Attorney, Author, and Business Consultant for the Comic Book Industry

Your Career in Comics: The Creator Driven Path

Added on November 10, 2016 by Gamal Hennessy.

A few weeks ago, I introduced a new book I'm working on called Your Career in Comics (YCC) that will attempt to take a comprehensive look at the business and legal aspects of being in the comics industry. (See Your Career in Comics: An Introduction). So far, I’ve introduced the Creator Owned (See The Creator Owned Path) and Work for Hire (See The Work for Hire Path) aspects of the industry. This week I'd like to look at the third of the four major paths in modern comics: The Creator Driven Path.

Description: A creator driven work allows the artist to own a property and license a portion of the publishing rights to a publisher who will then produce, market and sell the book to the public. A creator driven (CD) deal can benefit both you and your publishing partner. There are several variations to the CD model, but most of them combine aspects of the independent publishing and work for hire models. The combination of traits varies wildly from publisher to publisher, depending on the relationship they have with their creators. Most CO deals come from small to midsized publishers, but there have been examples of CD publishing at all levels of comics over the years.

Benefits: The main benefits of doing creator driven deals are an ownership stake, the payment of many up front costs by a third party and wider distribution. In a perfect world, a CD deal is a joint venture. You provide the creative ideas and artistic skill in your original story. They provide the business support and economies of scale to to turn your vision into a product. In return, both parties share in the revenue generated by the collaboration.

Challenges: The two main challenges of CD deals are loss of ownership control and loss of revenue. Many CO deals are collaborations in name only. In the most extreme cases, creators transfer all control and ownership to a publisher for little or no payment of any kind. Even in the more moderate CD arrangement, it can be difficult to figure out when and if your book will ever make a profit.

Legal Considerations: CD deals require multiple contracts to protect every party involved, including

Collaboration (if you’re sharing the rights) and/or work for hire agreements for everyone working on the book
Copyright (and possibly trademark) registrations for the book
A Creator Driven Publishing Agreement between the creator and the publisher
Tax documentation to cover any profits or losses from the book

Next time, I'll talk a little bit about the final and in some cases the highest role for comics creators, the transmedia artist.

Have fun.

Gamal

Success in the comics industry requires an understanding of the business, creative, and legal aspects of the medium.

Sign up for The Professional Comics Creator to get monthly e-mail news, tips and advice on how to get the most from your characters and stories

PLEASE NOTE: THIS BLOG POST IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEGAL ADVICE. IF YOU HAVE A LICENSING OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUE, DISCUSS IT WITH YOUR LEGAL ADVISOR OR CONTACT C3 AT gamalhennessy@gmail.com FOR A FREE CONSULTATION.

Your Career in Comics: The Work for Hire Path

Added on October 27, 2016 by Gamal Hennessy.

by Gamal Hennessy

A few weeks ago, I introduced a new book I'm working on called Your Career in Comics (YCC) that will attempt to take a comprehensive look at the business and legal aspects of being in the comics industry. (See Your Career in Comics: An Introduction). Last week, I talked a little bit about the Creator Owned Path in Comics (See The Creator Owned Path). This week I'd like to look at the second of the four major paths in modern comics: The Work for Hire or Freelance Path.

General Concept: A freelance or work for hire artist produces stories and art for a property they do not own. As a work for hire, you create intellectual property for your clients. Publishers and creators of all sizes hire freelance artists to work on some or all of the creative aspects of their property. Some freelancers work for one publisher at a time, while others might juggle several projects for several different publishers at once.
Benefits: The main benefits of being a freelance artist are cash payments, exposure and reduced responsibility outside of your art. Instead of having to worry about how to pay for the production of the book, the freelance artist gets paid as a part of the production process. Instead of having to create a character or world from scratch, the freelance artist might be able to work with their favorite characters to read or the most famous characters of all time. Instead of worrying about marketing, printing, sales, returns and a thousand other little details of publishing, the freelance artist makes his art, collects his fee and moves on to the next project.
Challenges: The main challenges of being an independent are lack of stability, time, and control. A freelance artist might go through dry periods without a lot of well paying work. There might be other times where there are several major deadlines piling up, each with their own financial and professional penalties. Publishers run on deadlines. Books are solicited months in advance. The freelance artist is a fundamental part of the publishing process, but their work has to be delivered on or before a certain date of the process falls apart. And the lack of control can be a real challenge to creativity. Instead of making all the decisions on your own or with a partner, now you have to deal with an editor, maybe an editor in chief or multiple other levels of approval depending on how the corporate nature of your client.
Legal Considerations: The lack of ownership in a work for hire situation reduces the amount of legal agreements you’ll need. At minimum there will be an exclusive or nonexclusive work for hire agreement between you and the client and tax documents to help deal with the IRS. Some companies have a version of the character creation agreement, but that’s not universal at this point.

