Making money publishing your own DVD.

In the past it was a difficult process for small video production companies to create a product, duplicate it and then distribute it to the various niche marketplaces. Those days are over. It has recently become far easier to produce and distribute your product to the public.

The first step is to produce a compelling video that everyone will love.  This, in most cases, is the most difficult part of the process.  Coming up with a great idea is sometimes very easy, however developing it further has proven to be easier said than done.  That’s why it is important to develop a treatment. The treatment can help the author hammer out a few details that will make communicating the idea to potential investors and also help with developing the script and storyboard.

OK, now you have a wonderful treatment and script completed.  Now it’s time to seek out ways of creating the production.  If you are a videographer / producer it would be a good idea to shoot a rough video treatment that will accompany your shorter written treatment to pitch to developers.  If you already have the funding for your project, then your treatment would be very helpful in communicating the project to your cast and crew members.

The final piece of the pie is very important.  This is assuming you have researched the market segment that your project will be sold to.  It is time to figure out how the product will be priced and distributed to the public. This is where technology and the Internet will play a big part for the independent producer.  There are many print-on-demand companies available to help manufacture and distribute DVD video content. Seeking these companies out is as simple as performing a Google search for the topic.  One great choice would be createspace, which is an amazon.com company. 

Effective Negotiations Videos

I have chosen three videos that explain different technics in Negotiation.  When negotiating it is important to have a mutual win for both parties. These videos demonstrate the different routs to getting to what you want out of the negation.

Conducting Effective negotiations: Stanford business

In the lecture video Joel Peterson talks about how to conduct a negotiations.  He talks in detail about positional bargaining, Handling dirty tricks and BATNA.  I found it interesting that his approach to reacting to dirty tricks while negotiating is calling them on their dirty trick.  He also explains that he will often ask questions as an in offensive way to handling dirty tricks in negotiations.  It is also a good thing to plan according to what games they may play ineffective.

Joel Peterson also explains how important it is to have a BATNA (Best Alternative to Negotiation Agreement) and to try to figure out your opponent’s BATNA.

The Voluntary Life: Entrepreneurship part 7 Negotiation.

The narrator explains that when starting a Negotiation make sure you write everything said down.  Try to avoid haggling.  In this video the narrator mentions BATNA.  What will happen if the negotiation fails?  Always be aware of what your best alternative is.  They explain the principles of using objective criteria.  The author shuns the use of Dirty tricks and trying to “pull a fast one” on the person you are negotiating with. There is always options available that will give both you and your opponent what you each want out of a negation.

William Ury: The walk from "no" to "yes"

This video showcases a speaker who has written many textbooks on Negotiation PhD William Ury.  Ury starts the speech telling a story about three brothers who inherit 17 camels and can’t figure out how to split them.  It took an old lady giving them an 18^th camel for them to figure out haw to divide the 17. This is an example of of stepping out of the problem in order to find a resolution.  This reminds us of how to handle those tricks during negotiations and turn them around.

All three of videos offer plenty of information that an entrepreneur in the entertainment media industry could use when negotiating a deal.  It is very clear that the best rout to a Yes is to be objective with your fellow negotiator.  Try to avoid dirty tricks and to have an alternative in place in case the negotiation fails.

Entertainment industry blog post

Entertainment industry Expert Blog

Jeremy Bailey

Interview with Walter Palmer and Cristina Pinheiro Palmer:

This podcast interviews Cristina Pinheiro Palmer  who graduated from law school at the federal university of Rio De Janiero Brazil, and She is also a graduate of the National Law center at George Washington University with an MLN in Patents and Intellectual property. Christina has a total of 8 years US in intellectual property law and 10 years of practice in Brazil.  Christina is a member of the international trademark association. Walter Palmer graduated from George Washington University’s national law center. He also has 10 years experience in Intellectual property law from Brazil and 5 years civil law in the United States. 

In the podcast the host interviews these two about changes happening to Brazils patent and trade mark office in preparation for the up coming Olympic games in 2016.   Brazils president has announced changes to the patent department changing the procedures for applying for patents.  This will eliminate un-patentable applications early in the application process shortening time to obtain a patent down to 6 or 7 years. This also contains a law that establishes an ambush law that will affect the Olympic games 2016.   The Olympic at will intern protect all of the trademarks for the games from ambush marketers who attempt to create their own merchandise.  It will also prevent non-commercial use of any trademark held by the international Olympic committee. They also discus changes in the copyright law in Brazil that help update the old logic of the laws that hinder new technology.  Right now it is illegal in Brazil to capture MP3’s of a CD to transfer to an IPod.  Old laws like that one will be revised and updated.

