So you're in the market for job experience and in the process of building your resume up with game titles you've worked on. This is a very real and necessary part of working in the game and entertainment biz and there's no shame in it. Remember that! Someone agrees to take you on for free or maybe for a royalty down the road(nice of them isn't it?) all you have to do is work and slave for them and do your best work and all will be well right? Well maybe. Honestly most of these projects crap out so don't count on it. Think ahead and protect yourself. One of the things you will inevitably run into its the dreaded signing of the NDA document. Everybody who runs or even pretends to run a studio will want you to sign one if you have access to design docs and team files, etc. They are all producing the next big indie hit that nobody has ever seen anything like it before.....yada,yada, yada..... There's nothing wrong with most of them at all. They are a standard contract and simply outline what you can and can't do with information you use while producing your designs or artwork for an given project. Those aren't the ones I'm discussing here. The dreaded ones go a little something like this.....After signing this you can't show anybody sketches, artwork or anything you produce related to our project as long as it remains a project and even if not, then for an unspec'd period of time afterwards aka-forever. Which boils down to until we say otherwise your artwork is ours and we might pay you for it someday, but probably not. What a fine thank you to anyone inexperienced enough to sign it and then work for free, on credit or the proverbial 'royalties-someday' basis. If you work on a project and you are asked to sign one of these, make sure to tell the individual that you won't sign any document that diminishes or revokes your right to use your artwork for any purpose. Even if you are getting paid you should still retain the rights to your artwork-sometimes you have to wait to use it until after the release date which is fine and commonplace. Remember-you own your artwork unless someone purchases it. Don't give it away, especially not to end up shoved in a digital closet and forgotten about by someone who is simply trying to use a heinous little contract to do something everyone frowns upon. Just because you are inexperienced doesn't mean you aren't talented or are worthless. NDA's are a total reality on any project but you have rights. Read the fine print and protect yourself. It sucks if you are resume building and can't show off any artwork in your reels because you signed it's life away, or when someone else thinks they own it because they got you to sign over the rights to it before you were compensated, with a completely open ended time frame for usage. If they are using your work, and not paying you for it, even if they have given you a big 'IOU-someday' you really must retain rights to anything you produce. It's how we advertise our services to potential clients and prospective employers, etc. Anybody who doesn't understand that most likely doesn't really care and are probably best avoided. You can also avoid this pitfall by simply letting the individuals at said 'studio' know that you want to work on a need to know basis only-aka-don't feed me any more information on your game than I need to know to do my job and I can't leak anything of value, but I'm retaining the rights to my artwork and designs for use in my reels portfolios, and potential advertisements. If they want you to do work for them, and they always do you have the leverage to get them to agree. There are lots of times I've avoided signing NDA's altogether or had them write me up an amended one tailored to how I want to work and interact with them. Sometimes writing up your own in best. Every situation is unique and these are simply tips to try and help you navigate the slippery slope of junk contracts. Best advice-when in doubt back the hell out. Until next time peeps! Much Love!
IIId
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