Karumbu Thinna Kooli
I was recently contacted by the CEO of an online Indian movies sale and rental website, which according to him, will be organized along the lines of Netflix, with Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam sections. He wants to use my reviews from bbreviews on the site and see if I was interested in becoming their 'official' movie critic for Tamil movies. He is also willing to negotiate terms regarding my 'compensation'.
Copyright is definitely not a big concern for Indian websites. I have seen my reviews being used on several sites without permission(while some of them atleast credit the review to me, some sites have added their own "by ..." byline). I have even seen my review of Ajith's Poovellaam Un Vaasam being used as the synopsis on the DVD of the film. So, I was happy that the CEO approached me officially rather than copying, or even linking to, my reviews. It does speak well of the ethics and professionalism of the company.
My response(ofcourse, just to myself!) when I saw his email was "Karumbu thinna kooliya?!". But since he has put the ball in my court regarding how I should be compensated, I am now stuck. I do not even have a jumping-off point to kickstart the negotiations. Have any of you placed a price on something similar(I guess you could call it 'intellectual property'). Putting yourself in my shoes, are there any suggestions on a reasonable first quote from my side? And another question... would you guys sign up for an Indian movies rental website?
Balaji's Thots... [Permalink]
Your Thots (9)
9 Comments:
Way 2 go, BB!
Putting yourself in my shoes, are there any suggestions on a reasonable first quote from my side?
--> free, unlimited movie rentals in addition to a 1000 bucks every month...thats what i would tell the guy!
BTW, do you think he'd appreciate you posting this on bbthots?? just curious...!
So, you are going to be the 'James Rocchi' of Tamil and Mallu dvds!:-)
I have previously rented online from desicompany, indofilms (now defunct), indiahuthouse, 1800imall and hindiflix..indiahuthouse has a huge selection of Tamil films (in both vcd and dvd formats) to rent, while desicompany has the most convenient rental system (pay by dvd).
ram, so u think he has reason to be upset about the post if he sees it? cos he would've expected it to be treated confidentially?
didnt know there were so many rental sites for indian movies out there. the ceo did say his site would be much better than the ones out there now. gotta wait and see...
asdf
That's a good point, Packer. What if he has got mostly those kind of films that doesn't figure on top of your ratings list? What if he wants to take only the good things about the film from your reviews? Would you leave it to his discretion if he picks parts of your review and chops off the rest?
And a final question...assuming that you land that job there as the official critic for that rental, would your future reviews be less critical hoping for more takers for the movie?
since the company seemed quite ethical, i'm guessing that won't be a problem. but those conditions will be part of the terms we decide on I think. i will surely ask for reviews to be reproduced in full.
I can guarantee that quality of reviews will not change. Though its a hobby, I do take it seriously and will not compromise the quality for anything, including free DVDs :-)
zero, wasnt too negative(i gave it 2 stars). but yeah, the review was reproduced verbatim!
great going....
Thats wonderful...i hate it when original works are reproduced by ppl without taking permission...i jut read a movie review of DDLJ(which was 'lifted' from elsewhere w/o even giving proper credits) on a blog..wdnt want to name her..it sickens me no no end..
great going..
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