How laziness and doubt cost me licensing opportunities.

[Hackdroot]

<div class="bbWrapper">Not sure where this thread belongs since it&#039;s about missed opportunities. My own in fact. Posting this to show how I recognized opportunities and failed to follow through to make them winners. Learn from my mistakes.<br /> <br /> The first example was back in 2006. Burger King (a U.S. fast food chain) had come up with a new marketing campaign showcasing their &#039;mascot&#039; as an actor in a costume. This character was really creepy to be honest, but there was an odd appeal to it and the campaign worked to boost BK sales briefly. I went online to see if anyone made replicas of this mask and found nothing available. I decided to try my hand at creating my own and started studying how to make halloween masks. After about a week, I ran to the nearest Special FX store to buy sculpting supplies and mold &amp; mask making materials. After many weeks of work, I had a finished product. Here are pictures of the original commercial costume, my sculpt, and my end product.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/king10-webp.10227/" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/data/attachments/6/6857-1cd34307516289d22e6f99c7632021cc.jpg?hash=2-4LBjHnVN" class="bbImage " style="" alt="king10.webp" title="king10.webp" width="200" height="319" loading="lazy" /></a> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/kingdone1-webp.10226/" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/data/attachments/6/6856-9d690d2d443f6b77b18500c314c103ff.jpg?hash=7pfcmRz7RH" class="bbImage " style="" alt="kingdone1.webp" title="kingdone1.webp" width="200" height="267" loading="lazy" /></a> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/king3-webp.10228/" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/data/attachments/6/6858-4a69847dfb2063fa584e5a05abf0be9b.jpg?hash=P6boeWIuOF" class="bbImage " style="" alt="king3.webp" title="king3.webp" width="200" height="267" loading="lazy" /></a> <br /> <br /> <br /> I had pondered getting licensing rights from BK but thought that was above my head and they would never work with a solo artist on something like this. I sold about 20 of them on ebay for about $300 each (they cost about $25 to produce each). After about 8 months, I received a cease and desist letter from BK&#039;s legal department and closed up shop immediately. Within a few weeks I read how someone else licensed out their mask and were selling them like mad. This was THEIR finished product:<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/the_king_bk-webp.10229/" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/data/attachments/6/6859-2501d76300e8cd743bfe9899105915ec.jpg?hash=X0M6MuYqRB" class="bbImage " style="" alt="the_king_bk.webp" title="the_king_bk.webp" width="200" height="304" loading="lazy" /></a> <br /> <br /> Sooooooo, as you can see my big mistakes were a) not working towards a licensing agreement in the beginning b) blatantly ripping off a copyrighted character. Lesson Learned right? Nope.<br /> <br /> <br /> About the same time that project came to a screeching halt I began looking for another project to make money on, and it didn&#039;t take long to find one. In 1985 there was a movie released called &quot;Major League&quot;. I&#039;m not going into the film since the IMDB site has plenty of info on it if you&#039;re interested, but there was a prop involved in the movie which was basically a voodoo type doll/statue. Not a big part of the film, but once again had a certain appeal. I soon found out it also had quite a following online with hundreds of people looking for a replica. Once again, none existed and I saw my chance. I had to learn some new skills since this was not a mask, but a solid statue, but with the right tutorials, materials, and patience I was able to produce a decent reproducible replica. Below is a screenshot of the movie prop and my finished product.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/jobu-movie-webp.10230/" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/data/attachments/6/6860-4df4658987e5bdf5cb37a3d20c03625b.jpg?hash=9P6G_QHNpZ" class="bbImage " style="" alt="jobu movie.webp" title="jobu movie.webp" width="357" height="200" loading="lazy" /></a> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/jobu-webp.10231/" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/data/attachments/6/6861-0e6da1ef149ce1d161f7e34af733e303.jpg?hash=GPMMliMr6D" class="bbImage " style="" alt="Jobu.webp" title="Jobu.webp" width="200" height="210" loading="lazy" /></a><br /> <br /> Over the last 8 years or so I&#039;ve produced these in small limited batches and made about 20k or so on them (about $250 profit on each). Just something on the side to make some extra cash on occasion for clothes, toys, xmas, etc. Did I ever pursue licensing in all that time from Paramount pictures, nope. Needless to say that a few months ago someone did exactly that and is now selling them for about $35 each, made in china.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/licensed-jobu-webp.10232/" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/data/attachments/6/6862-049e63927b5c73a84530428568969ec4.jpg?hash=yuZADBcF6Q" class="bbImage " style="" alt="licensed-jobu.webp" title="licensed-jobu.webp" width="200" height="267" loading="lazy" /></a> <br /> <br /> Mind you, mine are of substantially better quality and all hand made, but they are time consuming to make. I recently sold two of them for $200 each, but doubt I&#039;ll make any more. These guys have pretty much killed my market. Once again, I could have simply TRIED to get licensing, but laziness and doubt prevailed. Now someone else is making the money on them (albeit I doubt they are making a ton, it&#039;s really a small market.)<br /> <br /> So, this is just an example of how I found two opportunities and completely dropped the ball on following through.</div>

