To Whom It May Concern,

I'm writing to confirm that Nina Paley is making her living as a freelance artist.  

As president of QuestionCopyright.org, the non-profit 501(c)3 organization where Nina Paley is Artist-in-Residence, I have detailed knowledge of both her professional activities and her finances, and with her permission would be happy to provide as much documentation as you need about either.

Nina's earnings come principally from the following sources:

  1) Sales of merchandise related to her film "Sita Sings the Blues".

     This merchandise includes DVDs, t-shirts, jewelry, and prints. Nina has a steady income from such items, which are sold through http://questioncopyright.com/sita.html, an online store that we set up together.  Detailed information about her earnings is here: http://questioncopyright.org/files/finances/store-summary.txt (the lines that say "Sita Sings the Blues Merchandise Empire" represent Nina Paley's before-taxes income from the store).

     Amount so far: approximately $25,000 since the store opened (about nine months ago).

  2) Donations made by fans of the film (Nina released the film under a free license that allows it to spread online without impediment).

     QuestionCopyright.org processes these donations, which are structured as a reimbursement of expenses incurred in making the film.  Since Nina already spent that money (in making the film from 2005-2008), these unexpected reimbursements might or might not count as a revenue source for the Freelancer's Union's purposes.

     At http://questioncopyright.org/files/finances/civicrm-summary.txt you can see month-by-month summaries of these donations (lines saying "SDP" or "Sita Distribution Project" represent the directed donations, and are paid to Nina or Nina's creditors as she requests).

     Amount so far: also approximately $25,000 (since we started accepting the donations, about eleven months ago).

  3) Payments made by non-exclusive endorsed distributors of the film.

     Nina uses a distribution model in which she charges for her endorsement rather than for access to the film itself: distributors pay her for the right to claim that Nina Paley endorses their distribution of the film.  While these payments do not flow through QuestionCopyright.org, our organization assisted Nina in developing the endorsement model and in reviewing the contracts, so we are very familiar with the details of this income source.

     Amount so far: approximately $12,000 (over about eleven months).

     Breakdown:
       $3000 Theatrical distributors
       $3000 DVD distributors (other than QuestionCopyright.org)
       $4000 Direct payments from theaters that screened it commercially
       $2000 Broadcasters (e.g., public television stations)

  4) Custom animation work for QuestionCopyright.org.

     Our organization is producing a series of short animated videos (called "Minute Memes") about copyright reform, for which Nina Paley is the animator.  You can read more about the project at http://questioncopyright.org/minute_memes.  Currently we have secured funding for three of the memes, and have contracted with Nina Paley to make them.  We have a reasonable expectation of obtaining funding for the rest of the series, and expect to contract with Nina to produce those as well.

     Amount secured:   appx  $10,000 (animator's fees)
     Amount projected: appx $100,000 (animator's fees)

  5) Speaking fees.

     Nina Paley is increasingly in demand as a speaker because of the success (in both financial and marketing terms) that followed her permitting everyone to download the film and even screen it commercially without asking for her permission.

     Amount so far: approximately $2000 (over about eleven months).

Depending on whether one includes the directed donations, this is either $74,000 or $49,000 in freelance income for Nina over the past year.  I would be happy to provide more documentation for any of the income sources mentioned above, or to answer any questions.

Sincerely,
-Karl Fogel

 QuestionCopyright.org
 P.O. Box 20165
 Stanford, CA 94309-0165

 Email: kfogel@questioncopyright.org
 Phone: +1 (312) 772-2726