EP - Town Meeting

State of the Editorial Industry

Editorial photographers in San Francisco met in early 2001 for a "Town Meeting on the state of the Industry."

One valuable thing that came out of that meeting was the sense of community such groups create when in a room face to face. In the interest of promoting such meetings around the country, the presentation has been outlined below. It began with a 2 minute presentation on topics, financial and historical information for both photographers and publishers. Much of the data for this can be found on links from the EP site. The following presentations were each given by different individuals.

Introduction - why we are here, a bit about EP and how it started.
Traditionally Photographers were independent businesses with no way to share information - the internet has changed this.
EP - what begun by accident from a few photographers meeting face to face has taken on a life of it's own because of a void it seemed to fill.
Great changes in 2 years, but with the economic downturn causing an increase in publishers rights grabbing, the purposes of this event:
-- see where we stand as a community
-- strengthen our resolve.
History of the Day rate and it's failure to keep up with inflation.
Cost of Doing Business - the importance of both Photographers and Photo editors learning these numbers.
$400/day that's $2000/week or $100,000/year - that's more than I make - why should I pay you more?
$100 for a stock sale - why don't you take it, it's free money to you? You've been paid for the shoot.
We've all heard these arguments, and we know we don't shoot 5 days a week 50 weeks/ year. The average editorial photographer shoots about 100 jobs/year, and our overhead costs average $40,000-$60,000/year. At $500/shoot that's a wash at the end of the year without paying yourself ANY salary.
How do we educate ourselves and photo editors about these costs? We both must remember that we have to pay for our offices, phones, paper, computers, computer support, cars, marketing, insurance - both business and health, retirement, etc. This is why the EP Cost of Doing Business Database was developed. To facilitate Photo Editors' understanding of these costs, the database was designed to reflect costs on a 5 day week, 50 week year, but photographers should note their own hard cost per shooting day which to date shows an average of about $500. Without additional money for additional space, this career seems a losing prospect.
Ad pages and publisher's profits - decrease in page sales for 2001, but ad rates increase.
Historical information on the increase in ad rates.
Business Week story and the foundation of EP
We started sharing information about BW when we found out they had been using our pictures in at least 3 international editions with no compensation and had not raised their $350 day rate in more than a decade. We (the SF9) felt that they only way to change the situation was to write letters to Larry saying we would turn down work if the rates didn't go up. He countered with a $50 increase we individually opted to pass. The talks stalled and Seth Resnick stepped in convincing us to go back to work on the good faith that he and Larry would work toward a better agreement. A year later a new agreement was worked out and although it wasn't perfect it was a major step forward in the industry. Since the new agreement was signed all of us have been hired to do work for BW again.
Forbes and Newsweek - day rates and foreign issues
The power gained from education and shared information.
I was never interested in the business aspect of photography - I just wanted to make photographs, I felt. Reuses, rights, reprints...all these things were foreign to me at that time, and I unfortunately signed a lot of bad contracts with magazines as I was trying to get the career going. Through EP, I learned of my errors, and saw the direct, fast financial benefit that could be gained by standing up for the value of one's images, and charging competitive prices for my stock and fees. As well, I realized that by saying no to the bad contracts magazines offered, it seemed I was gaining respect from the photo editors. Contracts can be changed, better deals can be worked out. The original action against Business Week was the most visible action I recall. Though I feel the most important lesson I learned from EP is the idea that we can change the industry by fighting our own minor situations each time we negotiate a job. Becoming aware of all issues regarding rights, reprints, reuse, day rate vs. space rate.... photographers educating each other about these issues, allows everyone to raise the standard for themselves, and all photographers.
Open discussion.
Local email list formation.