my photo in a hollywood movie—no compensation?

[patskywriter]

i've been approached (via email) and asked if i would be interested in having one of my photos used for the opening credits of a feature film. this person had apparently been looking around in flickr and came across an admittedly beautiful photo of my parents on their wedding day. after i expressed an interest, the person emailed back and said that there would be no compensation for the use of my photo.

letting them use my photo free of charge does me no good at all. so my parents would be seen by millions in a hollywood movie. yay. i can't pay my light bill. i would feel so stupid as an out-of-work (and broke) person making a "donation" to the makers of a multimillion-dollar movie. what do you think i should do?

[Don Schaeffer]

I completely agree. Would they give you a film credit (listing your name)? That could have some value.

[Skyman]

I hate producers who think that the line "you will be in a movie" grants them the right to rip people off. unfortunately there is always a sucker who will be seduced by the glamour of the silver screen and either work for a pittance or nothing at all. I would see if you can estimate a value of the image (for them) and make them a realistic offer. You could point out how much cheaper it is for them to use your picture than to set up a scene to recreate a similar image. Be realistic though don't expect to make thousands out of it. See how much similar images are going for on getty images and istock (with exlusive and non exlusive rights - this is important as you probably don't want to sell the copyright to them just allow it for use) and compare it to a projected cost of booking models and costumes etc and setting up a similiar shot if they were to do it themselves. Nobody should have the right to use your image as part of a commercial work without expecting to compensate you. Working out how much to ask for without making them go to the next guy is the tricky part.

At least they did the right thing and asked. Think about how easy it would be for them to use the image without asking and how time consuming and costly it would be for you to persue them legally assuming you noticed the violation. Especially if the film ends up loosing money (most films do. The big studios expect to make a loss on most of their films but are propped up by the handfull that make obscene amounts of money)

[Photo-John]

You gots to get paid. I'm sure they aren't planning to give away their movie for free. Do some research and come up with a price for use of the photo. Knowing the market and having a firm price shows you aren't a sucker and sometimes brings the cash. Sometimes

[christos]

Things like this always remind of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

[Photo-John]

Things like this always remind of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

Ha ha! Yeah, I love that video clip

[zerodog]

I shot a fight with a relatively big name guy in it. One of his sponsors called me and wanted photos. That is it, he "wanted" photos........for free. He said I would get a photo credit. No way. I told him what it would cost. What I thought was a great price. Never responded to it. Screw it. They have the money for a clothing line and advertising, booby models and paying their athletes. But they won't spend a dime for photos. I figure I can not give it away. It is bad for me, and worse for the industry as a whole. No one wants to pay for what they can get for free. If everyone would STOP giving stuff away things could be better.