Next time, I'll talk a little bit about the creator driven path and how they can thrive in the world of comics.

Have fun.

Gamal

Success in the comics industry requires an understanding of the business, creative, and legal aspects of the medium.

Sign up for The Professional Comics Creator to get monthly e-mail news, tips and advice on how to get the most from your characters and stories

Your Career in Comics: The Creator Owned Path

Added on October 18, 2016 by Gamal Hennessy.

by Gamal Hennessy

A few weeks ago, I introduced a new book I'm working on called Your Career in Comics (YCC) that will attempt to take a comprehensive look at the business and legal aspects of being in the comics industry. (See Your Career in Comics: An Introduction). I'd like to share aspects of the book while it's being written to get reactions and feedback from the community. This week I'd like to look at the first of the four major paths in modern comics: The Creator Owned Path.

It makes sense to start with Creator Owned comics (sometimes called Independent or DIY comics) because this is the point where an inspired comic book reader puts down their favorite story and picks up a blank piece of paper to begin their journey. At the most basic level, a creator owned publisher owns the property she produces, markets, and sells to the public.

General Concept: As a creator owned publisher, you have a stake in the intellectual property connected to a book. In a minority of cases, you might license the rights to someone else’s work (which often brings the concept of creator driven deals into play that I’ll talk about later) but most of the time, and creator owned publisher is trying to get their own characters and stories out into the world by taking control of the entire process.

Benefits: The main benefits of going creator owned are ownership and control. When it’s your story and your company, you get to decide what the books will be about, how they get sold, and what to do with the money. The freedom to control every aspect of the property can give rise to the great expressions of artistic creativity and business flexibility.

Challenges: The main challenges of being going creator owned are costs and market share. It takes a considerable amount of money to release a single comic, graphic novel and ongoing series by yourself. There is an even larger investment of time, since the great power you have to control every aspect of your book comes with the great responsibility of making sure it all gets done. On top of that, finding readers for your book probably won’t be easy, considering the number of titles already in the market and the domination the Big Two. Finding enough readers to turn a profit is even more difficult. Many books don’t turn a profit or break even from their initial investment. It is not unusual for an independent book to run at a loss.

Legal Considerations: There are legal aspects to the story being created, the process of creating those stories, and the person or people creating those stories. On a fundamental level, having the right documents and registrations in place from the beginning gives you the right to sell what you own. If you skip this step, you might create the World’s Greatest Comic Franchise, but you might not make any money from it. At a bare minimum you’re going to need:

Collaboration or work for hire agreements for everyone working on the book
Copyright (and possibly trademark) registrations for the book
Distribution agreements to get the book out into the world
Tax documentation to cover any profits or losses from the book

In addition, you may also need corporate formation documents, license agreements and other types of contracts, but that is a story for another day.

Next time, I'll talk a little bit about freelance comic creators and how they can thrive in the world of comics.

Have fun.

Gamal

Success in the comics industry requires an understanding of the business, creative, and legal aspects of the medium.

Sign up for The Professional Comics Creator to get monthly e-mail news, tips and advice on how to get the most from your characters and stories

PLEASE NOTE: THIS BLOG POST IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEGAL ADVICE. IF YOU HAVE A LICENSING OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUE, DISCUSS IT WITH YOUR LEGAL ADVISOR OR CONTACT C3 AT gamalhennessy@gmail.com FOR A FREE CONSULTATION.

Top 10 Professional Panels for New York Comic Con 2016

Added on October 2, 2016 by Gamal Hennessy.

by Gamal Hennessy

As one of the major pop culture gatherings in America, New York Comic Con (NYCC) is a great place for fans to connect, companies to promote their franchises and media to be consumed. But it is also a good place for creators of all levels to connect, learn and network.

There are going to be hundreds of panels at this year’s NYCC. I’ve tried to spotlight five per day that will offer you the advice, ideas and tips that can enhance your professional career.

