AW: Royalties
Cord Wiljes
cord at wiljes.de
Wed Aug 4 12:52:13 CEST 2004
Lars Olav Karlsen wrote:
> So the artists are not working for Disney at all, they are
> working for the publishers like Egmont and Gemstone.
(...)
> Disney is getting royalties for the right to use the
> characters and names, and the artists are getting paid for the work.
So what happens if Gemstone reprints a story which was produced by
Egmont? Does Egmont get any payment for this reprint? Are there cases in
which the creator does get an additional payment for a reprint? Can
Gemstone chose stories from any Disney publisher worldwide - and just
pay royalties to Disney?
Would Disney object any individual contract between a publisher and a
creator in which the publisher promises payments to the creator for
future reprints?
And last but not least: May the publisher or Disney change anything
created by the creator? Can a creator demand _not_ to have his name on
his creation?
If we compare the role of Disney creators with an actor who is paid for
acting in a movie: The finished film is the sole property of the studio.
And the actor will get no additional payments for the DVD-Release, TV
airings etc. The difference seems to be that a studio filming a Tarzan
movie will pay royalties to the heirs of Edgar Rice Burroughs, but will
own the finished movie. Whereas Egmont will pay royalties to Disney and
_not_ own the finished comics. Why is this so? Especially considering
the fact that (at least in the U.S.) Disney comics are that hot a
property that Disney could pick and choose among interested publishers.
So what would happen if Egmont said: "From now on we want to own the
stories we pay for - or otherwise we will stop having any new ones
created?"
Cord
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