Rights Distribution & Licensing >>
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What kinds of programs do you distribute?
2. What kinds of programs are you looking
for?
3. What rights do you license?
4. Will you consider taking all rights
except in the United States?
5. Will you consider taking all rights
except DVD rights?
6. Why must these rights be exclusive?
7. Why do you need IPTV, Internet, VOD,
and mobile/wireless rights?
8. Do you also license stock footage rights?
9. How long is the term of the contract?
10. Can we work on a short-term contract?
11. What is your commission rate?
12. We've seen commissions in the 15-20%
range in Hollywood. Why is your commission so high?
13. Our program is fully underwritten
and, to satisfy our sponsors or build our name or brand recognition,
we are in need of better distribution and market penetration,
not revenue?
14. Can you provide us with customized
projections or marketing plans for our programs?
15. How do you market and promote your
catalog?
16. What is your typical investment in
promotion and marketing in a program?
17. What other services do you provide?
18. Do we need E&O Insurance?
19. What is a music cue sheet?
20. How much do territories pay for documentaries
and non-fiction programs?
21. Can we obtain from you a network's
press kit that will describe their demographics and reach?
22. What is the correct running time for
a television program?
23. Do we need to create foreign language
versions ourselves?
24. What masters do we need to provide,
and how should we configure the audio?
25. How much revenue can we expect to
see for our program?
26. We are producing a program for the
Discovery Channel and they have left us with some international
rights to exploit. Are you willing to acquire just specific
rights?
27. If, at the end of the term, your promotional
expenses add up to more than our royalties, do we owe you
money?
28. When do we get paid?
29. With all the new cable and satellite
channels around the world and all the new digital television
stations, you should be able to sell our program everywhere,
right?
30. We have a great idea for a television
series. Can we tell you about it?
31. Can you help us find financing for
our project?
32. If we sign a distribution agreement
with you, will we be kept informed of your progress as it
relates to distribution of our program?
33. When can we expect to start receiving
royalty reports and checks?
34. Are you interested in acquiring indie
films?
35. Why don't you take on theatrical rights
too?
36. Why won't you offer a traditional
distribution agreement for a program if we haven't yet cleared
all of our music or footage rights?
1. What kinds of programs do you distribute?
We distribute broadcast-quality, professionally-produced programming
in the following formats: individual one-hour programs (44-60
minutes), limited series or collections of hour-length programs,
full series of 13 episodes or more (half-hours), feature-length
films and documentaries, and collections of short-form interstitial content
for mobile and broadband platforms. Please visit our online
catalog to get a sense of the many content categories
we distribute.
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2. What kinds of programs are you looking for?
We're looking for terrific programs. Programs that are fresh
and original. Programs that tell great stories. In terms of
specific genres, at the moment we are very interested in acquiring
the following:
Lifestyle programming, especially content for the male 18-35 demographic;
Science and technology programming;
Contemporary Social Issues & Current Affairs;
Animation;
Christmas-themed programming;
Wholesome Movies and Dramas for children and families;
Short-form or Interstitial Content.
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3. What rights do you license?
Exclusive distribution rights to completed programs/series
for the following markets worldwide: television, both standard
(terrestrial broadcast) and non-standard (every other form
of signal delivery), VOD (video-on-demand), whether through
set-top box from a cable or satellite head-end, or via the
internet or IPTV, whether free streaming and wrapped with
DRM or transactional VOD. We also license exclusive videogram rights (DVD, VHS, VCD,
etc.), and non-exclusive inflight or non-theatrical rights
(includes ships-at-sea), non-exclusive internet and new media rights (IPTV, mobile), and non-exclusive footage rights.
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4. Will you consider taking all rights except in the
United States?
Yes, as long as we can also control the rights in the United
States after the initial television window (after the first
license term ends, for example with PBS or Discovery, etc.)
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5. Will you consider taking all rights except DVD rights?
Yes, we often work this way. Sometimes producers seek only
to retain North American DVD rights, in which case we can
also market DVD rights to other territories around the world,
in addition to distributing to television, VOD and new media markets.
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6. Why must the television and DVD/videogram rights be exclusive?
It is simply the nature of the business. Our broadcast clients invariably
must license exclusive rights in their territories or for
their satellite footprints, and will only do business with
program suppliers who control exclusive rights. The DVD labels we license to in other countries must control exclusive publishing and manufacturing rights in their territories. Ultimately,
it's a small business. We all attend the same markets, and
our buyers must be certain that when they screen a program
at a market like MIPTV or MIPCOM and negotiate for the rights
to telecast or release it, they won't be offered the same program from another
distributor in the next aisle at another price later that
day! Therefore, it is not possible for us to enter into non-exclusive
agreements for either television or DVD/videogram rights distribution. Producers wishing to retain exclusivity and more
control over the distribution process probably need to do
their own licensing, and should instead consider working with
us on a short-term Retainer Agreement.