Thursday, October 6th

1) Writers Unite: Writing and Pitching Comic Stories with Charles Soule: 11:00 am in Room 1A18

2) From Panel to Publisher: An In-Depth Look at Transactional Law for Comic Book Creators with Thomas Crowell, Esq. 12:15 pm in Room 1A02

3) Using Tumblr to Sell Your Idea Panel: 5:30 PM in Room 1A24

4) From Press to Social Media: Marketing Your Comic Book with Michael Molcher and Alex Segura 6:30 pm in Room 1B03

Friday, October 7th

5) How to Succeed in Self-Publishing Panel 11:00 am in Room 1A02

6) Keeping Control of Your Comic Panel 11:15 am in Room 1A05

7) Creator Connection: Facilitated Professional Networking Panel 2:30 pm in Room 1A18

8) Breaking Into Comics with Andy Schmidt 7:45 pm in room 1B03

Saturday, October 8th

9) Breaking In: How They Did It and How You Can Do It: 1:45 pm in Room 1A05

Sunday, October 9th

10) From the Printed Page to the Silver Screen: Licensing Comics for Film and Television with Thomas Crowell 12:15 pm in Room 1A05

While I won’t be on any panels this year, I do plan to be in Artist’s Alley after 4:00 pm on Thursday October, 6th. If you’d like to meet me for a free consultation or just to say hello, please contact me and we can set something up.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed at an event like NYCC. I hope this list helps you find the information you need to understand the legal and business aspects of comics and make the most of your creativity.

Have fun.
Gamal

Success in the comics industry requires an understanding of the business, creative, and legal aspects of the medium.

Sign up for The Professional Comics Creator to get monthly e-mail news, tips and advice on how to get the most from your characters and stories

PLEASE NOTE: THIS BLOG POST IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEGAL ADVICE. IF YOU HAVE A LICENSEING OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUE, DISCUSS IT WITH YOUR LEGAL ADVISOR OR CONTACT C3 AT gamalhennessy@gmail.com FOR A FREE CONSULTATION.

In Praise of the Children’s Graphic Novel

Added on September 20, 2016 by Gamal Hennessy.

Comics books have always fought against stigma. As a medium, they are often dismissed as juvenile, violent and without literary merit. Titles like Contract with God, Maus and Watchmen can only do so much to counter popular icons like Batman and The Hulk.

At the same time, children’s books are also seen as less worthy of artistic appreciation. Because they are by definition for children, they aren’t given the same recognition as books for YA and older readers.

So if comics and children’s books are both targets of ridicule, then graphic novels for children must be at the bottom of the literary gene pool, right?

Wrong.

Charlotte Reber of Book Riot has noted several children's graphic novels that have won awards over the past two years including, El Defo, This One Summer and Roller Girl (Read more at http://bit.ly/2cPds4K) While children’s graphic novels haven’t reached the praise and recognition of a Harry Potter, there is a creative lesson to be learned from recent strides in this genre. If you have a good story and you get it to the right audience, then you can achieve literary and financial rewards outside the predominant comic book market. Not every good comic has to have guys running around in their underwear.

Have fun.

Gamal

Success in the comics industry requires an understanding of the business, creative, and legal aspects of the medium.

Sign up for The Professional Comics Creator to get monthly e-mail news, tips and advice on how to get the most from your characters and stories

PLEASE NOTE: THIS BLOG POST IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEGAL ADVICE. IF YOU HAVE A LICENSEING OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUE, DISCUSS IT WITH YOUR LEGAL ADVISOR OR CONTACT C3 AT gamalhennessy@gmail.com FOR A FREE CONSULTATION.

Your Career in Comics: An Introduction

Added on September 18, 2016 by Gamal Hennessy.

by Gamal Hennessy

The business of comics is chaotic, complex and on a certain level, crazy. Few other industries transform fantasies and nightmares into profitable communities. Almost every fan of comics has imagined themselves working in the industry. Some of us are insane enough to pursue our passion as a profession.

But having a career in comics isn’t like becoming a doctor or a lawyer. There is no license you can get or set path for you to take to superstardom. Everyone who works in comics has a unique story on how they got their position. Everyone in the industry used some combination of talent, perseverance, connections and luck. Everyone had to find their own way.

I’m planning to write a book to help finding your way a little easier. Your Career in Comics: A Business, Creative and Legal Framework for Professional Sequential Artists (which I’m calling YCC for short) will go into granular detail on the four major creative positions in modern comics. My goal is to explore aspects of each position to help you navigate your way between and within each step. With luck, this framework, added to your talent, determination and fortune, will lead you to a fulfilling career in the complex world of comics.

This is not going to be a book about comic book case law, creating professional artwork, or a book about pitching to an editor. There are several excellent books on all those subjects and I plan to reference them . This book is meant to be more of a comprehensive guide. I’m in a unique position because of my experience as a lawyer, business manager, and author. I’m going to use all those different perspectives to help you see your comic career as a whole, instead of focusing on one aspect.