 

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[mws87]

<div class="bbWrapper">Dude, you made that sculpt of the king? That&#039;s crazy good... not sure what you&#039;re doing now but I think you have the right idea as far as licensing goes. Ever heard of the game Five Nights At Freddys? Hint hint...</div>

 

[Hackdroot]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 31325" data-quote="mws87" data-source="post: 475766" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=475766" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-475766">mws87 said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Dude, you made that sculpt of the king? That&#039;s crazy good... not sure what you&#039;re doing now but I think you have the right idea as far as licensing goes. Ever heard of the game Five Nights At Freddys? Hint hint... </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> Thanks for the compliment. That was my first attempt at sculpting. Goes to show you really don&#039;t know your own talents until you actually try something new. Unless you can sell a design and rights to a sculpt to a company, it&#039;s nothing more than a time consuming profitable hobby.<br /> <br /> Just checked out FNAF. Haven&#039;t been a gamer since the days of Quake, Doom, and Unreal Tournament to be honest. Character replicas and movie prop replicas can pull in some dough if you do it right. Stay away from the big boys though (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc). They have legal departments that make the gestapo look like fairy princesses.</div>

 

[crockbar]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 27401" data-quote="Hackdroot" data-source="post: 475769" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=475769" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-475769">Hackdroot said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Thanks for the compliment. That was my first attempt at sculpting. Goes to show you really don&#039;t know your own talents until you actually try something new. Unless you can sell a design and rights to a sculpt to a company, it&#039;s nothing more than a time consuming profitable hobby.<br /> <br /> Just checked out FNAF. Haven&#039;t been a gamer since the days of Quake, Doom, and Unreal Tournament to be honest. Character replicas and movie prop replicas can pull in some dough if you do it right. Stay away from the big boys though (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc). They have legal departments that make the gestapo look like fairy princesses. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> Well they say that failures lead to successes. Looks like you got talent...don&#039;t let the next one slip away! Just keep plugging away at these retailers, restaurants etc. They can&#039;t be a jack of all trades and manufacture this stuff on their own...that&#039;s why they licence this kind of stuff out.</div>

 

