[arg_discuss] Intellectual property and freelance work

[Andrea Phillips]

Wow, Wendy, that metaphor works really, really well. I hope you don't
mind if I repeat it widely, as needed.

On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 1:21 AM,  <despain at quantumcontent.com> wrote:

> I'm a freelance writer in several contexts ranging from ARGs to science

>  journalism. In my experience, there are two ways to think about who

>  keeps control of creative rights.

>

>  1) *Follow the money.* Did you pay for the creation of this work or did

>  someone else? Did you write these materials in your attic after you got

>  home from work? Or did someone call you up and offer you a paycheck

>  to create something for a specific purpose they had already envisioned

>  on their own dime?

>

>  Sure, all of us who have written a novel in those sleepless wee hours of

>  the morning hope that someday we can "sell it" - but what you're really

>  doing in that case is selling "First North American Rights" to publish

>  the work. You're not (if you're smart) giving up the ownership of the

>  material itself. You bankrolled this baby after all. Other people are

>  just paying you for the privilege of using it to sell their dead trees.

>

>  2) *Who's baby is it?* If the money viewpoint is too cold for you,

>  consider who's baby is it anyway? Is this work your baby? Have you

>  poured all your soul into this creative work? Does it contain the

>  essence of that nugget your muse gave you?

>

>  Or have you had to make changes based on someone else's timeline?

>  Someone else's product they want to promote? Someone else's Big Idea?

>  Sure, in every creative work you get input from other people. Feedback

>  helps mold an uncut gem into a piece of jewelry. That's not what I'm

>  talking about. When you're getting a paycheck to build a world...

>  this isn't your world. Someone else has a certain degree of control and

>  can make you add those purple people eaters if they really, really want

>  to. You're just an expert helping them create their vision. Their baby.

>

>  The moral of the story is - if someone calls you up and wants you to

>  come up with an idea for this ARG they want, don't go pull out the

>  world you built in those wee hours of the morning for your novel and

>  turn it into an ARG for them. If you do, you're letting them adopt

>  your baby as their own.

>

>  Instead, become their surrogate. You can birth this baby they can't.

>  But it's still their baby. If you know that from the start, it's not as

>  hard to hand it over in the end and let them raise it. (Or ruin it.)

>

>  Ok, I'm done waxing poetic about intellectual property law. Please

>  keep in mind I'm not a lawyer. I just drive a few of them crazy with

>  extended metaphors.

>

>  Wendy Despain

>  quantumcontent.com


-- 
Andrea Phillips
andrhia at gmail.com
http://www.deusexmachinatio.com
Words * Culture * Interaction