Spacing did it, now CTV is doing it: CTV wants you to make a video about our city using the prefix phrase "My Toronto is…". Interview a kid smoking in line at Funhaus, a smiling, round-faced butcher at St. Lawrence Market, and a Bloor station musician. Ya know, the usual. Then pepper the vid with shots of the skyline, Kensington, and a passing streetcar. Or you can do something interesting.
The contest runs until August 31, 2008. Throughout this period, CTV will feature a contest submission on its website each week. A winner will be chosen each month to win—get ready—a CTV News prize pack! Plus fame, bragging rights, and, for aspiring filmmakers, something to pad out your portfolio. Speaking of, until March 31, 2008, journalism and TV students are permitted to submit their "My Toronto is…" video for a chance to win a $2,000 scholarship/bursary and a summer job offer at CTV. Now that’s more like it.
Photo by Nickyyy.
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So, what, Jenelle, am I going to go around to different city blogs and remind them that this is not the kind of contest that should be promoted? You hand over all rights to your work, forever, and very much including your moral right, to CTV in exchange for a pittance.
Wait. Didn’t CTV just spend a billion bucks buying CHUM?
Why should they own your work for cheap?
Torontoist should do its homework before blithely promoting a corporate rights grab like this one.
Nobody is going to get rich selling 30 second video blogs about Toronto. The value of a CTV prize pack isn't really the point.
Winners get to show their creative talents to thousands of TV viewers that otherwise would never see their work. They also get to basically advertise something they like in Toronto, on air, for free. What's wrong with that?
Seems like a fairly good deal to me. Especially for students trying to break into the biz.
The legal stuff is standard, bulletproof boilerplate meant to protect CTV from being sued over intellectual property—it may be unpalatable, but it's hardly unusual. I'd be surprised if they didn't make you sign the rights over.
In other news, Torontoist has a great contest starting tomorrow that will interest the creative types, but submitters get to retain their copyright.