I’m not trained as a lawyer. This is not legal advice. Get legal advice for contracts. I’m speaking from experience about the contracts I’ve seen for friends, clients, and myself. Most of these contracts are between an individual and a corporation.
Many entertainment pros I know think of contracts all wrong.
A contract is a love letter, not a declaration of war
This is the #1 problem with many entertainment pros getting into contracts. It’s not about the contrast, it’s about the clarity.
They’re called “agreements” for a reason. Contracts are an incredible step into trust and deeper collaboration.
Often we get this idea that we want everyone to be on the same page automatically. Hopefully everyone has “good” intentions and wants to do the “right thing.” We read each other’s minds and nobody does anything “amorally.” If all this stuff is not true, then we need a contract in order to draw the line for our enemy and prepare for war.
I assume people, in general, are trying to do the same things.
People want to be kind and make the world better whenever possible.
Most of the time, concepts of what is kind and a better world are mostly the same. But the actions and situations that lead to kindness and better-worldness are relative based on perspectives.
A set decorator might think that getting themselves paid a lot is better for the world because they’ll be able to do better work, while a theater company might think they need to save as much money as possible to put into making more great work. So, the contract is a great opportunity for both parties to work together to define how best to make a better world.
If a contract is thorough and clear, it frees everyone up to work together without questioning the scope, direction, distribution, and transaction of the work. It makes the relationship more fun and more motivational.
I won’t see you in court.
I have never gone to court or arbitration over a contract, and I’ve dealt with a lot of them. Usually a legal battle is the last resort. It’s annoying and expensive.
On the other hand, I have brought up contract points a lot as a way to remind everyone of our goals. These are simple conversations and a splendid way to get back into alignment.
Take some time and get it right
Because we think of contracts as conflicts, we often try to rush through the process. By doing this, we aren’ setting ourselves up for all the awesomeness possible. If we think of them as love letters, we wanna get everything in there!
I had a lot of roommates in my young adulthood.
There were so many conflicts with my first roommates because we had different ideas of what home was supposed to be. We had different ideas of our responsibilities. After going through the fights and the resentments and the whatnot a bunch of times, I learned to start communicating upfront about what these expectations were. After I had discussed with my roommates how long dishes can stay in the sink, we might not have both liked the rules of our agreement, but we didn’t have to revisit again. Our collective home could then be more sanctuary-ized.
So
Yes, a good contract will protect us in the case of a lawsuit, but more importantly it will make our work better.