Why do people sell their babies?

[Darth_Biomech]

Wait, no, that came out wrong. I meant people selling their passion. Businesses, art, projects, IP's, stuff like that.

I just saw this strip from Nerf Now and thought that yeah, this is depressingly common, especially in the IT area and among artists. People make a good product, they maintain it and pour their soul and love into it, then along comes a huge corporation, shoves a bunch of dollars down the throat of the creator, takes his creation away and then ruins it to the ground by destroying the very essence of what helped it to attain popularity in the first place, in order to "please the shareholders" or "cover the largest audience" or something else to dehydrate this cow to the greatest extent possible.

The question is, though: why are the initial owners agreeing to it? They can just say "no", they aren't coerced to sell their property, I hope, yes? And they can't not know that a large company will likely ruin the thing they're poured years of hard work into.

Disclaimer: I know there are guys whose entire business plan is to make as many throwaway projects as possible in order to then sell those that will stick to grown-up boys for $$$ and then immediately begin a new throwaway startup. I'm obviously not talking about them here.

Is the power of greed is this overwhelming and a promise of a couple of million dollars completely shuts off people's ability to think?

I mean, if impossible would happen and I got a phone call from some huge media company with the offer "hey, we like the comic you've made. How about a ten million dollars for you to sell us your soul so that we could make an alien invasion blockbuster movie out of it entire IP?"

My response would be either "F██k off." or "I will only sell you the license to make stuff based on my work, and I want full creative control over the result".

I ain't gotta spend fifteen years on making something to only get it taken away from me in exchange for some green paper. No, you'll need to pry it from my dead cold hands.

[MegaRay]

If I had to guess, I'd say because most creators are NOT publishers. So when publishers (or big corp) come in and offer to do the whole management thing, AND also pays, most people would say yes and will sign the contract without reading the small print.

[HGohwell]

I can imagine a couple of reasons:

• They're not that in love with it anymore and/or they want to move onto another project.
• They're naive enough or were sweet talked enough to think the company understands and wants to keep things the same-ish.
• They don't' understand the difference between selling the entire thing and letting people create works based on.
• They need the money. Lots of creators are struggling and that money would give them security to work on other potentially better things. Or just to get by given the way things are right now.
• They just love the idea of seeing it becoming popular under someone else's control they stop thinking.
• They just like money.

[suyaa3838]

Interesting topic for me. I'm staunchly indie and have rejected several "chances" pretty much because I would rather be struggling the way I am right now than be unhappy with what my work ends up becoming in the hands of a company (or alternatively, under the pressure of forced/rushed weekly releases etc).

Personally, I have this one IP I really care about; it's my heart, my soul, my everything, and over time I just learned that not everyone is that stubborn (*for lack of a better word, that's how I describe myself lol), that invested, or maybe even just that informed about what their contracts really entail. I've met a lot of creators who are absolutely cool with creating multiple IPs, creators who just like a specific aspect of the creating process (such as character design) and are happy to sell that skill to a bigger production, and also creators who, yes, wanted the stability of money and if that works for them, that's cool. I get where they're coming from, I'm just too different myself and, like OP, would maybe consider certain opportunities if I had full creative control and they somehow agreed to work with me despite me openly stating things like "I will break NDAs at the first opportunity I get" and "If I don't give full approval, you're not publishing that shit" LOL

[domisotto]

I can only speak for myself as a novel author, but I am only in love with each of my books for so long. I burn for it, I eat, sleep and dream it while I am writing and editing and posting it.

But by the time I am writing something 2 or 3 books later, if someone offered me money to do whatever they want with the original, I would accept. TBH, I don't even remember the details of the book after a year or so.

Also as @HGohwell pointed out in one of their well thought-out points, at this point, if someone could make the things I write popular in any way, shape or form, I would be happy. As long as my name is on it, so it channels reads to whatever I am burning for atm.

[Kelheor]

Are couple of million dollars such a bad thing? If it would allow me to have them and then go and create another 10 "babies", because I wouldn't need to think of money ever again... Maybe it's not something bad to consider.
Especially if it's not your only masterpiece that you spent half your life creating and you have no other ideas or stories to create, of course.
Now would I actually do it, is another question absolutely though

[itssummer]

Interesting topic and interesting replies, lots of which I agree with. Speaking as someone with an eye on the book industry, while I dislike very clear cash grabs, I do understand writers selling the movie rights to their books, for example, to a company who then diverts alot from the source material.
For one, writing and movie making are different worlds, producers are hard to work with, and lots of people are involved that pressure a writer to alter things. (One example of a writer who worked closely in the movie process is JK Rowling, but now after years even she has been pressured - or stooped to- milking the franchise for cash grab, ie the disaster that is Fantastic Beasts movie).
Second, as an aspiring writer, if by some miracle I got a movie deal, I wouldn't think twice. Movies/shows reach a far bigger audience, and for anyone interested the source material ie the book will always be there... so I personally do not imagine myself worrying too much about alterations in that sense. And there's also the fact thay writers get paid so little by publishers (its insulting), so I understand why non famous writers sell their stuff.

