Nathan Love & Animation Licensing
Nathan Love
Nathan Love is a New York City-based animation studio founded by Joe Burrascano in 2007, specializing in traditional, hand-drawn 2D, 3D, live-action hybrid, and stop motion animation for advertising and entertainment. The studio partnered with Aardman Animations, which is best known for its films Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, and Shaun the Sheep, in 2015 to bring their expertise to commercial projects in the U.S. Nathan Love has worked on animation projects for a long list of clients, including The Pokémon Company International, Sprite, Crayola, Kelloggs, Katy Perry, and more.
Joe Burrascano
Joe Burrascano is the Founder, CEO, and Executive Creative Director of Nathan Love, where he directs and oversees the creative vision of their animated projects for various clients. His past work includes projects for major clients such as Nickelodeon, Activision/Blizzard, Coca-Cola, and Eminem & Snoop Dogg. He described for us Nathan Love’s development process and how they acquire projects:
Development process
Each project at Nathan Love starts with a lead. A lead can come directly from the brand client or through Nathan Love’s sales representatives who connect them with advertising agencies and their clients. Leads are more commonly found through the sales reps, and they are crucial in ensuring that agencies and clients are aware of Nathan Love and their capabilities.
Advertising agencies assist in developing advertising strategies and ideas for their clients, including ad concepts, determining target audience, where to sell the project, buying the ad time, and hiring people like Nathan Love to create the concept. When an agency decides that animation is the best approach for an ad, they work with their client to send a brief to studios like Nathan Love. A brief typically describes the client’s overall challenge or message they’re trying to convey. It can also include creative examples, budget, and timeline information that the client wants the studio to know.
Nathan Love reviews the brief, researches the client, and prepares a competitive pitch. The pitch includes the “treatment” or the creative approach, which can include initial sketches, storyboards, animatics, 3D character models, motion tests, examples of previous works, and more
During the pitch, Nathan Love hopes to demonstrate they're the best fit for the project. If the client loves the treatment presented to them, then Nathan Love wins the project and they begin the animation project. Alternatively, another competing studio can win the deal, or the project can be canceled due to changes in the clients priorities, market research, or budget constraints.
Burrascano told us the story of Nathan Love’s pitch to Crayola for a project:
Upon winning the pitch, Nathan Love went on to make many works for Crayola. Burrsascano also described the process of creating the viral Xifaxan Super Bowl commercial:
Animation Licensing 101
Understanding intellectual property is crucial for both animation studios and their clients. When studios work on animations for clients, they must navigate IP laws to ensure smooth collaboration and protect everyone’s interests.
When an animation studio creates an original animated project, the work is automatically protected as a copyright once it is fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Under copyright law, the studio is entitled to six exclusive rights, including being able to license the copyrighted animation to clients while preventing others from distributing or exploiting it without permission (Bizofan). However, if the work was commissioned by a client under a work-for-hire agreement, the client owns the rights to the work (Circular 30). This is because “licensing trumps copyright” in that the terms and conditions set in a legal contract between the client and studio will indicate the ownership to most likely be the client (Guides). Despite creating the work, once its copyrights have been transferred, the studio cannot resell or reuse the work in other projects. Burrsascano shared with us his experience with Work for Hire agreements:
Another big consideration in advertising is the Right to Publicity. This is often seen in the usage of celebrities or commercial actors in advertising, such as the Sprite “Thirstiest Time of the Year” commercial with the likeness of Lebron James. The Right to Publicity is - “an intellectual property right that protects against the misappropriation of a person’s likeness, or any indicia of personal identity for commercial benefit” (Inta). Studios and advertising agencies must respect the right to publicity by obtaining permission to use the individual's likeness in their commercial projects.
Legal Issues that Arise in Animation
The animation industry faces several legal challenges that can impact the animation process. Issues such as the types of content depicted in animated films can create complications that studios often need to factor in when making creative decisions for a project.
Anthony V. Lupo is an attorney, specializing in the fashion, entertainment, and technology industries and the Chairman of ArentFox Schiff. He serves as legal counsel to globally renowned brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Christian Louboutin in fashion, and Disney, Pixar, Tesla, Warner Bros. in both entertainment and technology. Lupo shared with us several legal factors that studios typically need to consider during the animation process:
AI has its uses in the animation industry, enhancing creativity with a quicker output. However, AI can pose some issues such as copyright infringement by generating content that resembles existing works, as well as increased job displacement. Burrascano shared with us his thoughts of the usage of AI in animation:
References:
About. Nathan Love. (2024, June 4). https://nathanlove.com/studio
Anthony v. Lupo. ArentFox Schiff. (2024, November 20). https://www.afslaw.com/attorneys/anthony-lupo
Guides: Copyright for animation: Working with licensing. Working with Licensing - Copyright for Animation - Guides at Capilano University. (n.d.). https://libguides.capilanou.ca/c.php?g=723477&p=5281159
Right of publicity. International Trademark Association. (2021, July 30). https://www.inta.org/topics/right-of-publicity/#:~:text=What%20Is%20Right%20of%20Publicity,or%20photograph%E2%80%94for%20commercial%20benefit
Bizofan. (2022, April 29). Guide: What animators need to know about animation copyright. Business of Animation. https://businessofanimation.com/guide-to-animation-copyright-for-freelancers/
Circular 30 Works Made for Hire. (n.d.). https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ30.pdf