Character Licensing

[DK]

Hi all.
Just looking for some ideas on what to charge for a company that wants to adopt a character I developed for a TV commercial. Normally I just create general characters for the purpose of advertising a product and there is a one off fee charged for production. In this case I have developed a character and the company now would like to feature it on stationary, calendars, pens and various other forms of marketing including Newspaper adverts etc....

Well that's all good but I am at a loss to know what to charge. I imagine some sort of yearly licensing fee would be appropriate but I am not sure how to calculate this not knowing how many products they will be featuring the character on. BTW they are not selling the products simply using them for marketing their company.

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers
D.K

[slowtiger]

German graphic designers are advised to calculate like this:
A. - the amount of work you put into the character * your hourly fee = creation costs
multiplied by several factors, as follows:
1. amount of use:
- normal 0.2
- exclusively 1,0 (you can't use it again, they can hire other artists to draw your character, they can sub-licence it)
2. region of use:
- local 0.1
- national 0.3
- europe 1.0
- worldwide 2.5
3. duration of use (good practice to start low, they can always buy more time later)
- 1 year 0.1
- 5 yrs 0.3
- 10 yrs 0.5
- unlimited 1.5
4. intensity (how many media formats, number of copies, etc)
- low 0.1
- middle 0.3
- high 0.7
- extensive 1.0

You add 1+2+3+4 then multiply with A and get a number you can charge them. A contract defining the rights you give them is part of the deal. You'll get a number between 0.5 and 6.0 * A.

[DK]

slowtiger thanks for that.... but I ended up with $200 x .2 x .3 x .1 x .3
which gives me a grand total of .36?

That would be a grand total of....36 cents?

Maybe I missed something? Dear GOD I hope so.

EDIT: I need a little more info on the breakdown...is that end price per copy that has been made of the character?
Then 36 cents would probably add up quite substantially.

D.K

[slowtiger]

Ah, my mistake of course. You need to add up the factors, which in your case gives you 200 * 0.9

[DK]

Hi slowtiger.
That sounds pretty close to what I was considering actually. I will keep a copy of that little formula handy.

Thanks again
D.K

[synthsin75]

And remember that each successive year adds potential value to your IP, as public recognition grows. I would also make sure the licensing agreement limits use to promotional uses, as I would charge a royalty on commercially sold products bearing the character.

This is a good reference, especially section II. http://www.querrey.com/news-newsletterarticles-198.html

[DK]

Hi Wes,
That was an intense and informative read thanks. It would be great to see this thread extend even further to include contract samples etc as we are all creating characters everyday in animation and this is a subject just as important as any new AS tool but also unfortunately a subject widely overlooked.

Thanks to all contributors who can add anything else.

Cheers
D.K

[synthsin75]

Here's an example contract: https://www.rocketlawyer.com/sem/Licens ... t.rl?id=91