This podcast covers information that is important for companies who plan on creating copyrighted works and use of trademarks that will be distributed internationally including Brazil.

1.     LexisNexis Copyright & Trademark law / Patent Law Communities podcast featuring Walter w. Palmer and Cristina Pinheiro Palmer 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/lexisnexis-copyright-trademark/id279186321?i=89878915&mt=2

The art of law / Law of art podcast

Matt foster, host of this podcast, discusses the use of copyright law by artist and designers in his interview with Richard Alves.  This discussion explains how copyright law protects owners by giving them the right to perform, display, copy, and license their intellectual property.  The law protects the copyright holders work of art from others infringing on the potential market place.  When a CD or a piece of art is purchased the person who buys it is granted a right to display it for personal use but cannot duplicate and resell copies of the work.  

Works for hire are interesting within themselves.  The work for hire doctrine states that the person who commissions an artist to produce a work of art is considered the author of it.  This pertains to artist hired by a company as an employee to produce various works of art.  The company essentially owns the copyright of the work.  This is very prevalent in the motion picture industry.  The 3D animator for Disney’s Pixar who creates and models a character is hired by Pixar to create that work of art.  Pixar intern, owns the copyright of the work witch gives them the right to reproduce, sell, license and create derivative works of the artwork, however they may choose to give credit to the animator.

Art of Law – Law of Art episode

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/art-law-law-art-episode-02/id615408398?i=136242788&mt=2

It is always a good idea for creative artist to seek out to obtain their copyright registration with the United States copyright office at copyright.gov.

Managing a successful teen artists.

The role of an artist manager can be a lucrative yet busy ordeal.  There are many things that can go right with your artists.  What do you do when things go wrong?

I don’t know if there is a definitive answer to this question.  Every artist is unique. Bad things happen even with good planning.  Put simply, every body has a bad day from time to time.  The question should be how do you manage the fallout when something does happen.

In recent news Justin Bieber, teen singing sensation, has come under scrutiny because a few mishaps on his recent tour.  Bieber faints backstage at his London tour stop and is rushed to the hospital, he is caught fighting with a paparazzi photographer after being heckled by his fans for appearing late to another concert at a previous tour date.  Situations like this can be a nightmare for an artist manager.

How does a manager handle things when their artist is in the midst of what appears to be a breakdown?  

Father vs Manager

Father vs. Manager

In recent years the relationships for the artist managers have grown to the closest arrangement possible.  The hiring of parents as managers is being practiced more and more.  It seems to be a logical choice in the beginning of an artist career to choose someone they can trust to handle their affairs.  The use of a parent, at first, would appear to be a logical choice.  Why not have someone who has already been tasked with developing the artist as a person to help develop the artist as an artist. This practice, however, leads to a crossroads later on in the artist career. 

If we look back to the late 80’s when Janet Jackson decided to take control of her own career.  She chose to make that statement by creating the album control.  In this case, Janet was attempting to separate herself from the shadows of her well-known parents and brothers.  Janet’s first two albums entitled “Janet Jackson” which was followed by her second album “Dream Street” where both produced by her father Jo Jackson or her brothers.  This was indeed an early example of the trend that is being practiced today. 

The two latest examples of this practice would be Beyoncé and Jessica Simpson.  Both artists chose to let their fathers manage them early in their careers, and both eventually fired their fathers as managers.  This poses a question.  Was it a good decision for the artists to hire their family members to manage their careers? 

In retrospect, in both cases, it seemed to work.  Both artists have had very successful careers under the tutelage of their parents.  Beyoncé has come up to be a very successful recording artist, songwriter, actress and performer.  Jessica Simpson has made a mark with her career as well.  Staring in her own reality shows, branding her name with a clothing line and a not so bad singing career.

It is obvious that this type of arrangement does work, but it is very short lived.  As with normal every day life, an artist will outgrow the business relation ship they have started with their parent(s).  There will always be the need for the artist to spread their wings and take complete control over their careers.  In most cases this will involve hiring someone else to manage their careers and focus on their relationship with their parent.