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7. Why do you need IPTV, Internet, VOD, and mobile/wireless
rights?
The long-awaited convergence of the television and the computer
has arrived. (eg. AppleTV) Television networks now demand internet and even
mobile (aka wireless or telephonic) rights, enabling them
to provide real-time streaming of programs from their websites,
sometimes concurrent with their broadcast or cable/satellite
signals. They also need rights for their VOD platforms (delivered
via cable or satellite). We also syndicate our content to
IPTV companies, website portals, broadband companies and mobile
content aggregators.
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8. Do you also license stock footage rights?
Yes, but on a non-exclusive basis, as is always the case with
footage and clip licensing.
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9. How long is the term of the contract?
Three years for our Traditional Distribution Agreement, with
automatic two-year renewal terms. Our Monthly Retainer Agreements are either annual or semi-annual.
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10. Can we work on a short-term contract?
Yes, but only on an annual or semi-annual Retainer Agreement.
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11. What is your commission rate?
For our traditional Distribution Agreement, our commissions
are in the industry-standard 30%-40% range, and will vary
depending on the number of hours in the series or collection
we are acquiring, and the quality, age, prior exposure and
overall potential of the property for our markets.
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12. We've seen commissions in the 15-20% range in Hollywood.
Why is your commission so high?
Because we are a full-service distribution company, not a producer's rep or
sales agent. As distributors
we invest in the promotion and marketing of your program or
series. As distributors we have our own network of sales
agencies or bureaus working with us around the world in all the major territories. As distributors we handle cash-flow, we handle collections,
and we negotiate and sign license agreements. As distributors
we handle all the country-specific paperwork, including the
completion of government withholding tax forms, double-taxation
forms and the intricacies of censorship approvals in countries
like China. As distributors we are familiar with territory-specific
regulatory issues. As distributors we handle the servicing
of license agreements ourselves, and we handle it well, providing
quality masters, transcripts, music cue sheets, publicity
kits, etc. As distributors we understand the many territory-specific
language requirements, which countries and which clients must
create full dubbed versions, which create subtitled versions
etc. As distributors we understand the complexity of audio
mixes and audio track assignments. As distributors we understand
legal intricacies of errors and omissions insurance. And as
distributors we have a great deal of experience with the fine
print of broadcast and other media license agreements from
around the world.
A word of caution about Producer's Reps...
Certainly some are reputable. However, a great many are new
to the business and many are of the exalted opinion that because
their prep school buddy or college roommate is now a television
program or film studio acquisitions executive they can set
up shop as a sales agent for any producer who comes along
craving a connection. Some just like to "network" at film
festivals. Most work on monthly retainers (plus paid expenses)
as well, and thereby have no real incentive to sell your program.
But they do have an incentive to be bullish on the international
program market in order to convince producers to sign with
them, conveniently ignoring the fact that the international
program sales market has been a bear market for factual content
since the late 90s. Also, beware of agents intent only on
making one or two quick sales to major market territories.
Our approach is a long-term approach, a distributor's approach
-- we sell everyone, from large first-world markets in Western
Europe or Japan seeking the highest quality one-off documentaries
and willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for them, to startup
pay-tv channels in developing countries looking to acquire
hundreds of hours at a time, for hundreds off dollars per
hour, from DVD labels to IPTV companies to mobile rights aggregators.
Our distribution model is a long-term proposition in which
our experience and reputation for quality and service all
come together to ensure that programs in our portfolio will
find as much revenue as possible in a highly-competitive media
environment.
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13. Our program is fully underwritten and, to satisfy
our sponsors or build our name or brand recognition, we are
in need of better distribution and market penetration, not
revenue. Can you help us?
Yes, of course. For the right fully-underwritten program or series, we can manage a PBS Syndication campaign. We can customize a campaign plan based on your budget. Please tell us about your program or series. For distribution to international markets in such cases -- because there is no mechanism in place to give programs to channels or networks for free -- we would need to work on a Retainer Agreement, in which we receive a monthly retainer for an agreed period of time (six-months or a year). You can also consider using our Worldwide Broadcaster Push service. (Email us at: info@janson.com to obtain a login and password to access these pages in our Producer's Portal.)
