It was in an Marijuana Anonymous meeting , *( yes , they do have those ) in North Hollywood where I discovered an individual from the entertainment industry who said to me "Submit to Achieve" . At the time I thought of it to be a logical discription of maybe a guideline of practice in otherwords..."Drop what you are working on my desk and if someone likes it there will be a check in it for you at the close of the roundtable where we slowly pick apart and re-assemble your work in a fashion we deem profitable "
This was at the time typical practice. Its well known in Woodland Hills' that producers , much
like the ones who handle talent such as MJ, LW, and BS. will say that when you enter a position of business, like that of a Limited Partnership , or single case agreement for the ability to co-write , direct or in anyway resemble an affiliation with an artist will simply "absorb" your catalog of historical works and in doing so claim rights of creativity if they at anytime discover material in your works that they can use, with little or no regard for what you have done or how many hours you toiled on a particular project it is now included in the corral of the partnership relationship.
With that said, when a producer likes your work ...when...well. lets say you are a media artist. You have a 3 minute concept piece that you shop in HD/STEMP and it would be great for a contempoary artists to manicure this look and feel with a producer to promote this artists latest release. During the process you have shared a few concepts that can be used as spin off or sequels to your original piece and the producer has expressed interest in you investing hours with his artists' team to make it "a good fit" and you take this as an invitation to mold the second number so that it will easily work with the next release.
What to do next ..? a producer who you meet says "Submit to achieve" you drop a copy of what you worked on for the last 20 studio hours and it gets on the table rather than the cutting room floor. With this "Submit to achieve" method the most you will ever get is an honorable mention at page 32 of a production reel moving too fast to focus on , and a bill for the 20 hours of booth rental. The producer himself thanked you in person and within hours of cutting the final tape for air on Wisney Channel, or ENT he has already forgotton your name.
The truth is that since the late 90s the producer is in just as a precarious position as the creative director or the marketing guy. The Corporation that feeds the system also needs the system.
Dont be a victim.
Release everything you have independently isn't the answer but establishing a time line for your creations, with a logical chain of custody and keeping in close with that chain of custody. Here is something I do when Im working on a project. I write up a description , maybe take a few pictures and put em in an envelope and mail it to myself. I can also do this just a easily with email but not as usable to create a papertrail as email time codes can be forged.
I have been writing music for over 25 years. The fun part is that a majority of my recordings are still floating around in space, cyberspace and otherwise. If I didnt have a handle on the people who are on those recordings I would feel uncofortable releasing or committing to conditions . But things like networking software enable us to connect and re-connect virtually as the individuals of that particular program or arrangements may have gone the seperate ways .
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