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Re: Contract dilemma/We need to know more


I haven't ever worked for a newspaper, so maybe I'm all wet here. 
However, I don't think you're EVER better off working without a contract


I've freelanced to newspapers all over the country, and write a regular column syndicated to a couple of papers here in Kentucky, and I've never worked with a contract from any of them. Very few newspapers use contracts with freelancers---or even stringers.

Newspapers are different. For example, you hardly ever query a newspaper, because newspaper editors can't be bothered with them. You just write the story and send it in, most of the time. Which is why if you're going to freelance to newspapers (again, excluding a regular column), multiple-sales become important. It's the only way you can justify writing the story ahead of time.

I doubt there is a "default position" that has any legal standing.


Technically correct, Carol. However, if it gets to the point where legal standing is important---i.e., litigation---then both parties already have lost.


Without a contract, you simply interpret the situation how you wish.


Or write, in the upper right hand corner, what rights you are offering. In the absence of any other writing, your statement applies.

Then, practically speaking, it
would be all-rights, because they are bigger and you can't win a suit
and they know it.


Not necessarily. If their normal and regular practice is not all-rights, then a judge would rule in your favor. Regular practice has the force of law in the absence of other contractual agreements. What if they don't buy enough freelance material to have a regular practice? Then the judge would try and establish what regular trade practice is; that is, what does the industry as a whole typically use. And there, again, you would win because "one-time newspaper use" is the most common thing they buy.


Brook

Brook

 
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