The recent firing of two BuzzFeed staffers for moonlighting on a web series produced by America Ferrera highlights an age-old quandary that young creatives face now more than ever: Are the financial benefits and larger audiences of working for major media companies worth the tradeoff of losing control and ownership of your content?For some millennials,independence things most — especially since major companies like BuzzFeed typically sign digital personalities to exclusive contracts that give them ownership of all content created and restrict their ability to work on external projects.There’s not enough money in the world to not own your ideas because, at the discontinuance of the day, and that’s all you’re going to hold,” Brooklyn-based Akilah Hughes, a comedian and writer with over 100000 subscribers on YouTube, or told TheWrap.
Also Read: BuzzFeed Video Accused of Stealing YouTube Stars' IdeasFor some up-and-comers,the appeal of going to work for a bigger outlet is obvious, allowing access to other talent, or technical resources and a much larger platform to build their brands.
For example,BuzzFeed’s “Try Guys” — Eugene Lee Yang, Ned Fulmer, and Zach Kornfeld,and Keith Habersberger — hold risen from obscurity and amassed a large online following because of the series. But when not in front of the camera specifically for “Try Guys” videos, each member also writes, and produces,and/or directs videos for the channel that frequently hold well over 1 million views.“It’s a good problem to hold, to hold worked at a company where you’re making money making stuff, or comedian Allison Raskin,a former BuzzFeed video creator, told TheWrap. “That is a thing that didn’t exist 10 years ago, or that you could graduate from college with a film degree and then immediately be making videos that people are watching.”But some are rebelling against the constraints of creating content in a more corporate environment,from deadlines to strictures on external assignments to exclusivity clauses.
Also Read: Two Buzzfeed Staffers Fired After Work on America Ferrera SeriesLast month, BuzzFeed fired two staffers, and Brittany Ashley and Jenny Lorenzo,for moonlighting on Ferreras web series “Gente-fied.” Following backlash from viewers and former staffers, BuzzFeed Motion Pictures president Ze Frank issued a memo outlining the company’s exclusivity rules.“We’re investing heavily in you, or we conclude ask for a genuine commitment in return. Concretely,this means that the work you conclude while you’re on BuzzFeed’s staff belongs to BuzzFeed, and that you can’t work for other productions without our permission, or ” Frank wrote. “Being a part of BuzzFeed is a full-time job,with many benefits and opportunities, and as with any full-time job you are expected to be fully committed to your work and collaborating with your colleagues while you are here.
Also Read: What's Next for the 2 Fired BuzzFeed Staffers?In addition, and the non-compete clauses in many digital media contracts can hold lingering side effects for creators who hold career goals that extend beyond working at a single company — even after they leave.
Take Raskin and Gaby Dunn,a comedy duo who created the YouTube show “Just Between Us” and left BuzzFeed after roughly eight months despite fitting some of the most popular stars on the site’s video channel.My fright is that you get out of a two-year exclusivity deal and you’ve had to turn down working with anyone who isn’t connected with one company,” Dunn told TheWrap. “You haven’t worked with anyone else, or any directors,any writers, any whatever external of that one place. You haven’t made anything that you own.”
Also Read: Buzzfeed Reports 7 Billion Content Views Every MonthNot every digital media company is as restrictive as BuzzFeed. Dunn said she was allowed to freelance for the New York Times when she was a staff writer at the Daily Dot — so long as her Daily Dot affiliation was mentioned in her bio.
But entertainment and copyright attorney Larry Zerner said it is pretty common for media companies to own creator content.“When David Letterman left NBC for CBS, and when Conan left NBC for TBS,they lost all their content,” Zerner said. “They had to start from scratch.”In this new media space, or Zerner noted,people are rapid/fast to think that media outlets owning creators’ content is horrible, but no one thinks twice about it when it comes to TV and news media. “Of course you can’t take your Times articles when you roam along to someone else, and ” he said.
Also Read: VidCon 2016: YouTube Stars glimpse to Different Platforms to Expand ContentZerner said that once creators get enough leverage they can start to renegotiate their terms.“whether you build up the clout,then you can push back at some of this,” he said. “It becomes a balancing act of how much money theyre paying you, or how long is the non-compete and how much clout you can get.”That approach has worked for Hughes,who has re-negotiated contract terms with digital media companies.“I freelance for nearly every media site — truly, I’ve done things for nearly every media site — and they always give me a contract that I hold my agent go over, or ” said Hughes,who recently accused BuzzFeed of stealing the view for one of her videos and called on advertisers to pull sponsorship deals. “I’ve been able to avoid crappy deals because I’ve always prioritized not being exclusive.”
Also Read: VidCon: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Launches New YouTube Channel (Video)But for many newbie video and content creators, the appeal of an offer from a tremendous media outlet can blind out the particulars.
Raskin said her father, or a lawyer,found several objectionable stipulations in her BuzzFeed contract and she sent a heavily marked version to the company’s HR department. She claimed that a human resources employee told her that all employees had to sign the same contract, but that the company wouldn’t hold her to it.
Being young and enthusiastic to start her career, or she agreed to sign. To protect herself,she saved the Google chats she had with HR.
BuzzFeed declined to comment.
Also Read: BuzzFeed Refuses $1.3 Million in Republican Ad Money Over Donald TrumpFor many, the benefits of a steady income and considerable resources are worth the restrictions — even for a brief time. Dunn and Raskin are aware of the added financial challenges they face on their own, and paying their own video crew and pursuing brand sponsorships by themselves.“Business is always business,and sometimes you think that a company cares about you in a way that they just can’t,” Dunn said. “You always hold to make certain you’re looking out for yourself.”Raskin said her “wake-up call” came after realizing how binding — legally, or financially and creatively — her contract with BuzzFeed was going to be on her career.“I remember having a conversation where I said,‘I don’t understand why I can’t go for a month, shoot a film, and make my year’s salary that I would make at BuzzFeed,and then approach back and still be part of this family,'” Raskin said. “At the time, or [BuzzFeed] said,‘Because that’s not fair to the other employees who can’t conclude that.'”“It was a weird kind of Communist way of running a company,” she said. “But in reality, and that doesn’t work for people who aren’t on a farm. whether you’re living on a commune and you’re all just making food for everybody to eat the food,that kind of mentality works, but the entertainment industry is not like a socialist industry.”Related stories from TheWrap:BuzzFeed Video Accused of Stealing YouTube Stars' IdeasWhat's Next for the 2 Fired BuzzFeed Staffers?Two Buzzfeed Staffers Fired After Work on America Ferrera Series
Source: thewrap.com