Negotiating an Artistic Contract - Litigators — Transcript

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1. 0:04this is a negotiation between agents for
2. 0:07community opera company and a singer
3. 0:08the operas new production is due to open
4. 0:10in three weeks and the lead singer has
5. 0:12suddenly withdrawn from the role the
6. 0:15opera is contacted Sally a veteran
7. 0:17soprano who's performed the role for the
8. 0:18opera before about taking it on I'm
9. 0:22Alyssa I can tell you fine thank you how
10. 0:25are you good I understand that you
11. 0:27represent salad is family available
12. 0:31during the time period yes yes she is
13. 0:35does she have any other commitments
14. 0:36during that period not during that time
15. 0:38for instance the sense is that among
16. 0:43some people that she may not quite have
17. 0:45the skills that she used to have well
18. 0:48I'd like to give you some assurances on
19. 0:50that point because of her familiarity
20. 0:52with this part she's a perfect fit and
21. 0:55in fact she feels that she's probably
22. 0:57better for this role now than she was
23. 0:59when she was a bit younger why she feels
24. 1:02that the role is calls for a more mature
25. 1:05operatic voice as well as actress and
26. 1:08that she can fit that bill even better
27. 1:11than she could when she performs it's
28. 1:13quite a few years ago okay do you have a
29. 1:17sense of what it is that she would be
30. 1:20looking for in terms of compensation for
31. 1:24serving in this lead role I guess I can
32. 1:29explain to you I can give you a number
33. 1:31and explain to you how we get there
34. 1:34which i think is the more important part
35. 1:37sally would be looking for approximately
36. 1:41$40,000 for this role and that's based
37. 1:45upon what she had been paid previously
38. 1:48when she performed this part and how the
39. 1:51market has changed since that time and
40. 1:54in fact from our analysis of her
41. 1:57position we believe that female operatic
42. 2:00singers over the past couple of years
43. 2:02their price and salary has almost
44. 2:04doubled
45. 2:13but why don't I start off by saying it's
46. 2:16certainly substantially more for $40,000
47. 2:21substantially more than what we had and
48. 2:23learned and is well beyond what I've
49. 2:27been authorized by my board to offer
50. 2:34what we were really thinking was is
51. 2:36something wrong in a range of $25,000
52. 2:40and we arrived at that given her stature
53. 2:47in the community the artistic community
54. 2:50today what our budget is the fact that
55. 2:54she has only three weeks to prepare and
56. 2:57normally there is a longer lead-in in
57. 2:59preparation time so there's less work
58. 3:01involved for her when you say budgetary
59. 3:05concerns can you be a little more
60. 3:06specific
61. 3:07well our concern is that we need again
62. 3:10to put bodies in the seats and if we had
63. 3:1380% capacity we're going to lose $50,000
64. 3:17and if mrs. soprano were the type of
65. 3:21draw that you were four years ago
66. 3:23we would have a better sense that we
67. 3:26would exceed that 80% range and how
68. 3:30confident are you that the understudy
69. 3:32would be able to achieve an 80%
70. 3:33attendance it's not so much the 80%
71. 3:37attendance that were concerned with on
72. 3:39the understudy its how many bodies we
73. 3:42can put in the seats versus what we
74. 3:44would pay her in a salary and although I
75. 3:46don't have it in my notes here my sense
76. 3:49is that we would probably pay the
77. 3:51understudy on the range of 20 to 25,000
78. 3:53dollars as I see it if your current
79. 3:59number is 25,000 and I've put 40,000 I
80. 4:03feel like somewhere along the line we
81. 4:04can hopefully reach some agreement so
82. 4:07maybe we should just try now to move
83. 4:09closer together on that point
84. 4:12I think that's a fair proposition well
85. 4:17you asked me if there was any
86. 4:18flexibility in the 40,000 dollar number
87. 4:21is there any flexibility in the 25,000
88. 4:23dollar number yes there is
89. 4:27we agreed to pay ms rising star
90. 4:33twenty-eight thousand dollars for this
91. 4:35role I've been the kata that I'm
92. 4:38prepared to pay twenty eight thousand
93. 4:41dollars and that I have the authority to
94. 4:42do that I think in a fair negotiation
95. 4:47like the one I think we've had to this
96. 4:49point it's up to you to give me a sense
97. 4:51of what your reaction to that is well my
98. 4:55reaction I'm very happy to hear that
99. 4:57you're willing to come up from the
100. 4:5925,000 I've heard everything you've had
101. 5:01to say in your comparisons of Miss
102. 5:03rising star miss soprano though I don't
103. 5:05completely agree with them I think that
104. 5:07there is some merit to them and we would
105. 5:10be willing to come off of the forty
106. 5:12thousand dollar position but I would
107. 5:13tell you that we are really looking
108. 5:15really for nothing lower than somewhere
109. 5:18in the mid thirties given the positions
110. 5:21that we've set out we are not too far
111. 5:23apart and trying to reach some closure
