Re: aw Footage, No Contract, No Deal

[Chris Tompkins] "I've always believed if a company (or someone) pays me to shoot something for them, they own the footage. They ahve paid for it. "

But that's no reason for others to use your business model. In the above case it seems the client severed a verbal agreement due to "religious" differences that may not have been a pre-requisit in the original agreement. There may have been no agreement to transfer the raw footage. He may have wanted to retain it for expected repeat business and therefore may have had no interest to offer the original footage. The severing of the relationship may well have changed the client's expectations and demands from the original agreement. Dominique may have a reasonable expectation that the original verbal agreement would be maintained.

In short, there's no reason to assume every job is simply a "one off" in which the client wants the original footage. Some people expect clients to be repeat and therefore don't offer or give the original footage to the client.