Predicting licensing fees can feel like a game of cat and mouse: the other side usually wins. To boost your chances of cracking this conundrum, talk to us before mentioning figures!

One recent example from our Rights Clearance activities involved two scenes from famous cartoons that were intended to play a central role in a commercial. The ad agency reckoned the total fees for both shots would barely run into five figures, but the actual fees turned out to be ten times that – for each clip! With discrepancies on that scale, brokering agreement is almost impossible even when rights holders are willing to offer very generous “quantity rebates” and customers are very understanding. So the project is dead in the water.

We offer a free service to spare you from such embarrassing late discoveries: describe your project to us, ideally using a mood film, and we will tell you whether it is feasible and what conditions and fees you will probably need to reckon with.

Note:

• Rights clearance issues and licensing fees for third-party rights can arise even in connection with royalty free footage: rights which may need clarification can include not only personality rights, but also audio rights, brand names and brands visible in images, logos of third-party companies (common in sports footage!), event rights, third-party copyrights etc.
• License fees for copyrighted external material (not offered via an agency) and other third-party rights are typically determined on the basis of the total budget of a campaign and on its expected reach (media plan).
• Talent fees are often determined on the basis of the most expensive person in the clip ("MFN" – Most Favoured Nation Clause).
• Fees vary greatly depending on the rights holder and the media plan. Attempting to predict them in advance can be a game of roulette.

We offer you

1. our experience for an estimate (free),
2. our expertise for rights clearance (500 USD per right), and
3. our finesse in negotiations (on a commission basis).

So:
Don’t rely on your 50/50 lifeline when you need to secure rights and large amounts of money are at stake. Use Framepool as your “phone a friend” lifeline instead!
> Inquiries to rightsclearance@framepool.com