Design Royalties?

[JRo]

Hey CB:

I did two thorough sound design for two holiday shows in a mid-sized Seattle theater last year, one ~100 cues and the other ~30. They are bringing the same shows back this year and want to use my designs again. They are paying me royalties for re-using my design (as we had decided last year).

My question is that I have no idea what to ask for royalties.... Any thoughts on a general percentage of the stipend I was paid the year before? I'm most likely going to have to re-send/do my cue sheets because they have a new SM.

Also, they recently have upgraded their show computer to run QLab, but one of the two shows was run off of ShowControl for PC-- This might not happen, but how much do you think would be reasonable to ask for a re-program of the show for a new playback medium? (~30 cues- not too many).

I want to ask for 30% of my stipend. To high? Low? Any ballpark percentages would be super helpful.

 

[DaveySimps]

IATSE USA 829 lists a minimum royalty fee at 5% of the original fee, if that gives you any type of ball park. However, that might seem a bit low if your original fee was not that of an 829 Sound designer. Since you certainly seem to have more leg work to do such as cue sheets and the like, I would see nothing wrong with charging more. Your work load appears to be more than just sitting through a few retechs and taking notes.

I do not think that a reprogramming fee would be out of order. For this, I would do it on an hour by hour basis at my normal rate.

~Dave

 

[Footer]

IATSE USA 829 lists a minimum royalty fee at 5% of the original fee, if that gives you any type of ball park. However, that might seem a bit low if your original fee was not that of an 829 Sound designer. Since you certainly seem to have more leg work to do such as cue sheets and the like, I would see nothing wrong with charging more. Your work load appears to be more than just sitting through a few retechs and taking notes.

I do not think that a reprogramming fee would be out of order. For this, I would do it on an hour by hour basis at my normal rate.

~Dave

That royalty fee is a per show fee of your original fee. So, say you get paid 1 grand for the design, you get 50 dollars per show.

This really sounds like more of a remount then anything. If you have to show up on site, that right there throws out the royalty thing. A royalty is meant to be paid to someone for use of their work, not a payment for them to do work. I always look at this type of a thing as a days worked. First, call the "art" of your design at least 50% of your fee. Then, add 10% for each day you have to be involved.

 

[jstandfast]

I think Footer is on the right track here, you should view this as two distinct negotiations: 1) the use of your design for the run of the show ( calculated usually by 829 as AWC- additional weekly compensation) and 2) your services in the tech period to put your design on it's feet with whatever
new hardware/software has come along, usually defined by 829 by a day rate. Best of luck.

 

[museav]

Is it a union house? If not then while the IATSE rates may be a guideline, everything is open to negotiation and if there was an agreement made a year ago to allow them to use the design without any commitment to specific compensation, that seems to put them in the stronger position in any negotiations.

I fully agree that you should separate royalties for use of existing work from the fees for creating new cue sheets or programming based on that work.

 

[derekleffew]

Is it a union house? ...

Interesting question, in that in our industry, the phrase "union house" has been traditionally used to indicate a venue where the stage technicians are represented by IATSE. Until very recently, Scenic, Costume, and Lighting (but not Sound, as it was not a visual artform) Designers were covered by United Scenic Artists of America, USAA. Eventually USAA 829 did recognize Sound. With USA 829 now a division of IATSE, as well as Local One also covering Sound Designers, the waters get very muddy. See the timely Live Design article, A Sound Union: Then And Now by Abe Jacob, one of Broadway's oldest and most eminent designers.