contracting for multiple reproductions

[GlennT]

I have been approached by a company that I have done some artwork for in the past. They are interested in taking an original public sculpture of mine and selling reduced size resin casts in quantities from hundreds to perhaps thousands. They would take my wax, which I had already created a mold for when I did a couple of bronze reductions years ago, and then they would have their manufacturer create the mold and cast the copies, which they would then sell both retail and wholesale to others.

I have heretofore always done original one of a kind pieces, or at most sold a few bronze casts from an original work, so I have not done this type of deal before.

I'm wondering what would be a reasonable fee to charge, such as an upfront fee for the right to use my work in this manner, and an additional royalty per item sold.
If, for example, the retail price of each resin piece was $50, what could I charge that would make it worthwhile both for my time and efforts and their profit?

Do some of you have experience with this sort of arrangement that you could share? Thanks.

[Aaron Schroeder]

I've never gone this route myself........but some friends of mine have a company that does these kinds of deals. To the best of my knowledge, no one got rich, the margins were harsh and every one worked their ass off. The artist who's work got reproduce probably made out the best.

Be generous, the reproduction business relies on collectors....... a limited market........yet they will collect and purchase multiples in a series. Don't look for a profit on the singal item.......think of a group of sculptures that relate to one another. Just be glad that you won't be doing the truelly hard work........the reproductions and the marketing........you'll be the star.......and you'll get the work out there and make alot of people happy.

Count your blessings,this doesn't happen often in the life of an artist.

[GlennT]

The work in question actually has an almost assured market, as it is a religious piece that has additional significance for the coming year.

The original offer they made was for a royalty of 8% of the wholesale cost per piece. So, if a $50 retail item costs $20 wholesale, I would earn $1.60 per item. If they sell 200 of these, I earn $320. If they sell 1000, I earn $1,600.
This did not jump out at me as being a very compelling financial gain unless the quantities of sales go well beyond that, which I do not know about. What if some of the details of my work are not practical for a resin cast at that scale and they end up filling in some undercuts or do things that cheapen the final result in order to make it easier to produce? I don't know if that would happen, but if so, would this help my "getting my name out there" to have a piece that fell short of my personal production standards?

If the royalties as listed above puts me at the top of the food chain for profits made on this piece, and everyone else is making less, and doing so much more work than me, why in the world would they bother?

I did pass on that offer and am giving this more thought, so as to create a win-win circumstance for all involved. Which is why I wanted to see if anyone else has an experience to relate that may help put this in perspective. I want it to be a winning situation for the others as well. I just find it hard to believe that $1.60 to the artist for each $50 piece is where most of the money is being made. If that is true, it is rather humbling and worthy of more compassion given to those who try to earn a living selling this stuff.

I have been offered the temptation of "fame" and "getting your name out there" numerous times. I translate that to mean, we don't have any money to pay you what your work is worth. To me, making people happy with my work is much more compelling of a reason to do anything. Nevertheless, the bills that come in the mail never come with a waiver that states," If you let our company use the fame your good name to promote our service, we will not charge you this month." So I still have to earn a living from the not inconsiderable work on that I have to do to provide an original sculpture as welkl as reliquish to some extent the copyrights to my work.

[ahirschman]

Hi GlennT. It is good to hear that you have such an offer.

I think the question you should ask yourself is how much work you are going to have to do. If you already have the wax made and all you have to do is pass it on, then that is not too much. If you have to spend 10 extra hours checking on results, etc, then that is another thing.

If an extra few thousand come your way without you having to do much work, then that sounds like a fantastic deal. That would be a good ROI (return on investment). This is business, and you should look at it that way.
8% sounds good. If you want to push it, try to go up to 9 or 10%. Remember, they will try to maximize their profits also, and probably left a hair of wiggle room. But, 8% is much more than 0%.

If you have more pieces that could fall under this system, then this could be a good way to get your foot in the door.

It is a way to squeeze more juice out of your used lemons.

Perhaps the sale of one sculpture under this system is not much, but what would happen if you have 5 or 10? It starts to add up.

Go for it. It may work, it may not work, but you will certainly learn a lot from the experience.

Question: Have you copy right registered the piece? Might be worth the $$.

Well, lots of luck to you either way.

Ari.

[GlennT]

Thanks for the perspective, Ari.

I will have to do a bunch of work to get them a good wax from my three-part mold, and perhaps some quality control work.

An additional factor to consider is whether having a $50 resin piece out there will make an "expensive" bronze of the same size hard to sell. I have sold two such for the same profit as royalties would be on 800 resins.

It is interesting to consider, when figuring out a reasonable cost for my work, only the amount of work from this point forward, and not the effort that brought it to this point. Were they commissioning a new piece, I would have considerable more time involved. If I make a deal now based upon the fact that I have already sculpted the work, does that create a false expectation of what they should pay for any subsequent work that would be done from scratch?

Still, your advice that amounts to "just do it" is sound. More often than not that is how I approach things. This just happens to be a different angle that I had not given much thought to before.

[ahirschman]

An additional factor to consider is whether having a $50 resin piece out there will make an "expensive" bronze of the same size hard to sell. I have sold two such for the same profit as royalties would be on 800 resins.

It is interesting to consider, when figuring out a reasonable cost for my work, only the amount of work from this point forward, and not the effort that brought it to this point. Were they commissioning a new piece, I would have considerable more time involved. If I make a deal now based upon the fact that I have already sculpted the work, does that create a false expectation of what they should pay for any subsequent work that would be done from scratch?

Hi GlennT, the final decision as to whether to do this or not must come from your heart. I am not sure if having 1000 reproductions floating around would interfere with a signed and numbered bronze piece. It may for some people and not for others. You could also think of them as reverse advertisement. By reverse, I mean that instead of paying you are getting payed for advertising your own work. Maybe a few (Even one?) of the purchasers will eventually become curious as to the creator of such fine work, and do a little research. In a couple of years you just may get a call...

I get request for existing pieces with modifications all the time. If I already have the mold/s made, then the amount of work needed to make a new piece is not as much. My molds and initial time are recovered over a long time, and many times on the original series and not the modified commissions that occur along the road.

This said and done, I still calculate (Most of the time just mentally) my time and effort Vs. the income before deciding. I also think of some customers becoming collectors down the road.

Well, again, good luck either way.

Ari.

[tonofelephant]

Glenn

Were they commissioning a new piece, I would have considerable more time involved. If I make a deal now based upon the fact that I have already sculpted the work, does that create a false expectation of what they should pay for any subsequent work that would be done from scratch?

A slightly different perspective. If you had written a book and sent it to a publisher, you would naturally expect an advance plus royalties. I see your case as very similar.

As the situation stands now, the people doing the edition are basically taking your work on consignment and paying you only when a sale occurs. I would seriously think about getting an advance of maybe $250 -$300 and negotiate a smaller royalty - maybe 5%.

I have two reasons for this. First - the people making the edition will have some skin in the game and be more motivated to sell your edition since they are already out their time and a pittance of money to you. Second - if these people don't sell anything, you are out time and money that could have been spent elsewhere. Possibly making two limited edition pieces that would make the same profit.

I do agree with Ari - this is business. As a provider of an in-demand prototype (they came to you didn't they?) you rightly should be compensated for your time.

One other thought - are they going to cap the edition limit? Do you get to QC the final product?

Not being paranoid - just your name on the product. I would want it to be as good as possible.

Just my thoughts.

Carl