Stand Back While I Vent…

I was going to take this week to write about graphic novels.  We have two coming out this week, Booster Gold & Nightwing.  I was going to talk about how things have switched from “monthlies” to mini-series to fit the graphic novel format… but then I changed my mind.

I was reading an article about a well-known colorist who is in a battle with a well-known publisher over payment (or lack thereof.)  We have all been there and it is hard, lonely place with not a lot of answers.  Do you keep going hoping they will eventually catch up, do you refuse to turn in any of the pages you have until they pay, what is the right thing to do.  Unfortunately, it depends on each incident which isn’t a good answer at all when talking about money.  But I digress, the thing is that someone (in the article or in the comments I don’t remember) made a comment that maybe the answer was to not work without a contract.  And that just irritates me to no end (here come the venting part, get ready.)

Let me tell you about contracts and coloring.  As you probably know Brian & I have been running Hi-Fi for over 10 years, we’ve been around the block and have seen just about everything.  What we rarely see are contracts.  As a colorist, in comics, contracts hardly ever exist–unless you are exclusive with one company.  Half the time you don’t even know what your page rate is or if you need to invoice or voucher or what.

Now we have had a few companies want us to use contracts.  They are usually big book publishers and are worried about copyright & intellectual property and such.  So, they send you a 4-10 page document of all that you can’t do, a page rate, a date you will receive the payments and usually a paragraph saying you can’t work on any similar project while working with them.  Yeah right.

Obviously, we will work on similar projects if by projects they mean color something that used to be a cartoon! The contract also sometimes states that we receive half the payment when we receive the art and the other half within 30 days of approval. Yeah right.

And then reality sets in… sometimes the editors are totally on the ball and dump 38 pages of art on us and covers and ref and story and, and, and.  The problem comes when legal and I are still sorting out the contract & no one gets paid until contracts have been approved and signed by both parties.  (By the way, even if I don’t change a word of the contract it still mysteriously takes about a month for those things to get approved and signed.)

Fast forward two-three weeks and we are ready to turn in this project.  I still haven’t received the signed contracts or the first payment.  We turn everything in to the editor because we don’t want to get a reputation for missing a deadline but we haven’t been paid the first half of the money owed.  I try casually mentioning to the editor that we haven’t even seen the first half the money yet (ha, ha) and he wants the whole book in two weeks (isn’t that funny).  He replies with a don’t worry it’s “in process” and all will be fine kind of answer.  Yeah right.

Here is what really happened: 45 days after we turned in the final pages we received that first half the money.  It’s been 95 days now and we haven’t seen the second half but we have another story due on Monday.  Before you ask, no we haven’t seen contracts or any sign of money at all for this second book. (I should also mention that when they finally do pay the rate is more than comics pay per page.) So, what do we do?

This is obviously a real, specific project but similar things have happened with other book companies.  One company told me that since I put Net 30 on my invoices they didn’t have to start processing the paper work until after 30 days, then they needed 45 days to send out the check!!!  This was a well-known, big-named publishing house! Have I mentioned yeah right?

So, I say again, what are we to do?  If we hold the work hostage, we miss the deadline and don’t get paid.  Even if we agree to follow their contracts they don’t follow them.  Can anyone afford to lose a client in this day and age even if they pay exceedingly slow?  I’ve tried every trick in the book to get them to pay quicker or help me understand what can possibly take so freaking long but all I get are “in-process, check back later” kinds of answers.

I feel for the aforementioned well-known colorist fighting against the well-known publisher.  How DO you make someone pay you in an industry where we work on only a verbal handshake and some email correspondence.  Contracts don’t seem to be the answer either.

Sometimes its slightly disconcerting and sometimes it just makes me mad!

Kristy Miller

VP, Development

Hi-Fi Design