I'm excited about the new website/series Quarterlife by Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick. I joined up. I almost clicked right through the terms of use, but took a quick look. Here's the interesting part:
5. CONTENT POSTED ON WEBSITE.Now read this article by Marshall Herskovitz for more info on the changing TV landscape and the future of ambitious content on the web:
a. You understand and agree that Company may review, modify, or delete, without notice, any data, text, software, music, sound, message, photograph, graphic, image, video, profile, Mash-up, work of authorship, or other material or expression (collectively, "Content"), whether posted publicly or posted privately to other Members, that in the sole judgment of Company violates this Agreement or which might be offensive, indecent, or illegal, or which might harm, violate the rights, or threaten the safety of any person. Company is the final arbiter of what IS and IS NOT allowed on the Website.
b. You are solely responsible for the Content that you publish, transmit, upload, communicate, or display (collectively, "post") on the Website and/or through the Service, whether posted publicly or posted privately to other Members. You understand that Company has no obligation to monitor the Website, or monitor, control or edit the Content thereon, or monitor any use of the Service by Members, or remove inappropriate Content. Company is not responsible in any way for the Content posted by Members on any area of the Website or otherwise posted through the Service. By posting Content on the Website and/or through the Service, you agree to bear all risks associated with the accuracy and completeness of such Content.
c. If you post Content to any public area of Website or submit any Content, including, without limitation, any scripts, treatments, casting reels, video clips, or Mash-ups via the Website, you automatically grant to Company, its licensees, successors, and assigns, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free worldwide license to use, reproduce, publicly perform, display, modify, adapt, repurpose, alter, edit, publish, translate, distribute, access, view, store, prepare derivative works of, incorporate into other works, and/or otherwise exploit such Content, or any part thereof, including but not limited to any copyrighted material, and your name, image, voice and likeness, for any purpose and in any form, media, or technology, whether now known or later developed, including but not limited to featuring such Content, name, image, voice or likeness on any page of the Website or on a third party website or mobile application, or in connection with any television program/series, motion picture, web or mobile program/series, or in any marketing, promotional materials or advertisements, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing (the “License”). You further agree to permit anyone to access, display, view, store and reproduce such Content for personal use. You further agree to permit Company to display, feature, integrate, or exhibit advertisements in connection with Content, including, without limitation, banner advertisements, and pre-roll, post-roll, and interstitial video advertisements. You further waive any and all so-called "Moral Rights" or similar rights of any jurisdiction, now or hereafter recognized, with respect to Company’s exercise of such right and license.
d. By posting any information about or photographs, videos or images of yourself on the Website and/or through the Service, you thereby waive any rights of privacy or publicity to such information, photographs, videos or images. In connection with your applicable submissions via the Website, you hereby irrevocably grant to Company the nonexclusive right to photograph, film, tape or otherwise record or capture your physical likeness and movements in any manner it desires, to use your name (or a fictitious name) and biographical data, and to record and reproduce your voice and other sound effects in any medium (now or hereafter known). Without in any way limiting the foregoing, you acknowledge that Company has the right to change, modify or manipulate your name, likeness, movements and voice in connection with its exercise of said rights. You agree that Company shall have sole discretion in determining the extent and manner of use of your name, likeness or anything else granted herein and that Company is not obligated in any way to use your name, likeness or anything else granted herein or any portion thereof in any medium.
e. You further represent and warrant that: (1) You exclusively and irrevocably own the Content posted by you on the Website and/or through the Service or otherwise have the right to grant the License set forth in this section; and (2) any Content posted by you on the Website and/or through the Service does not violate or infringe the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents, moral rights or other intellectual property, contract, or proprietary rights of any person or entity. You agree to pay all royalties, fees, and other monies owing to any person or entity by reason of any Content that you post on the Website and/or through the Service.
Are the suits ruining TV? ; Network control and media consolidation are wringing the creativity out of entertainment.
Here's an excerpt:
Zwick and I have joined that migration to the Internet. We've created a project called "quarterlife" -- a series and a social network -- that we own and control, and we had to give up our TV deal in order to do it. The series will premiere Sunday on MySpace and then on our site, quarterlife.com, the next night. We've worked very hard, and spent a great deal of our own money, to make it as good as anything we've ever done on television. And we've gotten calls from every guild and virtually every producer we know, all of whom are curious to see if this little experiment can succeed. Because if it does, it will prove that there's a way to independently produce, finance and distribute ambitious content on the Internet. And if we can do it, others can do it. To be sure, there's every possibility this series will end up on television after it's established on the Internet, but only if we still own it and control it creatively, which would make it unique in today's landscape.I think it's ironic that the terms on the Quarterlife site mirror the big company control of TV.
The problems of network ownership and creative control are not directly at issue in the current strike by the Writers Guild of America. What's at stake is how writers will be compensated, given the control everyone assumes the big companies will exert over new methods of delivery.
But make no mistake -- deep resentment in the entire creative community over the absolute power now wielded by these companies is the fuel that feeds the strike.
I wonder if Marshall and Ed have read their own site's terms of use?
Update: Yes. Marshall Herskovitz responds in the comments...
We've been fighting for better terms on video hosting sites for years now. We'll just have to start a conversation to see what we can do, to participate in future revenue derived from our work.
Power to the people!