At Matt Callian Videography, we value transparency, especially when it comes to how we handle the footage we capture on behalf of our clients.
As part of our services, it’s important that you understand both your rights and the benefits of allowing us to use your video and audio recordings for our marketing and educational purposes.
This blog post will explain how we approach copyright, how it benefits both your business and ours, and how it impacts our pricing.
Copyright Ownership and Usage
First, let’s be clear: you are the copyright owner of all the video and audio we record on your behalf.
However, as part of our terms of service, we ask for a license to use that content in connection with the services we provide.
What does this mean for you? While the footage is yours, you are granting us permission to use it in ways that can help us grow our business. Specifically, we ask for a royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable, and sub-licensable worldwide license to use the recordings in our portfolio, marketing materials, and educational content, such as YouTube videos and demonstrations.
This is similar to how a construction company showcases its completed projects as part of its advertising strategy. Just as a builder uses their past work to demonstrate their expertise, we use the footage and edits we create for you, to showcase our skills. This helps us attract new clients and keep our business thriving.
Why This is Priced Into Your Package
When you purchase our services, the price reflects the fact that we may use the footage we create for your project in future marketing and educational materials. This is a key component of how we generate new business, and it’s an important part of how we keep providing high-quality video production services.
By using the footage and creative assets we create for you, we can build our portfolio, which ultimately helps us secure new clients. After all, a strong portfolio helps us stand out in a competitive market. And just like we want your project to shine in front of your audience, we also want it to showcase our work in a way that attracts future business.
The Symbiotic Relationship: Your Business and Ours
You may be wondering, “What’s in it for me?” The answer is simple: a good video not only reflects well on your brand, but it also reflects well on ours.
When you let us use your footage in our portfolio or marketing materials, you’re ensuring that we do our best work. That’s because a video that appears on our website and social media represents us just as much as it represents you. It’s our way of demonstrating the quality of our services to future clients.
We take pride in our work, and knowing that we can use your footage to build our portfolio motivates us to go the extra mile. After all, if you’re happy with the result, we’re happy to show it off!
What About Sensitive Material?
We understand that some clients may have concerns about confidentiality or the sensitivity of their footage. If you prefer that we don’t use your content in any way, we offer the option of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). For clients who choose this route, we charge an additional fee—typically around 30% more than our standard pricing.
Why do we charge more for this? The reason is simple: when we can’t use your footage in our portfolio, we lose the opportunity to showcase our work to future clients. However, this doesn’t mean that we deliver anything less than our best work.
We still love our craft and put the same effort into every project, regardless of usage rights. In fact, one of our best productions of 2024 was a corporate event we filmed and edited for a large Australian company in Sydney. The video turned out so well that we felt disappointed we couldn’t share it with others, but at least we got paid 30% more for that extra confidentiality!
Conclusion
In summary, we want to be upfront about how your footage may be used after we’ve captured it. When you book our services, the fact that we use your video to build our portfolio and attract new clients is priced into the cost.
If confidentiality is a concern, we can accommodate your needs for an additional charge, and this comes with the understanding that we’re unable to use your footage to build our brand.
We’re committed to producing high-quality content that benefits your business while also helping us grow ours. By understanding this dynamic, you can be confident that we’ll always do our best to deliver great results—because when your business succeeds, ours does too.
Let us know if you have any questions or concerns about how we handle your footage. We’re here to make sure you feel comfortable and informed every step of the way!
