agreed to deals that wasn't always beneficial for me.  I found myself working for the project instead of the project working for me.  Let me further explain this conclusion.  I would show up for the shoot or production and start working on whatever they asked.  This was my first mistake.  I never outline the roles and responsibilities, so I would do more work than I was being paid for and I wasn't sure how to address the situation during the production, so I would suck it up and do all of the work.  These people were clearly taking advantage of the situation.  I was the only one to blame in the end, because I didn't create a proposal, contract or even get something via email.  I left myself open. 

It took a few times for me to final get it.  I had to ask the question, "What can I put in place to avoid confusion from verbal agreements?"  During the spring of my junior year of my bachelor's degree I took and internship with an animation company.  This was my first introduction to non-compete agreements, independent contractor contracts and non-disclosure agreements.  This was it.  These were the pieces to the puzzle I had dropped off of the table.  They fit perfectly.  The independent contractor document outlined my role and responsibilities with the company.  It also discussed my rate and details of the relationship between the company and me.  I also signed a non-disclosure agreement, which outlined the details of confidentiality.  We worked with many advertising agencies and even animated series that are slated for release in 2013.  These companies didn't want their ideas and productions leaked to the world prior to release. 

The non-compete agreement basically indicates the terms of working with clients in the same industry connected with the initial employer.  For example I invited a peer to work on a freelance set with me to make some extra cash.  This person later went behind my back to work with the company without me.  If I had a non-compete in place this person would have legal obligations to me.  Since I didn’t they were free to do whatever they wanted even if they were wrong for not including me.

I finally saw how big companies do business.  As a project manager with this company I was also responsible for recruiting new artists, negotiating rates, contracts, creating schedules and estimates.  This not only holds the company or artist accountable, it also protects the client and ensures they get everything they pay for.  Although I have worked with various clients and companies in the entertainment industry, I am still learning the ins and outs.  Do you think these legal documents would be useful in your business?  Do you have any documents you have found useful?