[jason91]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 27401" data-quote="Hackdroot" data-source="post: 475737" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=475737" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-475737">Hackdroot said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Not sure where this thread belongs since it&#039;s about missed opportunities. My own in fact. Posting this to show how I recognized opportunities and failed to follow through to make them winners. Learn from my mistakes.<br /> <br /> The first example was back in 2006. Burger King (a U.S. fast food chain) had come up with a new marketing campaign showcasing their &#039;mascot&#039; as an actor in a costume. This character was really creepy to be honest, but there was an odd appeal to it and the campaign worked to boost BK sales briefly. I went online to see if anyone made replicas of this mask and found nothing available. I decided to try my hand at creating my own and started studying how to make halloween masks. After about a week, I ran to the nearest Special FX store to buy sculpting supplies and mold &amp; mask making materials. After many weeks of work, I had a finished product. Here are pictures of the original commercial costume, my sculpt, and my end product.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/10227/" target="_blank">View attachment 10227</a> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/10226/" target="_blank">View attachment 10226</a> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/10228/" target="_blank">View attachment 10228</a><br /> <br /> <br /> I had pondered getting licensing rights from BK but thought that was above my head and they would never work with a solo artist on something like this. I sold about 20 of them on ebay for about $300 each (they cost about $25 to produce each). After about 8 months, I received a cease and desist letter from BK&#039;s legal department and closed up shop immediately. Within a few weeks I read how someone else licensed out their mask and were selling them like mad. This was THEIR finished product:<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/10229/" target="_blank">View attachment 10229</a><br /> <br /> Sooooooo, as you can see my big mistakes were a) not working towards a licensing agreement in the beginning b) blatantly ripping off a copyrighted character. Lesson Learned right? Nope.<br /> <br /> <br /> About the same time that project came to a screeching halt I began looking for another project to make money on, and it didn&#039;t take long to find one. In 1985 there was a movie released called &quot;Major League&quot;. I&#039;m not going into the film since the IMDB site has plenty of info on it if you&#039;re interested, but there was a prop involved in the movie which was basically a voodoo type doll/statue. Not a big part of the film, but once again had a certain appeal. I soon found out it also had quite a following online with hundreds of people looking for a replica. Once again, none existed and I saw my chance. I had to learn some new skills since this was not a mask, but a solid statue, but with the right tutorials, materials, and patience I was able to produce a decent reproducible replica. Below is a screenshot of the movie prop and my finished product.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/10230/" target="_blank">View attachment 10230</a> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/10231/" target="_blank">View attachment 10231</a><br /> <br /> Over the last 8 years or so I&#039;ve produced these in small limited batches and made about 20k or so on them (about $250 profit on each). Just something on the side to make some extra cash on occasion for clothes, toys, xmas, etc. Did I ever pursue licensing in all that time from Paramount pictures, nope. Needless to say that a few months ago someone did exactly that and is now selling them for about $35 each, made in china.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/attachments/10232/" target="_blank">View attachment 10232</a><br /> <br /> Mind you, mine are of substantially better quality and all hand made, but they are time consuming to make. I recently sold two of them for $200 each, but doubt I&#039;ll make any more. These guys have pretty much killed my market. Once again, I could have simply TRIED to get licensing, but laziness and doubt prevailed. Now someone else is making the money on them (albeit I doubt they are making a ton, it&#039;s really a small market.)<br /> <br /> So, this is just an example of how I found two opportunities and completely dropped the ball on following through. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>Wow dude straight magic. You gotta put your talent to good use!</div>

 

[James Thornton]

<div class="bbWrapper">Great sculpts! Never tried traditional sculpture, but I love <a href="http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbcinfinite.php" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="noopener">ZBrush</a><br /> <br /> Don&#039;t hold yourself back! You blame laziness, I bet it was the awkwardness of contacting companies and sending them ideas. That&#039;s my experience anyway.<br /> <br /> After some tries, it&#039;s actually pretty fun. Like you&#039;re breaking the rules or something. It&#039;s just not what normal people do... Embrace the rebellion, and your seriousness and passion for your work will come through.<br /> <br /> We&#039;re outliers man...make your pitch!</div>

 

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[liquidglass]

<div class="bbWrapper">Well you&#039;ve proven two things that I think are important.<br /> <br /> 1) You can recognize iconic type figures almost inherently and you know people will buy them (plus you can make them).<br /> <br /> 2) You realized your mistake.<br /> <br /> Take these two things, fix the mistake and you&#039;ve got a successful mindset moving forward. Opportunities are everywhere <img src="/community/imgs/emoticons/em-wink.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-shortname=";)" /></div>

 

[Mr.B]

<div class="bbWrapper">Third times a charm.<br /> <br /> Thanks for sharing your story here <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/27401/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="27401" data-username="@Hackdroot">@Hackdroot</a>.</div>