[therosesword]

Age old question... I don't really have an answer for you. When it comes to writing and simply getting published you will still run into the publishing house's editors demanding some changes.

But... do you want to make your living doing your art (whatever it is) or continue creating and going more with simply sharing it.

It's up to the individual. I've made a living writing before, albeit writing other people's projects. Most of my own stuff that's been produced (audio drama) has found decent hands with the producers and, I have to admit, they only bought the rights.

One of my stories here on Tapas is optioned by a company (small) in LA for a screenplay. The option is only for the rights and if that flies then we'll talk. But... the first question I was asked was; how do you feel about making the lead character a woman. I said no. Now, if the script that results for the story is sold and once in the hands of the studio well, it's a moot point.

One thing you need to have if someone does come a-knocking... a damned good attorney. I don't do a thing that he doesn't hear about it.

There is one other thing, for me, that I have to consider. I'm older now so I've actually got a will and I've chosen my intellectual property heir. If I sell something for big bucks (please) it's not really for me, it's so he can sit pretty and pursue the activities (he's a budding actor/singer/musician) he wants to pursue and not have to worry about debt collectors at his door.

Oh, and there is one other thing... sell something for a lot of bucks and everyone will want to see what else you have. There is that.

The choice is yours. It isn't just greed. If you had a child in need of seriously expensive medical care wouldn't you sell your soul?

[BrambleberrySquirrel]

Honestly? As much as I love my characters and story if someone offered me 10 million dollars I’d do it. That’s enough money to be set for life. That kind of money will fund a lot of new projects. I can always make new IP. If I have to sacrifice 1 baby on the altar of capitalism to create a dozen projects with full funding or even my own independent publishing company for niche indie creators (10 million is a lot of money) it’s a worthwhile trade in my eyes.

[But_a_Jape]

The arts are notoriously hard to make a profit from and, as romanticized as it is, being a starving artist is not a fun life. Maybe you're terrified of being driven into poverty for "pursuing your passion" or maybe you're already there and desperate for the next payday - I would not fault anyone in these sorts of situations to take an opportunity to have a major source of stress in their life taken off their backs.

As for me, I literally have hundreds of random ideas for various stories - if need be, I can easily stretch out the premises of a number of them into a full length story. But out of those hundreds of ideas, I'm really only precious about 2 or 3 of them. I regularly fantasize about some hotshot agent spotting one of my throwaway ideas and saying "I love it, here's a million dollars!" and I respond "Really, for that one? Well, of course." I get enough money to never have to worry about finances again, maybe have to put a few years of work into this adaptation if they still want input from me, and then I have the rest of my life to work on the ideas I really care about.

Now, if that hotshot agent takes a liking to one of those ideas I really care about and offers me a fortune for it? That's probably a harder dilemma for me to figure out and it would probably depend on where I am in my life. Right now, I'm still pretty stable in my life and early in my artistic career - I still think I have plenty of time to build my career that I'm not too desperate for a payday. But maybe in a few years time I'll have taken a risk to go all in on making art for a living and have nothing to show for it. Perhaps then I'll be a little more willing to part with those ideas? Who knows, it's not like well done adaptations are completely unheard of.

[SleepingPoppy]

Is the power of greed is this overwhelming and a promise of a couple of million dollars completely shuts off people's ability to think?

There is nothing wrong with being an independent artist, but it's extremely hard to succeed, let along thrive, off ones art. If someone is pursuing art as a sustainable profession, they should be looking for opportunities that will move them forward in their field. I don't think that's greed. That could be an opportunity to get the kind of support you aren't capable of on your own (like an author agreeing to a movie deal), or it might draw the kind of attention and prestige that leads to funding for other projects that are meaningful to you!

Building a career can also mean gaining clout, and over time you might be in a position where you not only are getting those sweet dollar bills, but also have a position of power over your work. After all, for all the horror stories we hear of meddling from studios, most of us also have plenty of mainstream projects we're huge fans of, and would love to make or be involved in making something similar!

And they can't not know that a large company will likely ruin the thing they're poured years of hard work into.

Nah. There are tons of scenarios where a creator might be convinced that a company/studio/thing "gets" their project, believes in it, and genuinely wants to help them make it real. And in some cases, that can be completely genuine at the time of the agreement, and still go wrong later. In most cases, giving a creator complete creative control isn't realistic to that kind of environment. It's just complicated.

