Matt Miller, president and CEO of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), along with Dustin Callif, managing partner, digital, at Tool, and president of AICP Digital, and Anders Wahlquist, CEO of B-Reel and VP of AICP Digital, today announced the launch of the AICP Digital Statement of Work (SOW). The document was designed as a much needed tool to articulate important information regarding projects where digital production companies are engaged. It specifically addresses issues involving the workflow of interactive digital projects, as well as the terms under which a production company engages in a project with an advertising agency or advertiser.
The SOW and its terms and conditions deal with topics such as: timelines, intellectual property, payment terms, details of liability, and insurance coverage. The SOW is a licensing agreement which outlines how work will be created to client specifications, and then licensed to the client for their use. The latter point is what makes this document so vital to interactive production – for a long time, more traditional work for hire agreements were in place, which gave the advertiser ownership of all materials and assets such as the film negative in a live action production. A document like the SOW functions as a licensing agreement, meaning the digital producer retains the rights to the code used to create the project.
“This document helps to apply parameters to interactive projects that benefit all parties involved in the creation of a project,” said Miller. “It provides a platform to articulate the framework of a project that outlines specifically what is expected, helping to streamline the process and give clarity to all involved to help manage expectations.”
The SOW was crafted by a group of AICP Digital members, along with input from agency producers and agency business managers. This was accomplished with a series of bicoastal AICP hosted town hall meetings, as well as roundtable discussions at SXSW.
“We created this document in collaboration with our agency partners to ensure this is a document that could realistically be used by the whole industry,” said Callif.
AICP Digital was formed in 2009, and represents over 70 AICP member companies who work in a variety of digital disciplines, including visual effects, interactive, motion graphics, animation, mobile (including applications), design, and installations.
The following are excerpts from the AICP Digital Scope of Work and Terms & Conditions. The full document is available to members of AICP at www.aicp.com
A. Producer Deliverables
Producer will create and present the following deliverables within this SOW (“Deliverables”):
Project Management
1.
Project Schedule
Creative Definition
2.
Research + Development (if applicable) [Describe Prototype; describe if Producer is using an existing Prototype or building an original for Client on this job]
3.
Information Architecture [Describe if Desktop and Mobile Wires; 1 x Review with Agency]
4.
Designs [Describe what; Animations; 3D, etc.; 2 x Reviews with Agency]
a. Mobile/Tablet: version of desktop experience or alternate experience [Describe how it might be different or versioned]
5.
Copywriting (if applicable)
Production + Deployment
6.
Development [Describe if Front-end + Back-end; Programming Language; Integration with existing or Client-supplied API; Desktop + Mobile (version of desktop experience or alternate experience); App; etc.; Alpha and Beta Reviews with Agency]
7.
Deployment [Client IT or Client Partner; or Production Company; iOS/Browser-Compatibility; Front-end/Back-end Recommendation Load Balancing, etc.]
8.
Sound Design / Music [Working with Client-supplied Partner to Develop or handover; Production Company responsible for Sound Design + Music or just a component, etc.]
9.
Analytics [SEO Plan, Integration with GA/GA SDK/Client-Provided Tracking]
10. Quality Assurance [How many days; will this be a combined Client/Production company effort; outsourced, etc.]
11. Source File Handover (See “Standard Terms and Conditions” for definition of Source Files)
12. Bug Fixes (30 Days post-Launch only) [Describe what tracking software you’re using and if you’re also tracking within a Client’s Bug Tracking software]
Software License; Other Source Materials License. Effective upon payment in full of all amounts due under this Agreement, Producer hereby grants to Client a royalty-free, non-exclusive right and license (the “Software License”) to use the Producer Platform and final Work Product for the period of time and in the territories and media set forth in the Statement of Work and solely in connection with the distribution and use of the Project as further defined in the Statement of Work. Client agrees not to distribute, reverse engineer or otherwise make available the functionality of the Producer Platform or Work Product or any derivative products of the Producer Platform or Work Product to any third party. Upon receipt of all fees due to Producer under the Statement of Work, Producer shall also grant Client a non-exclusive license to the Other Source Materials for the purpose of using the Work Product during the Term set forth in the Statement of Work. The licenses granted herein shall be referred to in the Statement of Work as the “License Grant.”