YCC is going to be a journey that I'll write about in this blog in the coming weeks and months, As you read these posts, please keep three things in mind:

First, the four major roles in comics are broad conceptual categories and not rigid definitions. You don’t necessarily have to complete one position to move to the next. You could try and explore all of them at once, or you can bounce from one to another as your interests and circumstances dictate.

Second, understand that while I describe these positions in a specific order, I’m not suggesting a successful comic career is defined by moving from one position to the next. You can have a creative, exciting and profitable comic career by picking one position and staying there for decades. Comics allow you to go wide or deep. Your only limit is your talent, perseverance, connections and luck. A little bit of crazy will probably be helpful too.

Finally, and most importantly, a career in comics is based on selling what you own. A lot of what you “sell” will be intangible; time, skill, audience, intellectual property rights, etc., but the basic premise is the same You Can’t Sell What You Don’t Own. If you remember nothing else I say, you’ll still get the main point if you apply this simple concept to your work.

I hope you enjoy and get involved in the development of this book, If I’ve make the complex world of comics a little easier to understand, then I’ve done my job.

Have fun.

Gamal

Success in the comics industry requires an understanding of the business, creative, and legal aspects of the medium.

Sign up forThe Professional Comics Creator to get monthly e-mail news, tips and advice on how to get the most from your characters and stories

PLEASE NOTE: THIS BLOG POST IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEGAL ADVICE. IF YOU HAVE A LICENSEING OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUE, DISCUSS IT WITH YOUR LEGAL ADVISOR OR CONTACT C3 AT gamalhennessy@gmail.com FOR A FREE CONSULTATION.

Talking to Professionals on the Business of Comics

Added on September 6, 2016 by Gamal Hennessy.

by Gamal Hennessy

The comic book industry is a confusing, chaotic and insane industry for everyone involved, especially the newcomer. Fledgling writers and artist often make mistakes on the business side of things that cost them tens of thousands of dollars, years of work or both.

The best way to avoid mistakes in the comics industry is to learn from professionals who already know what they're doing. Over the summer, Aaron Long of Comicosity asked dozens of established comics professionals what type of advice they would give to new creators. The insight they provided covered professionalism, marketing, accounting, time management and outlook, but one of the most consistent statements is the same thing I've preached on this site for years.

COMIC CREATORS NEED TO UNDERSTAND AND NEGOTIATE THEIR CONTRACTS

When I worked at Marvel and Central Park Media, we often sent out contracts to talent saying "have your lawyer look over this before you sign it" knowing full well that person didn't have a a lawyer. I started C3 to change that and give writers and artists a chance to understand and benefit from the legal side of comics. The professionals already understand this. Read their comments and learn from their mistakes.

Have fun.

Gamal

Success in the comics industry requires an understanding of the business, creative, and legal aspects of the medium.

Sign up forThe Professional Comics Creator to get monthly e-mail news, tips and advice on how to get the most from your characters and stories

What You Can Learn from Jack Kirby

Added on September 6, 2016 by Gamal Hennessy.

The history of comics is littered with stories of artists and writers who created iconic characters, lost the rights to their creations and then had to accept charity in their later years to pay for health care costs. Everyone from Superman and Batman to Watchmen to Guardians, Ghost Rider and the Fantastic Four have been at the center of intellectual property disputes worth tens of millions of dollars.

Asher Elbein of The Atlantic Magazine wrote an insightful piece on this subject to coincide with Marvel’s celebration of Jack Kirby’s 99th birthday. The main thrust of the article is similar to three pieces of advice I often give my clients.

You can’t sell what you don’t own
You don’t know what you own until you see what’s in the contract
You won’t know what’s in the contract until you can understand the implications of each paragraph.

Comic creators owe it to themselves to get professional help in reading and negotiating their contracts. Every creator wants to see their characters on the big screen and made into toys. Very few of them want to set up gofundme pages to pay for their medical costs.

Read Marvel, Jack Kirby and the Comic Book Artist’s Plight http://theatln.tc/2c0BGe8

Have fun.

Gamal

Success in the comics industry requires an understanding of the business, creative, and legal aspects of the medium.

Sign up forThe Professional Comics Creator to get monthly e-mail news, tips and advice on how to get the most from your characters and stories

Get What You Give (Rights and Revenue in Comics)

Added on August 31, 2016 by Gamal Hennessy.

by Gamal Hennessy

A contract is an agreement between one or more groups for the exchange of resources. The exchange could be time for money, goods for services, property for future gains or any combination of those things. The best agreements exchange roughly equal resources. The worst ones have one side trading large amounts of resources for little or nothing in return.