112. 5:27on this and I'm wondering if there's any
113. 5:29flexibility in the $20,000 position
114. 5:36there is I think though with certain
115. 5:42conditions attached other than just a
116. 5:45straight bump and salary I think that
117. 5:49mrs. soprano would bear some risk in
118. 5:55this venture your position has been mid
119. 5:59soprano can help you put bodies into the
120. 6:01seats if miss soprano cannot help us put
121. 6:06bodies into the seats then she should
122. 6:09not be paid a premium in his oh she
123. 6:12could have we're prepared to go north of
124. 6:15$28,000 on the condition that we do so
125. 6:18with that performance incentive I wonder
126. 6:20you think each other I would be thinking
127. 6:23in terms of having targets in terms of
128. 6:29percentage of seats sold I believe your
129. 6:32last offer was 36 five is that correct
130. 6:34that's outside of my authority but if we
131. 6:39could agree on some lower number then we
132. 6:43could hold that portion above $28,000
133. 6:48that we've agreed to in an escrow
134. 6:50account
135. 6:51and in the event that we hit our
136. 6:54performance benchmarks with the help of
137. 6:57mr. soprano then we're prepared to pay
138. 7:00her that s really mine and what is the
139. 7:03base amount she would be paid in the
140. 7:05scenario regardless of the number of
141. 7:07seats enter $40,000 and then between
142. 7:11$28,000 and some number that we would
143. 7:13negotiate the rest would be held in
144. 7:15escrow and be paid out all right so if I
145. 7:17can summarize where we are right now I
146. 7:20would say that we have agreed that there
147. 7:23will be some set amount of compensation
148. 7:26we've already agreed there will be 20 no
149. 7:28I don't think we've agreed it will be 20
150. 7:30thousand I think that's the number that
151. 7:31you threw out but we will agree it will
152. 7:34be some number and then why and then
153. 7:39we've agreed that between the be bought
154. 7:44the minimum we'll call it the minimum
155. 7:46level go between the minimum level
156. 7:49and the escrow amount there will be some
157. 7:51amount that's going to be kept in escrow
158. 7:54and that will be based on news Sopranos
159. 8:00performance okay in part and I'd agree
160. 8:05to that concept but also included within
161. 8:07that you have agreed in principle to at
162. 8:10least include some provisions to protect
163. 8:11my client for many failures on behalf of
164. 8:15lyric opera that may be responsible for
165. 8:18not filling the house so to speak my
166. 8:23understanding was that we had an
167. 8:24agreement to $28,000 but I understand
168. 8:28that you don't agree with that I guess
169. 8:32the the minimum amount depends on how
170. 8:34much we agree to keep in escrow I still
171. 8:37think that $28,000 is a fair offer
172. 8:40without regard to or without respect to
173. 8:44any additional bonus compensation and I
174. 8:47believe that we could in all likelihood
175. 8:52put on a financially successful or at
176. 8:57least break even show at that number I'm
177. 9:03not prepared to pay a substantial bonus
178. 9:06over and above that amount when you
179. 9:08asked me originally whether I was
180. 9:10prepared to go north of that amount
181. 9:12that's when I raised the idea of this
182. 9:14bonus understood I need to know what
183. 9:18your kappas I have thrown out thirty
184. 9:20sixty five and I need to know what your
185. 9:23what your numbers if we put in the
186. 9:26structure that we just outlined
187. 9:29where he's willing to go I'm prepared to
188. 9:31go with a bonus so total compensation
189. 9:37paid dear client of $32,500 and that's
190. 9:43assuming that's with the bonus at
191. 9:49attendance in excess of 85% are all the
192. 9:56other roles already filled in the Opera
193. 9:59they are and it's 30 to 5 eyes thrown
194. 10:04out 36 5 again we seem to be closing the
195. 10:07gap between us is 32 5 is that what your
196. 10:10authority is here today is there any
197. 10:12flexibility in that number one I don't
198. 10:15have any flexibility in that member well
199. 10:21certainly my client would prefer given
200. 10:26the numbers that you've laid out to
201. 10:29accept 30 to 5 as the bottom line
202. 10:33compensation without any tie in to
203. 10:35attendance as there are you amenable to
204. 10:37that at all no we're not prepared to do
205. 10:39that because we're not prepared to take
206. 10:40a loss on this show if you would be
207. 10:46willing to give up the base compensation
208. 10:47of 29 5 and a cap on the escrow of 30 4
209. 10:555 we would be willing to make the deal
210. 10:58with you and again the 29 5 would be
211. 11:00based on mr. Prado having more of a
212. 11:02household name and the additional the
213. 11:05escrow is in recognition of the risks
214. 11:07that she's willing to take here because
215. 11:08she thinks she should be more having
216. 11:10value and that you will be benefit by
217. 11:12having her interest
218. 11:14if she's prepared to do a cap of 34 and
219. 11:2129,000 days you have a deal
220. 11:26we will make the deal on that basis we
221. 11:28should work out the detail
222. 11:30thank you very much