[Fmpro] Turning Down Work

[Pete]

Good for you Chris!

My guess is they will go with Library Music. Either
that, or they'll find another guy who wants to make a
good first impression by working cheap.

It reminds me of those shows where they refurbish a
house and then sell it for a profit. If the house
(show) is in a bad neighborhood (History Channel),
they might just use the old kitchen cabinets with some
fresh paint (library music). They know you would put
in a fantastic new kitchen (score), but the profit
margin is low with this house, so they'll stick with
the old cabinets. Of course if you want to put in a
hot new kitchen for the same price as refinishing the
old cabinets, they'd be all to happy to give you the
job.

Hopefully, when it comes time to put a new kitchen in
a billion dollar mansion (hit show), they'll remember
your work and pay you what you deserve.

Best,
P e t e
S u r d o v a l

--- Merritt Music Productions <chris at merrittmusic.com>
wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> Glad to hear the expo went well!  Thought you guys
> might like this.  I
> turned down a $5k job last week.  Here's why:
> 
> Last year I did a History Channel show for this
> production company.  It's a
> company I really wanted to work with so I did it for
> less than normal -
> $3,500.  I was thinking it would be the start of a
> long relationship and
> all, you know the drill.
> 
> Anyway, the music turned out great.  I'm not saying
> this to brag, I mean to
> prove a point here.  I have a top of the line setup
> with all the major
> samples and such, but I also played real cello,
> violin, flutes, guitars,
> drums and so on.  It was a real work of art in some
> places; they were
> amazed, and loved it.  I told them my price was that
> low ONLY for this first
> project.
> 
> After some time of not getting any more work from
> them, I realized: they
> don't really care about the quality.  Now that
> they've had a show composed
> for $3,500, which is not the cheapest they've had,
> they don't want to pay
> any more.  No matter what.
> 
> But it gets better:
> 
> They called me last week and said the usual:  they
> LOVED my work and really
> wanted me to do some more for them.  Great!  We
> talked about the show and
> the musical needs and I determined that I would
> still cut them a break.  I
> have a minimum of $5k.  That means that I normally
> don't do any type of
> project unless it pays at least $5k.  So I told them
> I would do it for $6k.
> A steal in my opinion for any real composer.
> 
> He emailed me back saying that they only had $5k in
> the budget (b.s.) and
> that it must be the SAME contract as our earlier
> project together.  I asked
> for him to send me the contract from the last
> project because I was out of
> state.
> 
> Turns out the earlier one was a pure Work-for-hire,
> granting the writer's
> share back to me.  These are the types of deals you
> have to look out for
> nowadays.  This production company is making THEIR
> OWN music library from
> composers who have scored their shows!  He told me
> this directly.  So when
> you score for them, they are REUSING your music as
> much as they want without
> paying!
> 
> I told them I would still do it, though.  $5k for
> non-exclusive licensing
> and NOT work for hire, or $10k for pure work for
> hire.  
> 
> They haven't called back......
> 
> Moral - Composers should make EVERY deal be
> non-exclusive licensing ONLY
> (huge projects could be different)
> 
> NEVER do a work for hire!
> 
> Hope everyone is well.  I'll keep ya'll posted!
> 
> Chris
> 
> Merritt Music Productions
> 9701 Clearwater Drive
> Knoxville, TN 37923
> merrittmusic.com
> 865-357-5473
> 
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