This is the problem that artists run into with many of the contracts that I see. The most important service I provide is showing my clients what they are giving up in comparison to what they are getting. I’d like to provide an overview of the different types of rights and revenue streams as a general overview for creators looking to get their projects into the market.

Types of Rights

Comics and publishing are governed by a branch of the law called intellectual property. Copyright law is a specific type of intellectual property. A copyright gives the creator of an original work (like a comic) the right to benefit from the sale and distribution of that work. There are various types of ways currently available for comic creators to benefit from their creativity. Some of the major distribution methods include:

Publishing (Traditional printing, digital printing, novels, audiobooks, etc.)
Public Display (gallery displays of artwork)
Theatrical (Movies whether live action or animated)
Television (including network, basic cable, premium cable, PPV whether live action or animated)
Home Video (including DVD, Blu-Ray, etc.)
Live Performance (including Broadway performances and theme park performances)
Interactive (including console computer or mobile video games)
Merchandise
Sponsorships or product placement

As new forms of media distribution are created, new rights are created for the artists. These rights are universal, but they can be divided or carved out by geographic area, time frame, distribution channel, language and other factors. (This division can be complicated, so I’m going to save that for another post)

Types of revenue

Just as there are different rights that creators can use to get their work into the world, there are various ways that they can be paid. Comic creators need to focus on four ideas:

A royalty is a percentage that the artist earns for every finished unit that is sold. For example, an artist might receive 30% of every one of their comics that is sold to the public.
An advance is paid before the work is finished. For example, a writer of a novel might receive money up for her novel based on the proposal not the finished product.
A minimum guarantee (MG) is money paid up before the work is finished, based on anticipated sales. For example, if a toy company plans to sell a new licensed toy for $10 and the creator gets 10% of that sale, then the creator gets $1 per unit sold. If the company expects to sell 100,000 units, then the MG that the artist gets for this deal is $100,000.
A page rate is a flat fee paid to the artist for every page accepted by the client or publisher. For example, a penciler with a $300 page rate deal gets $9,600 for a 32 page book, not counting the cover.
These are broad revenue concepts. They are often altered and refined by concepts like gross, net, recoupment, offsets and other variables. (This is another complicated subject that I’ll can talk about later.)

Choices that Artists Must Make

In certain comic deals, the types and amounts of revenue are fairly straight forward, like the work for hire page rate. There is more confusion for creators pursuing creator owned deals. There is often no advance, no MG, and a blanket royalty rate for all forms of distribution. This puts them creators in a dangerous position since the lack of upfront money and the uncertainty of any profitable sales in the future means that the creators are really working on spec while at the same time giving up all their rights to their property.

From the publisher’s perspective, it is understandable why they would do this in their contracts. Publishers protect themselves from risk by limiting exposure to projects that might not be financially viable. At the same time, they maximize their potential gain by securing as many rights as possible for projects that are financially viable. Artists need learn the same lesson. They need to counter the publisher’s position by attempting to limit the rights that a publisher gets for projects that are financially viable and maximizing revenue for every project they do.

I know negotiating power is often limited for artists. But having a clear understanding of the relationship between revenue and rights and clear goal of where they want to go can help maximize their limited negotiating power and increase their chances of success.

Best

Gamal

Success in the comics industry requires an understanding of the business, creative, and legal aspects of the medium.

Sign up for The Professional Comics Creator to get monthly e-mail news, tips and advice on how to get the most from your characters and stories

The Social Side of Comics

Added on August 29, 2016 by Gamal Hennessy.

Comics revolve around collaborative creativity. The writer and penciler work together to tell a story. Often, an inker, colorist, and letterer join the team to divide the work and share in the rewards. A few creators do everything on their own, but most comics need good interaction among the team members to finish a quality project.

Buddy Scalera of Comic Book School published a piece a while back about the importance of having a positive, professional demeanor. Because the industry is relatively small and information travels fast, a negative reputation can cripple an otherwise promising career. As the saying goes "It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."

This kind of advice applies to almost any job or social situation. The small, team based world of comics simply magnifies the impact.

Click Here to Read Dont Be a Jerk in Your Comics Career http://bit.ly/2c0lnQe

Have fun.

Gamal

Success in the comics industry requires an understanding of the business, creative, and legal aspects of the medium.

Sign up for The Professional Comics Creator to get monthly e-mail news, tips and advice on how to get the most from your characters and stories.