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14. Can you provide us with customized projections or
marketing plans for our programs?
Unfortunately no, unless you wish us to do so on a fee basis
(see our consulting page). Our
marketing plan is essentially the same for all of the programs
we release (see next question). To get an idea of where and
to whom we will be marketing your program, see our Client
List. If we offer you our Traditional Ddistribution Agreement, you can assume that we anticipate making enough revenue
from the exploitation of your program or
series to recoup our own investment in releasing
it to the worldwide marketplace.
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15. How do you market and promote your catalog?
We are exhibitors at the major annual international television
program markets such as MIP-TV
and MIPDOC (Cannes, April) and MIPCOM and MIPCOM Junior (Cannes,
October), DISCOP (Budapest, June), the World Content Market (Prague, January), NATPE (Las Vegas, January), and we have sales representatives in attendance
at many other markets and festivals around the world. We design
and produce promotional literature (flyers, posters, postcards,
press releases). We actively promote via the internet, via
our own website and online program catalog, as well as with
listings and links on third-party websites, portals and business-to-business
websites. We post videos on YouTube and other portals, mount keyword campaigns with Google, and utilize viral marketing techniques. We reach our clients regularly with the Janson e-News
Release, an e-mail newsletter announcing our new program releases
(subscribers number over 2,800 "opt-in" television and video
program executives). We advertise in key trade
magazines, with display ads and company listings (both print
and online), focusing our advertising around the program markets for maximum impressions.
We have several international
bureaus in the major territories, and a vast network of
relationships with distributors, sales agencies and broker-dealers
around the world, the result of over two decades of building
friendships and working with integrity in the international
television distribution business.
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16. What is your typical investment in promotion and
marketing in a program?
Please see this webpage which provides a detailed overview
of our investment in both the initial launch of a program/series
and its ongoing marketing and promotion. (Email us at: info@janson.com to obtain a login and password to access this page.) Of course, although
this investment is entirely recoupable, we are at risk for
it until we recoup.
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17. What other services do you provide?
Other services include the archiving, duplication and standards-conversion
of videotape masters, cassettes and discs at state-of-the-art
facilities, international shipment and customs handling, press
kit preparation (including press release writing, image scanning,
and keyword optimization), transcription, closed-captioning,
and editorial services, graphic design and website design.
In addition we now provide digital delivery of screening content
via closed-circuit satellite and internet platforms, direct
to the desktops of our clients, and we will soon implement
a password-protected log-in system which will make screening
content available to our clients directly from our own website.
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18. Do we need E&O Insurance?
Unfortunately, we live in a world run by lawyers and insurance
companies, and the American fondness for litigation has now
been exported around the world. The world's major media companies
now insist that the programs they acquire and co-produce be
insured by Errors & Omissions (E&O) Insurance policies (even
though they carry their own standing E&O policies as well).
Often, the programs we acquire are covered by E&O, and we
are named as an additional insured on this "Producer's E&O
Policy." If this is not the case, we must be able to obtain
an E&O policy in order to effectively do business and close
deals. The costs of obtaining an E&O, which can be quite high,
then becomes a deductible expense. For more information about
E&O insurance, please visit Chubb Insurance Company's website
to read TV
& Film Producer's E&O, or the website of the worldwide
entertainment insurance specialists D.R.
Reiff & Associates, or Walterry
Insurance Brokers.
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19. What is a music cue sheet?
A music cue sheet is a document prepared by you the producer,
that lists all of the music contained in a production including
the titles of each track (or cue), composer(s), publisher(s),
lyricist (if any), performing rights affiliation, and use
(theme, performance, background, etc.) and timing of each
music track. The cue sheet is used by all parties in the royalty
distribution process to determine the amount of royalties
to be paid for the public performance of the music contained
in the program. The information contained in the music cue
sheet also determines whether a fee must be paid to a performing
rights society. Instructions for completing a professional
music cue sheet are available at the PBS website, here.
For more information about music cue sheets and music reporting
requirements, please visit the ASCAP
or BMI
websites. In fact, the ASCAP website has an excellent FAQ
on the subject, called Cue
& A.
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20. How much do territories pay for documentaries and
non-fiction programs?
