I’ve been reading more and more about Ms. Rowling and the more I read, the more I see how she made some great, but difficult, choices to protect her intellectual property. In this article, the author claims that Disney came to her (Rowling) with an idea to build a Harry Potter theme park. She reportedly refused because they (while clearly offering a ton of money) would not let her maintain creative control.
Yes, you read that right, she said “No” to Disney and a lot of money. This wasn’t a first. When Hollywood approached her about making the books into movies, she was very hesitant. Again, she didn’t want to sell out for the money if it meant losing control over her creative vision, so she negotiated a deal where she felt she would still have that control.
In other words, she has said “No” a lot. She has said it when it was the best thing for her intellectual property rights, her creative vision. She stuck to her guns and has never sold out, just for the money. Instead, she has controlled her creative assets wisely and showing the original passion she had in their creation.
She’s not alone in this. Directors like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas (as well as many others) have owned their own films, at least in part (early on by dropping their fees in trade for a percentage of the film they were going to direct), pretty much since they started making movies. In fact, they swapped 2.5 points (percent of a film, in Hollywood terms) of Close Encounters and Star Wars, so they each own a bit of the other’s. This is what has made them very wealthy men (the control/ownership–not the swap), but remember that the underlying reason for the ownership was always creative control.
Every time a client approaches you to create something, you have a choice about the deal. You can hold onto your rights and license them for an appropriate fee or you can sell them outright (for, it had better be, a MUCH higher fee), and lose all control. You need to make that choice for yourself and not rely on what others tell you those rights might be worth in the long run. Remember, Lucas made Star Wars for no “director’s fee,” giving up a six-figure salary and instead he got to own all the merchandising rights to the film (which the studio thought worthless!) and 40% of the film (see bio).
The difference between cash today and wealth tomorrow can be one choice.