My response would be either "F██k off." or "I will only sell you the license to make stuff based on my work, and I want full creative control over the result".

First, no shade at all to anyone that wouldn't be interested without creative control, but it does make sense to me that some creative control be shared when you're switching to a new medium that the original creator is not an expert in. A creator getting in the way of necessary changes to make an adaption functional, for example, could also tank a project. (Though in general I would side towards wanting a creator to have more control over less, I'm just trying to point out it's complicated =P )

[thedude3445]

I have like a billion projects in-progress and many already out there for the world to see. I love my stories, all of them, but if any of them are at the point of popularity where some company is looking to buy the rights I probably won't think twice if the price is right. I already told my stories the way I wanted and I'm proud of them. If a company decides to make adaptations or sequels or spinoffs and none of them are nearly as good, well then the original still exists and it's still worth it. My babies can grow up without me because I don't want to be a helicopter parent.

Of course this is all big talk and I have absolutely no chance of that happening with any of my work in the near future; maybe my opinion'd change if it really came to it? We'll see.

[amortelito]

Some people get excited at getting produced by a professional company, which can be a dream by itself. But other times I don't think it's always because they WANT to. Corporations can destroy you and crush your dreams anyway if you are their competition. If the small creator can't compete, they can at least get good money for their idea.

Buy 'em Out, Boys!

On the other hand, there had been cases in which the company is able to make a better job than the original artist. Like the production of the cation figure Gi Joe. And a franchise of movies I don't want to mention, in which the writer was not that good but the studio shaped the whole concept and made it a billionaire beloved series.

[ble]

Oh, I would sell without any doubt or regret. I would be honored if someone was willing to pay so much for something i created. Especially because, for me, art is to be sold.

It's a win = win scenario for me.

If they screw it by doing something wrong, well that's not my problem or responsability anymore. And if it's a success, even better because that will be good publicity for any future work I do later.

Either way, hey, any multimillion company that just happens to be reading this topic? send me a private.

[elpenor]

an enormous offer is a form of coercion. something something read chomsky

[cherrystark]

Money is a big one. I love to paint but due to my current situation, I can't paint safely indoors anymore. I also have a ton of paints lying around my house and my parents. Yes, some of them I like and do give others away as gifts. If i could sell my paints to further support my Michaels habit and clear out space in my house, I would.

The other reason that would make me want to "sell" my work is to allow it to grow. I'd like to see my work taken to the screen, comic books, merchandise, etc. I want it to become a lot more than what it is now. So, if I found the right deal that could help make these dreams happen, I'd do it.

[Rhonder]

I would almost certainly take a hypothetical offer as the one proposed in the OP. Heck, maybe even for a considerably lesser (but still reasonable) amount of money tbh.

I care deeply about my projects, but none of them are so sacred to me that I would both deny them the ability to reach larger audiences and other mediums that I can't achieve on my own, nor the ability to fund my other personal and creative endeavors. I also have full confidence in my ability to come up with new projects of similar or better quality to what I've worked on in the past and present so it's not like I would suddenly be out of material to work with.

I guess one final observation is that perhaps calling my series my "babies" isn't accurate in my case though? I see a statement like:

I ain't gotta spend fifteen years on making something to only get it taken away from me

Thrown out and think "oh man, that's way longer than I would be willing to commit to a single project" When I was younger I used to think about making series like that, but I'm more about shorter, easier to complete projects these days. Maybe someday I'll stumble across an idea that I'm willing to commit that much time to but... I haven't found it yet~

[GoldenHoneydew]

dear lord did that title scare the life out of me. I thought tapas was involved in some trafficking ring for a second.

[feuersichel]

It depends. If I already have Millions of € and am set for life, I would probably decline (or even then, take it and give it to some charities). But where I'm now... I'd give away my project without hesitation for that hypothetical number. Even a 100th of that would still be a good deal from where I stand in life now.

It would probably still bug me, but life is unfair and money rules...

[risingshards]

I have other series that I am trying to approach from the mindset of like. When I try to pursue traditional publishing with them I have to accept that at a certain point they would be handed off to people and be entirely out of my control (having worked as an editor for a publisher it was kind of jarring realizing even just how many text edits can really be entirely out of an author's hands in a publishing house, and that's not including publisher choices like cover and title or publisher mandated changes). Realizing that I didn't want to lose that control over my story on here really helped me make the decision to serialize it instead of endlessly hunting for lit agents. And figuring out which stories are like my babies that I get to be the final word on or the ones I am willing to let go someday help me write them better, I can focus my passion differently for the end goals of each.