It varies tremendously by market and territory, from new satellite
services or small country broadcasters paying hundreds of
dollars per hour to major market terrestrial networks or pan-territory
satellite services paying as much as $50,000 per hour. Of
course, the higher-paying markets are significantly more difficult
to sell. More than that we really cannot say. Several trade
publications publish periodic price charts, but a word of
caution: rarely are they accurate. Often they confuse commission,
coproduction, and acquisitions pricing levels. And most also
retain the model of territory-by-territory pricing, which
does not take into account the prevalence of multi-territory
pan-regional satellite deals. Also usually they are television-based
models that do not calculate DVD licenses and royalties or
revenue from other markets (inflight, VOD, IPTV, etc.) Our own Broadcast Price Guide is available in our Producer's Portal. (Email us at: info@janson.com to obtain a login and password to access this page.)
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21. Can we obtain from you a network's press kit that
will describe their demographics and reach?
The information in these press kits change often and is available
from the ad sales or affiliate sales departments, and much
of this information is now available online. Visit the network
websites.
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22. What is the correct running time for a television
program?
It varies from country to country, market to market. State-owned
broadcasters allow less advertising time per hour than commercial
channels, and thus more program content. In the U.S., a PBS
hour is about 56 minutes, 40 seconds. A cable hour might be
as short as 42 minutes. In the international market, the usual
range is from 50 to 54 minutes. Therefore, anything less than
48 minutes is very difficult to sell internationally. Individual
half-hour "one-offs" are virtually impossible to sell anymore.
Half-hour slots are reserved for series of thirteen episodes
or more.
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23. Do we need to create foreign language versions ourselves?
No. The broadcasters will handle their own language versioning.
But you must provide us with transcripts (MS Word and Adobe
PDF documents) and in most cases, you must provide us with
the proper audio track configurations on your masters, or
it will not be possible to sell your programs into a non-English
speaking market.
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24. What masters do we need to provide, and how should
we configure the audio?
We require both NTSC and PAL digital betacam masters cloned
from your first-generation digital master, or dubbed from
your first-generation analog betacamSP master. We also accept
betaSP, DVCam or DVCPro masters if a program was produced
in either of those formats. And of course we require HD formats
for HDTV programs. Commercial breaks and blacks must be removed.
Audio channels one and two should be your full audio mix,
preferable stereo left and right, if your program is in stereo.
Channel three should be the M&E (Music and Effects) track,
often called a "Mix minus Narration" track (all audio elements
except the off-camera narration). If possible, it is useful
to use channel four for the "true M&E," which is only music
and sound effects (no dialogue-on-camera and no narration).
And of course, along with a properly-configured broadcast
master, we need a continuity transcript of the program indicating
both narration and interviews or on-camera dialogue -- time-coded,
if possible. Finally, in recent years it has become important
to provide "textless" or "clean" masters. In other words,
"lower-thirds" (English-language chyrons or graphics identifying
locations or interviewees, for example) should be removed.
This enables our international clients to easily re-do these
"lower-thirds" in their own language. In many cases producers
do not have the right delivery materials, but don't despair.
If we think your program has potential we will work with you
to best organize the materials you do have.
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25. How much revenue can we expect to see for our program?
We don't make projections anymore. The business is too subjective,
and it has been a "buyer's market" for several years now.
Global advertising revenues were in their worst slump ever
from 2000 through 2004, license fees have declined dramatically,
and there are fewer acquisition slots as media conglomerates
have become vertically integrated and have moved production
in-house. But if there is revenue for your program from the
world's media markets, we will find it. On our very best one-hour
properties, programs with enduring international appeal and
high production values, we have achieved over a $300,000 in gross sales over five or more years. On many properties (blue-chip one-offs or series)
we have garnered $50,000 or $200,000 dollars in gross sales. But on still others we have "guessed wrong," and have returned only a few
thousand dollars in royalties to our producers, in some cases losing money when we were unable to recoup our entire promotional and marketing investment. But if we
make an offer to distribute your property under the terms
of our Traditional Distribution Agreement, it is because we
think we can make a profit with it, enough that we are willing
to invest in its marketing and promotion. That
said, if you must have a revenue projection to satisfy investors
or underwriters, we can provide one, but only on a fee basis
(see consulting).
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26. We are producing a program for [Discovery Channel/National Geographic/A&E] and they have left us with some international rights to exploit, and a budget shortfall.
Are you willing to acquire just specific rights?
It depends. Let us know what's available; we might still be
interested. Often we can "pre-sell" rights to major market broadcasters and DVD labels when the US broadcast partner is a well-known and respected network.
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27. If, at the end of the 3-year term, your promotional expenses
add up to more than our royalties, do we owe you money?
No, because when sign a Traditional Distribution Agreement with us, we, your distributor, are at risk for promotional
expenses until we are able to recoup them from sales revenue.
