The Word Wrangler

One benefit of the writers’ strike is that more attention is being paid to copyrights, compensation and how it all relates to the web.

When you’re working on a project for a client one of the questions you have to start asking is: “What rights am I granting to the client?”

Most freelancers have some kind of contract they require their clients to sign before work begins. (If you don’t have one, get one. It’ll save you from many headaches in the future).

The standard deal is that - when you’re working as an independent contractor - the client owns all copyrights to the work once it’s completed and payment has been handed over. That’s fair.

But what if you’ve written a blog post and someone wants the rights to reprint it in a magazine or newspaper? It’s fine to grant them the rights and agree to some type of compensation, but be careful what you’re allowing them to do with your work.

Be Specific in your Contracts

If you’re the creator of a piece of work and someone wants the rights to use it, you’ve got to be very specific in telling them what they can and can’t do. For instance, if you grant a newspaper the rights to reprint an article you posted on your blog, make sure they don’t assume they can also post it on their web site without proper compensation to you.

One thing that’s hurting the Hollywood writers I think is that they’re employees of a company. And as such the company probably owns all the rights to the work. I’m guessing at this because I don’t know what agreement was in place when all of this started, but generally when you’re employed by a company, you don’t have much claim over the work you’ve done for them.

Which is why in the freelance world, you have to make extra sure to protect yourself and your work to get the compensation you think you deserve.