 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | Business and Legal Forms for Photographers, 4th Edition contains 34 forms for photographers, each accompanied by step-by-step instructions, advice on standard contractual provisions, and unique negotiation checklists to guide professionals to the best deal. Included are contracts for wedding, portrait, and assignment photography; publishing, collaboration, and licensing contracts; property and model releases; assignment estimate/confirmation/invoice; delivery memo; stock photography invoice; stock agency agreement; permission form; copyright registration and transfer forms; nondisclosure agreement; license of rights; license of electronic rights; trademark application; employment application and agreement; and more. Included is a CD-ROM containing electronic versions of each form. New to this edition are forms for leases, subleases, and lease assignments, plus an update to cover changes in copyright registration. |
Average Customer Rating:   Good reference, but don't bother if you have an older version I have the old "Revised Edition" of this book from 1999, which has come in handy for preparing different contracts over the years. I ordered this new edition thinking that there would be more emphasis on the digital age, as this was barely touched upon in the 1999 edition. I was disappointed to see that there were few changes to the forms (granted, I did not compare the books page-for-page, but on the forms I have used, there were hardly any changes). For example, the Wedding contract is verbatim with the 1999 version, save for 1 additional paragraph in the T&C section mentioning proof images on disc (as opposed to the old proof book or negatives). It does include 8 new forms: Trademark Application, Employment Application, Employment Agreement, Restrictive Covenant for Employment, Project Employee Contract, Commercial Lease, Sublease, and Lease Agreement. I assume some of these forms were added in the editions between 1999 and now. In short, this is a very handy reference tool for photographers of all sorts, but if you've got an older version you're best bet is to stick with that. Unless of course one of the new forms is particularly relevant to you, but I'd probably check to see if my local library had it first. Me, I'm sending this shiny new edition back & I'll stick to my old dog-eared copy until they decide to really address the digital aspects. Boring, but Essential Nothing is more boring for a photographer than paging through a form book of contracts. Nothing is more important for a photographer who derives income from his pictures than having written agreements with his clients.
"Business and Legal Forms for Photographers" opens with a broad discussion of photographer's contracts, including the "boilerplate" that appears in most of the contracts and their meaning, including such elements as to whether the parties may assign the contracts and in what forum disputes will be settled. The book then presents 34 different kinds of agreements ranging from simple model releases to contracts relating to a book deal. In each case there is a general discussion of the important elements of the contract, followed by a check list of items to consider in the contract, and then the actual contract. The book also includes a CD containing each of the contracts in .pdf, Microsoft Word .doc and rich text format. This gives the user the opportunity to cut and paste to create an appropriate contract.
Although I am a lawyer, when I reviewed this book I wore my hats as a photographer who occasionally enters into such contracts and as a former business officer who negotiated many, many contracts. (I have to add the mandatory disclaimer here that I am not rendering legal advice and that if you have legal questions you should consult your attorney.) It appeared to me that all of these contracts contained the necessary conditions for a good business relationship. On the other hand, particularly where big dollars are involved, like say, a long term lease of space, one might want an attorney to review the agreement as well.
It's important to remember that the negotiation process is not primarily an adversarial proceeding, but rather an attempt by the parties to reach agreement about what is to be done, and how to handle contingencies. In some cases like a wedding photography contract, the photographer will probably present the clients with a copy of the contract and then discuss the meaning of its terms, considering the special needs of the clients. In other cases, like a contract with a gallery, there will probably be discussions between the parties and then the contract will be prepared reflecting the outcome of the discussions. In the latter cases, the photographer will probably want to transcribe Crawford's checklist to his notebook for use during the discussions to remove the air of an adversarial proceeding from the negotiations.
Besides presenting the contract forms, the author makes many other good suggestions. If sending the other party a written contract looks too formalistic, a letter incorporating the terms may be less daunting and just as effective. Perhaps, in the next edition, the author will include a few such letters to provide the flavor of how the same terms can seem less forbidding. If the photographer is presented with a written contract, he should take time to review it using the book's checklists, and make suggestions for changes. Over the years I have found that bad deals are often made because the party receiving the contract was reluctant to ask for modification.
Most photographers who sell their work or services are not schooled as business people. Using this book should help to overcome some of that disadvantage.
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