Animation Contract Guidelines Introduction Now that the 2006-2008 ...

4Article 801 in which the writer keeps copyright, only Article 802. Article 802 is theclause that speaks to the licensing (not an assignment) of copyright to the producer.Therefore, Article 803 can only be used for an alternative division of licensing ofcopyright, not ownership of copyright. It may be used, for example, to reservecertain additional rights for the writer, rather than grant the broad range of rights thatare currently licensed in 802. Such an alternative division of rights would constitutemore favorable terms for the writer than the minimum terms, and is allowed under theIPA. Watch all draft contracts for the use of Article 803 to take the copyright in thescript for the producer, and do not sign contracts with these terms. Most producersare not attempting this, however the odd producer still might.In the IPA, the copyright provisions of the Animation Section are reinforced by Article807 which speaks to Secondary Use Payments, and ends with:“…and the Animation Writer shall retain copyright in the Script Material for suchpurpose.”The Canadian Screenwriters Collection Society (CSCS) collects secondary usemonies on behalf of screenwriters and we encourage all WGC members to join CSCSin order to receive any monies due to them. There is more information on CSCS atthis link: http://www.wgc.ca/cscs/home.html.4. Story EditingThe vast majority of Animation Story Editing contracts provide fees per episode. Thisis not as much the case in live-action, where Story Editing contracts are morefrequently for fees paid per week or day. Fees by the episode mean that the StoryEditor could spend weeks rewriting one episode (with endless notes constantlycoming in from multiple co-producers or broadcasters, since animation is frequentlyinternationally co-produced and pre-licensed to many outlets). And for all this work,the Story Editor receives the one per-episode story editing fee, instead of additionalfees for the additional weeks you have to work on the script. This practice harksback to the days of “payment on acceptance” thinking, before Animation came underthe IPA.Seriously consider negotiating your Story Editing contracts with a time-based fee(weekly, or even daily, if it’s a short tem gig) rather than an episode-based one.A Member of the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds366 Adelaide Street WestSuite 401Toronto, Ontario M5V 1R9Tel 416 979-79071-800-567-9974Fax 416 979-9273info@wgc.cawww.wgc.ca