Help! They want my picture for a tv-show

I received a message this morning from a lady asking me if her tv production company may use one of my pics for a tv show. I'm not sure I understand any of this, so maybe someone here can translate this into plain English:

My name is A. M. (edit). I am interested in using your image of the venus fly trap for an animated project I'm currently working on. The project is an educational series for broadcast TV about little animals saving other baby animals. We are looking to use just a portion of the images to complete an original character design. Since we are producing the show for a third party broadcaster, we would need to have the images (non-exclusively) in all forms of media in perpetuity and I am unable to guarantee screen credit. But that means that your shots would be used for TV! Do you think we could use it? Do you have any others? We would need them in high resolution (b/w 180-300 dpi at 1480x1040 pixels, at least).

As I understand this I won't get paid/credited (no problem, it's a kids show), I loose the rights to the image (can I continue showing it in my gallery?).

Any suggestions what I should do?

> we would need to have the images (non-exclusively) in all forms of media in perpetuity and I am unable to guarantee screen credit.

Basically, they want to buy it from you as a ROYALTY-FREE image. Buy once, use forever.

I don't think you lose the copyrights to the image. But they don't want to pay you everytime they use/show the image on TV.

It might be good exposure for you... just make sure to price them accordingly for perpetual use. ... and make it clear in writing that you still own the copyrights and this is just a license.

I just don't see the benefit of giving a tv production company (which obviously has a budget, even if it's a PBS-type show) rights to your image for absolutely nothing in return. The bottom line is they will be profiting off of your image. You should at least get something for it, especially if they requite the images "in all forms of media in perpetuity".

As I read your post, I don't believe that you lose the rights to the image. They are saying that they want the image "non-exclusively" which should give you the freedom to display or even sell/license your image to others. If you decide to give it to them, be sure to have that issue cleared up and reflected in any paperwork involved.

Actually fivefish, dazzlebea says "As I understand this I won't get paid/credited..." so it appears that the production comapany wants the image for free (no pay, no credit). That's how I read the OP

I wouldn't do it without getting paid. If you get no money and no credit then what's in it for you? They have a budget and they can afford to pay you if they really want to use it. Of course they are going to try to get it for free but don't let them take advantage of you. You deserve to be paid.

I'm sure they can come up with SOME payment for the use of your image in perpetuity. After all does this production company ask the electric utility for free electricity? Do they expect the landlord of their building to give them free rent? Do they go into a bookstore for reference material and expect to walk out with books for free? Do THEY give away THEIR work to broadcasters for free? Don't let them get away with devaluing your artwork. I'm not saying you have to be draconian about demanding payment, but even offering a token amount in return would have been the polite thing for them to do.

congrats on them wanting to use it but if you dont get exposure then whats the point.

Depends of your kind hearted enough to just let them use it

Many thanks to you all for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate any help I can get

At this point I am just assuming that they want the picture/s for free, mainly since the words "purchase" or "buy" or "sell" were not mentioned. I looked around and there seem to be several pricing guidelines for print media, nothing however for "movies". I guess I should ask first how they plan on using the pic/s before I think about any further details, right?

Oops... didn't see that FREE word.

Here's what... Miss AM and her company is getting paid. She's getting paid. And you're not????

The LEAST they can do is give you at least on-screen credits. or mail you a B&H gift certificate or Starbucks gift card

The deal seems lopsided to me. It's all to their advantage (also lessens their production cost too because they're getting it for free). Meanwhile, you're getting nothing.

fivefish wrote:
Oops... didn't see that FREE word.

Here's what... Miss AM and her company is getting paid. She's getting paid. And you're not????

The LEAST they can do is give you at least on-screen credits. or mail you a B&H gift certificate or Starbucks gift card

The deal seems lopsided to me. It's all to their advantage (also lessens their production cost too because they're getting it for free). Meanwhile, you're getting nothing.

Good point, maybe I should assume they'd pay something .

I sent her an email back asking for clarification about how the pic/s would be used etc, just to test if she is even interested enough to reply. How does one use a picture in a movie anyway?

No credit?

No pay?

No chance...

To give it away without credit is just lowering the standards of all photographers. And I honestly don't think they want it for free, they just don't want to pay you everytime it's used. They probably just want to pay a one time fee. So figure out what you want to charge them and respond with that price.

On microstock sites where I submit some of my work, I get paid about 10 dollars a download for extended license usage of my images. I know it's cheap, but hundreds of people can download and use the same image and everything runs automatically.

In this case though, you will have to manually prepare and send them the file, which calls for a little extra work on your part. I wouldn't consider doing it for anything less than $35.00. If it were exclusive rights they were after, the starting price would be around ten times that.

The way they said, "But that means that your shots would be used for TV!" kind of bothers me. Like you should be so excited that your pic would be on TV you'd be willing to forgo getting paid or getting credit. I could understand no pay, but credit, or no credit but pay, but neither one? That's a lot to ask. Seems like she's on a budget and figures she can cut cost on the photography. Just my opinion.

This makes it seem like they're going to use your image to model something else... some sort of CGI? It doesn't sound like it may even be recognizable as your photo when they're done. (Maybe you can show/describe the picture to us so we get a sense of why yours is desirable vs. other shots of fly traps?)

But they're not asking you to give up any rights to use it yourself, just to give them permission to use it for TV productions,perhaps promotional materials, etc.