Domains and Movies

June 3, 2008 1:45 PM

Please help me price this deal. Got a call from a company that specializies in rights clearances for television and feature films. They would like to use my domain as a backdrop in their story. While they have been short on what part the domain plays exact in their story, they did say "would like to use the website on a computer screen as set dressing in our upcoming motion picture" and "Production will create their own web design for the page with a still of one of our lead characters. We feel that this use would lend an authentic touch to our production. " Any recommendations on how I should approach this? and the way to make this most profitable for me?
posted by boyinmiami to computers & internet (17 comments total)

Don't know if it will help anyone answer, but it might be handy for you to pop your website up in your profile info so people can check it out. I mean, "harrypottersblog.hogwarts.edu" might fetch a lot more than "mrgenericcharacter.com" or something.
posted by djgh at 1:51 PM on June 3, 2008

I'm confused. Are they making "a web design" that mimics the on you are currently using but w/ a picture of their character or whatever? Or are they creating a totally different looking web site? If the latter, then it sounds like all they want to do is have your domain name in the URL on their computer screen in their movie.

If they are going to mimic your web design for their movie I'd probably charge a LOT more than if it were just the domain name. How big is the budget for the movie?

Anyway, I would haggle with them. Let them know you are interested and propose a cost that you know is too high for them and tell them that it is up for negotiation. Sounds to me like you don't have to do anything, so I would probably settle for whatever they are willing to pay, myself. But I'd probably start in the ballpark of $5000 and just see how they react by that. I dunno what is normal.
posted by nickerbocker at 1:56 PM on June 3, 2008

I would venture that the publicity from having your website in the movie would outweigh the risk of losing the opportunity from asking too much.

$500.
posted by unixrat at 2:03 PM on June 3, 2008

I assume you have somewhat of a high profile site if a production company is asking to use it in a movie. Before taking any action or making any promises, I'd hire an entertainment lawyer and put the producer in touch with him/her. Your website is a brand, and it should be considered as such in terms of how they plan on using it. While it can be true that any publicity is good publicity, you should be aware of how they plan on portraying your site and to what extent it will play a role in the film. If it plays a significant role in the film then you would obviously be entitled to more money. These are all things you should go over with a lawyer.
posted by ISeemToBeAVerb at 2:07 PM on June 3, 2008

As a follow up, mocking up a dummy domain is trivial - No more than a couple of hours work at most.

Keep that in mind while considering your price - building a replacement window dressing is dirt-cheap.
posted by unixrat at 2:08 PM on June 3, 2008

Thank you for your responses so far- wanted to make a couple of things clear.
1. right now its a parked domain, so there is nothing on there, they want the domain use only, so basically the like the idea of abc.om. They will making their own dressing, so they wouldnt need to use the site, even if there was one there.
posted by boyinmiami at 2:11 PM on June 3, 2008

Well, if you sell parked domains, see if they want to buy.

On a bit of a tangent, I know someone, a dancer, who's rehearsal space was scouted to be a set in a Keanu Reaves movie years and years ago. Her landlord tried to oust her to collect the fee for use int he film, she hired counsel, and the studio and landlord paid her off handsomely.
posted by Ponderance at 2:16 PM on June 3, 2008

Find out more about what kind of productions are involved. Don't bring in an attorney just yet as that would scare away most productions regardless of how much bank they have, do that once you are ready to talk $$$. And also ask for the exact usage as to how your website will be featured. Not all publicity is good. What if its a film about child pornography or some such thing and your website is somehow implicated. Definitely ask for details and either a copy from the script or synopsis. These are not unheard of demands and most if not all productions should comply with you.

My ex who worked for the LA Weekly had dealt with many productions who wanted to use the weekly as some sort of plot device in their films. Most of the time clearance was given unless it was for something which would have put the paper in a negative light.
posted by cazoo at 2:21 PM on June 3, 2008

I would want to know more about what production company this is, what the movie is about...I mean, is this a major studio release? Something high profile? And if so how much importance is the site/domain to the plot? What I'd be concerned about would be: is this the next big hit movie and will the domain become such a target of fanboys checking it out just because it's in the movie that the domain might become essentially unusable for whatever your own purposes are.
posted by dnash at 2:21 PM on June 3, 2008

Ask them to make the domain name visible, as visible as possible. Put up good content, use googleads, and make money from free traffic to your site. Be really certain it won't be used in a creepy way, although even so, it would still drive traffic. If you can get any of that traffic to become regulars, you'll make more money with ads, so having good content is key.
posted by theora55 at 2:24 PM on June 3, 2008

Agreeing with theora55. To add to that, you may also request your domain name and your name be thrown in the credits.
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 2:42 PM on June 3, 2008

I would imagine the studio would overlay their own site design idea for the domain name, rather than using this person's. If that's the case, you might have a say in design concessions, like, "whenever the site is not being shown on screen , everybody should be asking 'hey, how come you're not using boyinmiami.com right now?"
posted by rhizome at 3:25 PM on June 3, 2008

If it's not a high profile production company, the stakes are low. Try for $1,000 and take whatever they counter with.

If it is a high profile, name brand company, in effect, this is product placement. If you were an established brand, not a parked domain, they'd be asking you to pay to be in the movie. In this case, get whatever you can get, and then make money after the film is released and starts driving people to your site. OR, as suggested, just sell them the domain. I would think they would want control of a domain they're putting in their film, just to ensure you don't put porn on it once they release the film.
posted by beagle at 3:35 PM on June 3, 2008

If you don't say what your domain is and don't know what type of production you're dealing with, then there's little way of giving you a decent value for using your domain. It could be a central point in the story, in which case, if it was a $100 million movie, you could reasonably sell your site to them for $100,000. It could also be a brief mention that could be replaced by almost any other site, in which case, $500 would be good, easy money.

If you are retaining ownership of the site for a specific reason, it is not unreasonable to ask for more information on its use and the context in which it is going to be used.
posted by paperzach at 4:23 PM on June 3, 2008

One other thought, you're going to insist on this: You want to make sure your site isn't viewed in a negative light (for example, a racist character who thinks it's the best thing ever; or a place where someone bought a liver, etc.)
posted by filmgeek at 5:44 PM on June 3, 2008

Why don't you tell them that you have some ideas and an offer, but you want to hear what they were thinking of spending first? Sometimes that works with art commissions. They will always lowball you, but it will give you a number to double in your counteroffer.
posted by GardenGal at 7:59 PM on June 3, 2008

Seconding beagle's advice above. Small production should be able to pony up $1000. If it's a bigger company, $5000 would be my suggestion.

If you're really tied to keeping the domain name and you think they're amenable, you may also suggest a provision that releases the domain back to you in a set period of time (say, two years), as they'll likely not care about it once the film moves to DVD.

Good luck!
posted by liquado at 7:55 AM on June 4, 2008