Zuda Contest Contract - Your Opinion Requested

[suttercain]

Hi everyone,

I am planning on submitting an 8 page comic book idea I have been working on for sometime to the Zuda (http://www.zudacomics.com/) contest which is run by DC Comics.

A couple of quick questions I had about the contest's Rights Agreement (http://www.zudacomics.com/rights_agreement).

I have some concerns with a couple sections of the agreement:

i) For each Print Work (as defined below), Zuda shall pay You an amount equal to 1% of the cover price of the Print Work multiplied by the Net Print Work Sales (as defined below) for the Print Work.

Am I reading this right? If Zuda decides to publish the material in print form they'll pay the creator only 1%? That means if they sell it for a dollar a copy the creator will only get 1 penny? Can this be right?

Additionally this one also made me nervous:

(a) All print and electronic publication rights, audio and/or visual recording and reproduction rights (including motion picture, television and radio rights), merchandising rights, computer software and multi-media rights, Internet and mobile device rights, live stage rights and commercial tie-in rights using elements and/or materials of, from or relating to the Material in connection with products and/or services based upon or relating to the Material.

Does this seem like overkill? It appears to me the creator retains no rights to any of his/her creation. Am I reading into this wrong?

Can't afford a lawyer so just wanted to hear your opinions. Thanks.

[mattbib]

Am I reading this right? If Zuda decides to publish the material in print form they'll pay the creator only 1%? That means if they sell it for a dollar a copy the creator will only get 1 penny? Can this be right?

Does this seem like overkill? It appears to me the creator retains no rights to any of his/her creation. Am I reading into this wrong?
Correct, based on what you've quoted they're saying if your submission is chosen they'll publish your work and a) pay you only 1% of sales and b) they own all characters, etc. in your submission.

[suttercain]

Correct, based on what you've quoted they're saying if your submission is chosen they'll publish your work and a) pay you only 1% of sales and b) they own all characters, etc. in your submission.

That's what I thought. Thanks for the reply. So much for that contest.

[40footwolf]

Yeah, seriously. Forget that. It's not like Zuda was at the forefront of my possible ideas for publishers, but now it's not even in the running for a backup.

[LewMoxinsghost]

If anything, the real reward would be to use winning such a contest as a bargaining chip for a "real" job. Pretty good advertisement for your resume- but any prolonged period should be negotiated for a more fair percentage cut. It has been interesting watching the various promotions for Red Moon over on Myspace. I wonder how that creative group feels about winning?

[suttercain]

You talking about High Moon? If so, I wonder how Steve Ellis negotiated the contract. The good thing is you don't have to sign that rights agreement, signing over all your hard work, until after you are voted as the winner or selected as an instant winner by Zuda.

I was debating on entering the contest and if I won, just not doing the rights agreement. The comic would still get a boost and the concept and characters would still be owned by me.

I posted an ad over at deviantart but because I can only afford $50.00 per page, I have been getting replies from artists that are below the quality I seek.

Oh well, my first comic is almost done (should be by mid-October) and then I am running off about 50 of those to send out to indie companies with a proposal and outline for the entire 4 issue mini-series. Wish me luck.

[LewMoxinsghost]

No, I meant Red Moon (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=280065608)- though High Moon is cool too. Maybe I am mistaken, but it seems like they were a past Zuda winner.

Good luck!

[spiderman_rj]

What is already been said, same thing goes for marvel, i once planned in showing a comic submission of a story i made,but when i read the small words, i said F** them,not worthy.