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Contracts! How do they work?!
AlyceInWonderland
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I just got commissioned to illustrate a book. It's a huge deal, with a big name behind it, and I have to make sure my art and I are protected. I need to know how to make a contract. For some reason no body told me how to make a contract at my school before, which I believe is a problem. Does anyone have any experience with this? How should I word it? I'm not even entirely sure what I should ask for on it either.
If anyone has any experience with this, I desperately need the help. Thanks!
If anyone has any experience with this, I desperately need the help. Thanks!
AlyceInWonderland on
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I mean sure you could write something down and make someone sign it, but that doesn't mean it'll actually be enforceable.
Oh also, if its a big name aren't they going to have you sign a contract that you should have a lawyer look over?
Unless you're very familiar with contract and IP law, you absolutely need a lawyer to make things bulletproof.
Couple thousand, probably. She just contacted me this morning, so we're still in the process of talking about this.
I guess I should look up a lawyer then!
Check out my art! Buy some prints!
Alternatively, you can tell the daughter of [name redacted] -- "I agree to the terms you've outlined; can you please submit an official contract that I can look over and sign before I begin work?" There's no reason you can't ask them to supply the contract for you to look over and sign. But if you're looking to do freelance work, you should talk to an attorney anyway so you can ask them to review contracts you receive, unless you're going to take some law classes yourself to familiarize yourself with their wording and general legal stuff.
ummmm
could I buy a signed copy from you?
Alyce, your last few questions have been "my life is so awesome!" :P Just kidding, but your life sounds amazing. Congratulations!
Haha yes, that [name redacted]. I can hardly believe it myself, really. And sure, down the line if this thing ever gets published :P
I was thinking about getting an agent. I'm not entirely sure how to go about it though.
I've had some neat opportunities arise, and I'm thankful for that, but my life is far from glamorous. I'll be paying my student loans off for the rest of my life :P I'm just really bad with...business (Hence all these damn threads), and figuring out what my art is worth, and how I should be going about all this business crap, because school just did not prepare me for it.
Thanks though! I'm excited
Check out my art! Buy some prints!
Also, I won't make you or anything, but I am generally of the opinion that it's bad to name-drop in these threads because they are so very easily searchable, so I recommend you remove the names for your own protection. If you decide to do so I'll help with the editing of other posts, so let me know.
Check out my art! Buy some prints!
As for contract formation 101, it is a complicated subject and I don't want you to take my few words and base your decision only off what I say. However, contracts are generally enforceable if they accurately reflect undisputable terms, it's clearly written, and it's signed and acknowledged by both parties. If you do decide to engage in this endeavor yourself, make sure that the terms are CLEAR, UNAMBIGUOUS, and UNDISPUTED. Contracts get into trouble when not all the key terms are included, or if it comes out that the parties were not on the same page.
I am not a lawyer, but I am in law school. If find a form contract you like, I'd be happy to review it and try to explain any terms you may have questions about. Hope this helps your educational process, and congrats on your work!
I don't know those guys, but that seems like a reasonable idea. You get what you pay for and all that, but espcially if there's some expertise in the providers that's a great place to start.
One comment: you're likely selling all of your rights, forever, for the price you've been quoted. They'll want to be able to reproduce the art forever without paying you, and they won't want you to go selling or displaying the art they paid you to make. I don't know that to be true, but I wouldn't be surprised, espcially if you've already come to terms on a price (generally) without discussing those aspects.
And when the Bar Application asks you if you have ever tried to engage in the unlicensed practice of law, you'll want to disclose this thread.
Type "creating a contract for art work" or something similar into google; there are plenty of serviceable examples of effective contracts posted by artists who live off of their contract work, and you can pick and choose the contract terms that seem important and that appear consistently in the sample contracts.
You'll probably want to at least include the work to be done, a timeline for the work, amount of and timeline for payment, and to explicitly state who owns copyright to the work.