Question about selling rights to sculpture?

L

LoveMyKlr

New Member
Hi everyone. I'm really hoping someone can give me a bit of advice. I recently posted an image on a sculpture Facebook page of a miniature sculpey bust that I had done. I was contacted by someone that wants to cast it, and begin selling them in resin. I would retain the original piece, they just want the rights to produce it. My issue is that I have absolutely no idea how much to charge him. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Here's the piece. It's roughly 4 3/4".

10247247_10203680521955928_8394565018474653185_n.jpg
 
I saw you piece on pinterest Chad. Nice work man. How much does he plan on selling them for and how many will he make? That's the clincher.
 
Thanks for the reply Chaank. He's guessing $30-$35, and doesn't plan on putting a cap on the number he sells. Based on that info do you have any idea how much I should charge?

Appreciate the help!
 
tumblr_m99q0hKr8P1qknseao1_500.png
... seriously though, I have wondered the same thing. It would help if there were a "blue-book" like mechanics have. Or some type of formula to calculate based on difficulty and size, ect.
 
Yeah, a formula would be great. I would think this kind of info would be out there on the inter webs, but I'll be damned if I can find it.

So this is what he's offering me.

"You retain ownership of the likeness and the master sculpt, I only own the replication and distribution rights. Your name will be on the packaging with full credits. I can send you 3 copies of the sculpt to do whatever you wish, and $200 cash. I will also pay for any shipping involved between us."

Does that sound fair?
 
Depends on how many hours it took you to sculpt it. And if you do it for a living.

Say it took you 8 hours to sculpt, and it cost you 20 dollars in sculpey. And lets say the value of 3 copies is 30 dollars.
Thats 200+90-20=270
270 divided by 8 is 33,75 per hour.
But this is to cover your studio space, equipment and knowledge in the field, project management and taxes. Is that an ok hourly rate for you?

If you raise the price, will you still be able to sell it?

Getting paid 200 bucks and getting casts of your model you made for fun seems pretty good.
And you could have a deal where for every 20 or 30 he sells, you get a cut.

Good luck, finding the right price is never easy. It´s about finding something you both can live with.
 
The offer is much to low, because you give the rights to replicate an unknown amount of it, could be 20 could be a 1000...
I would make a contract where you give him the right to replicate (for example) 1000 copys, for a price of 3$ a piece, or 100 pieces for 5$ a piece and 3 free copys! If you calculate that way you will see that with 100 replicas you will get 500$ and with 1000 you would get 3000.-$! Its all about the amount of copys, not only the time you need to finish your sculpt etc. I know a guy in Switzerland who takes advantage of sculptors with no experience, so be careful, you are really talented and you should know how much of your works are sold,(even replicas) and you should not sell it cheap.
 
LoveMyKlr said:
"You retain ownership of the likeness and the master sculpt, I only own the replication and distribution rights. Your name will be on the packaging with full credits. I can send you 3 copies of the sculpt to do whatever you wish, and $200 cash. I will also pay for any shipping involved between us."

Does that sound fair?
Click to expand...

This means the one you made belongs (as it always did anyway) to you and you can not make or sell copies yourself. If there is no cap on the run and they doesn't pay you anything for each copy, just your flat rate he can go on making copies potentially, forever. This could mean you get your name out there (if it's not already) and he COULD (it's an original piece so a small market compared to a film prop) make a bit of cash. It's not unfair or wrong at all and could be good for both of you but depends on what you are looking for from the deal. If it gets your name out... Having said that, plenty of things sell for $200 with no rights to make copies and sell them or restrict the original artist for doing so. This is a really personal thing man. Have a think about what you want out of the deal both cash and professionally. All the best luck, it's a great sculpt. :cheers

p.s. I'm hoping I didn't just make it harder to decide. :(
 
Being new to this world It's really difficult to know where to come in at. As you said Chaank, him selling the pieces would get my name out there and that's not a bad thing. It's a head scratcher. Regardless of what agreement we come to, it WILL be in writing!

Thanks again guys!
 
Unless the producer is Sideshow or a company of that calibre I wouldn't give any consideration to 'getting your name out there'. You get the same thing in writing, give us your story and you will get exposure... it's worthless. $200 seems like a pitance for the sculpture to me (unless you sculpted it in an evening), especially if he has unlimited rights to produce it. $200 up front plus a royalty is a better but of course that means you have to completely trust the producer will be honest about sales. It's never easy to put a price on your time, but don't under value yourself.
 
Great sculpture!

Let's work backwards: for how much would he sell them? $25-30 for a good unfinished casting seem about right? He makes about $10-15 each given the cost of resin and a little for his time casting them and boxing them. He has to sell 15-20 to break even, then he makes $20 or so til the molds give out and beyond if he cares to remake the molds. Any deal where he has to sell more than 15-20 to get his money back seems unrealistic to me. Is this analysis about right? Does it help?
 
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