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28. When do we get paid?
We send out royalty and promotional expense reports (and checks
when there is revenue to report) forty-five days after the
end of the calendar-year quarter in which we have actually
received the revenue in our bank account. If the deal calls
for payment in another currency (euro, for example), the exchange
rate is calculated by our bank at the time the revenue reaches
our bank account.
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29. With all the new cable and satellite channels around
the world and all the new digital television stations, you
should be able to sell our program everywhere, right?
Time for a reality check. Keep in mind that all of those new
networks and channels are, in most cases, full-fledged production
companies too. And their entire production output is also
available for sale on the international market (and by the
way, already formatted for television and accompanied by transcripts,
cue sheets, the properly-configured masters, and E&O insurance
certificates). Add it all up and you have a shrinking number
of slots for program acquisitions, and many more programs
available to fill them.
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30. We have a great idea for a television series. Can
we tell you about it?
Unfortunately, no. Unless we are already distributing your
programs, or are referred to us by someone we know and trust,
we do not accept unsolicited project submissions, only fully-completed
programs or series. However if you are interested in hiring
us on a consulting basis to act as a paid executive producer
or consulting producer for your project, or to help find a
co-production partner, then please get in touch with us.
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31. Can you help us find financing for our project?
We are not a source of financing ourselves. Finding financing
for independent films, documentaries or television programs
or series is an extremely difficult endeavor. That said, we are willing to try when the right project presents itself. Several members of our our consulting group have experience with fundraising and come "to the table" with impressive rolodexes. Naturally, for such projects we are paid a monthly retainer,
along with an incentive commission.
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32. If we sign a distribution agreement with you, will
we be kept informed of your progress as it relates to distribution
of our program?
We have an excellent reputation when it comes to keeping the
lines of communication open with our program suppliers and prouction partners. We are always
accessible. We can provide up-to-date promotional activity
reports on request. But producers also need to realize that
the convention in the business as regards feedback from buyers
is this: if they are interested you will know it. If not,
you often won't hear anything at all. A rejection, also known
as a "pass" does not usually come with an explanation attached.
In many cultures around the world a rejection is considered an insult, and thus it must be inferred -- if there is no offer you can be sure your program has been rejected! We understand that producers crave feedback; they want to
know why their program is deemed unworthy. The answer is usually
this: someone else's program was deemed a better fit. Quality
alone doesn't always translate into sales. Quality plus timing
plus available slots plus the confidence that the distributor
will deliver all materials on time and in good order –
all of these and more factor into a successful license deal.
So when we receive a clear "pass," as distributors we know
it's usually time to move on, and we never harangue our buyers
about why they don't want to license a specific program. Which
is why, in fact, most buyers prefer to deal with distributors
rather then directly with producers.
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33. When can we expect to start receiving royalty reports
and checks?
Keep in mind that it takes time to develop a market for a
program or series. It takes time to get the attention of program
buyers, it takes time for the evaluation process, and if an
acquisition offer is made, it takes time for the negotiation
to proceed with the business affairs department. Then once
a deal is struck it takes more time to shepherd it through
and legal department. And once the ink is dry, the revenue
never flows as quickly as we would like, and license fees
are often split into multiple payments over time. And complete
payment always depends on complete delivery of all required
materials.
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34. Are you interested in acquiring indie films?
We are interested in acquiring independent features, whether
movies or feature docs, but for all rights other than theatrical.
If you have pursued the festival circuit and none of the studios
or "little studios" have made an offer to distribute your
film (a "negative pickup"), and you're ready to be realistic
about its potential, then submit it to us. We too, would like
to distribute movies with recognizable stars, but we are also
aware that sometimes stars act in indie films before they
become stars.
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35. Why don't you take on theatrical rights too?
It's really a different business, with a different business
model, different companies and different markets to attend.
We have always specialized in factual or non-fiction entertainment,
for which there is no theatrical market. The companies buying
theatrical rights are also buying TV and DVD rights, territory
by territory, and they are not interested in acquiring movies
without recognizable stars or with budgets smaller than about
20 million dollars.
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36. Why won't you offer a traditional distribution agreement
for a program if we haven't yet cleared all of our music or
footage rights?
We cannot launch a program and make the necessary marketing
investment in it only to receive offers for the program from
our clients which may not meet the minimums needed to clear
underlying rights. We would then have no way to recoup our
marketing investment. But in such a situation we can proceed on a Retainer Agreement. (Email us at: info@janson.com to obtain a login and password to access this page.)
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