3 replies to this topic

[John816]

Basically, I wanted to get some details on my being able to include work I've done for clients in my portfolio.

 

E.g. I did a mograph piece for a local Jazz Festival. It's okay to include this in my portfolio and/or reel, right?

 

Trickier one:

 

I did many pieces for a New York company who is licensed to stream Korean TV dramas online. The work I did includes clips from the shows, music from the shows, etc. That company is fine with me including it in my portfolio. But could the Korean networks give me trouble?

 

I'm asking now because I'm going to start doing some freelance work for a small video/editing outfit in the UK. (I'm in the US). We wanted to include many of my portfolio items on the UK site, so I'm extra interested in the legalities of this.

 

Can anyone help me out or point me in the right direction?

[J Montreuil]

If you are in doubt, ask. If you can't get a straight answer, put it in until someone complains.

[AromaKat]

If asked to not put it up, just dont have it publically accessible. Local networks have a reputation of not wanting works for them shown on portfolios, etc because they get a ton of local production work. So its just a matter of being mutually respectful and understanding of eachother's best interests.

If you have samples password protected, and dont include those items in your reel, there is no real problem.

Similar situations arise when subcontracting or theres any crossover in client base between you and the person who is signing your check for the gig. As long as you dont show anythings that hasnt aired / released to the public then there is usually some type of agreement you can come, at worst having to include credits, breakdown, or watermark of your client's studio.

But if asked to not show, keep it away from public view. At the end of the day, if you got paid, its work-for-hire and they own all rights.

[anothername]

E.g. I did a mograph piece for a local Jazz Festival. It's okay to include this in my portfolio and/or reel, right?

For sure if it's aired already. In fact I'm sure a local festival is happy for any extra publicity, any extra people seeing the piece.

 

 

 

I did many pieces for a New York company who is licensed to stream Korean TV dramas online. The work I did includes clips from the shows, music from the shows, etc. That company is fine with me including it in my portfolio. But could the Korean networks give me trouble?

That's not your problem. If the people you worked for cleared you to use it then you can use it. On a practical level what you are doing is probably pretty far off the radar for a Korean network.

 

My rule of thumb is if you are doing something that is going to be publicly broadcast (on TV, in theaters, or put on the web) then once it has aired you should be able to use it in your reel as long as there is nothing in your contract that states otherwise. To be on the safe side I put a clause in my contract that says I can use any works produced under the contract for my promotion as long as it has aired. No one usually has a problem with this, sometimes producers ask for a watermark from their studio or to specify a certain delay after the air date.

 

If you are doing something that's internal or B2B like a sales video, something for a trade show, an annual meeting, then the opposite assumption applies. I would assume that I'm not allowed to show that unless I specifically ask. A lot of time they will let you use pieces that don't contain any information, like if you did a nice logo animation they'll say use that but nothing that shows any information.