St. Louis, MO – December 14, 2022 – One of the things I enjoy the most about my work with STORYSMART is working with gifted video storytellers. I love working with skilled journalists and filmmakers who can bring a story alive on screen.

This post is for you. I don’t want to be the videographer villain who holds your client’s story hostage.

While every good story has a villain, I don’t believe you want to play that role. To the contrary, you became a video storyteller to help people tell their stories in a memorable way on screen.

Far too often professional photographers and videographers are turned into villains holding their client’s story hostage, failing to grant copyright on the work they did for them. That is unfortunate, regardless of whether it is intentional or accidental.

I suspect that if you found yourself in this scenario it was by accident. It was the result of your failure to read the fine print in your own agreements or more likely a failure to paper your relationship with your client.

Maybe you thought you could get by with just a handshake and an invoice. Suddenly you are the villain holding your own client’s story hostage.

Ugh!

You don’t like the role of the villain.

There are few things in life that you enjoy more than telling a powerful story on screen. It is probably why you got into journalism or filmmaking in the first place. You love telling stories. And you have developed your craft, invested heavily in equipment, practiced, worked hard, and honed your skills for years before you finally hung out a shingle to do video work as a sole proprietor or small business owner.

Being an entrepreneur is exhilarating and scary. Maybe not in that order. I get it. I’m there with you on the entrepreneurial journey. As I’ve sharpened the focus of my business, one unique element of our offer is rising to top of our value proposition. It is this idea that clients are entitled to own their own story. It is why I use the hashtag #OwnYourStory in all our posts.

What is missing from the professional video production market is a simple way to own your story brought to the screen professionally while still retaining your intellectual property rights. Very few companies make that explicitly available. To the contrary, the default setting is they are essentially selling clients a license to work they own. It is an 8-track mindset in a world gone digital. That may have worked well in the 1970s, but wise up as consumers get savvy.

This intellectual property rights issue is a big problem.

Here is the problem in a nutshell:

·You can DIY video your story and you own it, but it likely sucks. Let’s be honest, few are capable of producing a DIY video we actually want to watch, much less remember.

·If you hire a professional production company, it won’t suck…to the contrary it will likely be awesome, but you won’t own it because most production companies retain copyright on their creations. They only sell you a limited license and want you to keep coming back to them to pay them for more work from them.

There has to be a better way. A fair bargain that is a win-win scenario for all.

Over the last year I have spoken to over two hundred video storytellers as we have been building out our nationwide storytelling network to bring professional video storytelling to all.

Certain themes have emerged in my conversations.

I have met some amazing, creative, and gifted visual storytellers. Nearly every person I’ve spoken to loves the idea of making professional video storytelling available to everyone. It isn’t hard to see why that idea resonates with storytellers.

With very few exceptions, almost every video storyteller I’ve spoken to is on board with idea of conveying copyright to clients. Candidly, most haven’t really thought about it. Most of the people I speak with own their own video production company or do a fair amount of freelance work. Some small businesses are looking for a reliable sales funnel and like the idea of being part of network that could create a reliable flow of business.

One thing that has jumped out at me is a level of ignorance on the issue of copyright. I’ve had small business owners who have been in the business for over a decade telling me they simply don’t know what they are conveying to their clients. Many don’t do contracts at all. They simply invoice clients for their work.

I have news for you. If you don’t have a contract, then you retain the copyright. Your client may be getting an implied license. It all comes down to what you agreed upon during the transaction. If you haven’t written down in a contract, the default settings of the law protect the creator of creative work. You. Not your client.

Why it matters is we live in a world where every person or brand that has a website or social media is essentially a media outlet. They need to think like and act like a media outlet. That starts with owning their own content.

If you the person who possesses the media can’t prove you own it, someone can make a claim against you. This was one of the problems we had with our photography at the St. Louis Cardinals. If we didn’t have an explicit written agreement that showed we owned a photo, we couldn’t use it.

I literally had a photographer’s grandson ask us to take down a photo we posted claiming that his grandfather was paid by the team to do a photo to be used as a display in the ballpark, but that photo couldn’t be used online.

Now the transaction took place in the mid-1960s. There was no question that he was paid by the team for his work. However, we didn’t have a contract that showed that we owned it outright. So the default setting is the photographer owns it. In this case the photographer had died and conveyed his work to his family. Fifty years later, his grandson is threatening the team he will go to court of a #ThrowbackThursday Facebook post.

Crazy huh?

This issue matters for professional storytellers, videographers and photographers because the market will become savvy to these facts. They will be looking to hire professionals as a “work for hire” so they can get quality work done that they own.

If you are a creative, you may be looking at artificial intelligence and do-it-yourself apps as a threat to your business. In a way, you should. It could put you out of business. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can embrace the technology and sell you. You have a gift you can translate to help others if you are smart about it. That starts with having a contract that conveys copyright to your client. You can retain a license that allows you to show off the work as part of your portfolio. Most artists simply want that.

Be smart. Have a contract that makes the relationship clear. Don’t be the villain videographer who holds your client’s story hostage.

About STORYSMART

You have a story to bring to the screen, but you don't have the time or resources to do it yourself. Telling your story well with video can be hard. And let’s be brutally honest. No app will turn you into a great filmmaker. Few are capable of producing a do-it-yourself (DIY) video or film we actually want to watch, much less remember.

To do justice to your story on screen, you need the right skills and equipment, not to mention time, money and talent.

That is why STORYSMART developed our premium video storytelling as a service. We help clients tell their story in the amazing way they deserve with a proprietary done-for-you video storytelling service unlike any other.

STORYSMART provides a nationwide premium video storytelling service that empowers individuals, families, celebrities, small businesses and other organizations to have their stories told professionally while retaining their intellectual property rights as though they did it themselves.

STORYSMART provides clients an experienced television reporter or journalist filmmaker to help them tell their story following our proprietary high-integrity brand journalism system. Our transparently priced premium services for businesses and families ensures that each client gets an authentic, high-quality story they own the intellectual property rights on forever.

About Ron Watermon

Ron Watermon, a licensed attorney, is the founder and CEO of STORYSMART, a premium video storytelling technology startup that empowers anyone to have their stories told professionally while ensuring they retain the intellectual property rights on their productions.