Hello guys,

I am a stock footage shooter based in the UK, I also curate video for other shooters.


thanks!

"Curate" is so 2016

The word for 2018 is "pimp"

:-)

.

What?

Ahoy There! I read about this Black Box a while back and didn't quite get it. Hopefully you can clear something up. In your first video, you state that some dude from Canada gets 50%, you get 35% for curating, and Black Box get 15%. On their website, it also states they deal with VideoBlocks, Pond5, Adobe Stock etc etc. So how does it work with the agency's cut? Is it 50% to Pond5, for example, and that 100% you're explaining comes from the remaining 50%? So the Canadian dudes 50% is actually 25% of the sale price?

The Black Box site looks pretty good and informative, but it's a bit thin on the details when it comes to what happens to the content once it's been curated, where it's sent/promoted, and where the money actually comes from. I mean, those stock sites listed on the website... are they all the sites they submit to? Are there any more? Is there any point in somebody using Black Box if they already submit to some or all of those sites? So if I already submit to Pond5... would I A) Not bother using Black Box B) Only use Black Box for content I don't already have on Black Box C) Submit everything through Black Box, even though that would mean two instances of my work being there.

The 35% you mention seems quite steep as well. Maybe if somebody is making $5 a year per clip then that would be understandable... $1.75 over a year or $8.75 over 5 seems fair. My average is approaching $200 per year though, with a small amount of them approaching $1200... so I don't think I could justify $420 in a year or $2100 over 5 for curating one clip, just for the convenience of not having to submit it myself. I'm assuming the 35% varies between curator and client?

Hi!

Your way of thinking is correct, the agency takes their fee then the rest is split amongst all parties. All content is uploaded to the BB portfolio as one collect group so we can all share in the advantages that they have. In regards to this BB has a few perks with the agencies that standard contributors don't get. My commission is agreed upon between myself and the guys I work with, you're correct in that thinking. The Canadian I mentioned in my video is a large YouTuber. He's a full time vlogger and doesn't have the time for stock footage with his busy schedule. He basically dumps all raw assets into a drive and mails it to me. It takes maybe an hour of his time to do this every 2-3 months and in exchange for that I do all the leg work in regards to stock footage. He is able to re-purpose old footage that's sitting on his drives
For the one or two hours it takes him to do this he can work with me to open up a whole new revenue stream. It's a win / win for both of us

Yes, the 35% varies between curator and client. Your return per clip is seriously impressive and asking 35% for curation doesn't make sense. It's possible to find a curator on BB and agree a fair commission rate with them that your both happy with. If it's something your interested in exploring I'd be happy to discuss the idea.

In regards to distribution, yes the agencies listed on the site are the ones BB currently supplies, they are looking at more. Duplicates on the agencies are not allowed so any content submitted to BB can't be submitted directly to the agencies. If option B) is meant to be "...already have on the agencies" (not Black Box) then yes, option B if that's something you are interested in exploring.

I hope I answered all of your questions, It'd be great to connect! 

Thanks for your time

Just a couple more questions. The agencies listed on the Black Box website... are those all of the sites they submit to, or are there more? And if I have all of my content on, for example, just one of the sites listed... does that mean there's no point? Or if there are sites on there that I don;t have any content on, can it be submitted just to those?

For example... I don't have anything on Dissolve. So would my content be accepted there, even though I have that same content on VideoBlocks, Pond5 etc?