Zendaya, the famous actor from the Spider-Man movies, recently reminded me that movie stars can give good legal advice. “Read those contracts,” she said to a quietly astonished audience. I became very excited when I later came across her comments. What she said is the exact same gospel we have been preaching for many years to our clients. Almost every client meeting I’ve ever had began or ended with me saying some version of “read those contracts” or “understand your contracts.” In fact, I’ve usually also had to draw diagrams and record Loom videos, all in an effort to carefully paint a picture of what can go right or wrong if a client doesn’t read a contract. I’m happy that Zendaya is spreading that awareness.
Read those contracts; understand your contracts
Sitting down for an interview, the actor traced her journey from being young and naive to developing a growing understanding of the power of contracts. Like many of us, she found contracts boring and unimportant. I imagine that she even viewed them as just another piece of homework that grownups were all too happy to throw at her. But age and experience has finally brought her more wisdom. Of contracts, she now says,
And so now… any contract that I have… I have a notebook and I go through it, and I basically just take notes on everything…
With all this growth she’s experienced, I’d happily take advice from her about reading, understanding, and negotiating contracts. The woman is reaping the rewards of her wisdom. For evidence of those rewards, look no further than a recent LA Times article that proclaimed her as being one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, an incredible achievement for a young black actor. (We all know how Hollywood is notorious for underpaying its female actors, especially black actors.) The article speaks about how she used leverage and negotiated that good contract, which goes to show that contracts aren’t things that we should always accept without scrutinising and negotiating.
Lessons from Zendaya’s story?
What are the lessons or takeaways, you ask? Well, I’ve listed at least five that often affect many of our clients, and which we’ve often had to help with.
- Properly identify the relationships you’re trying to create.
- Make sure you have written contracts to govern your transactions.
- Make sure the contracts are in plain language and easy to read.
- Read those contracts before signing them.
- Understand your contracts to make sure you know your rights and obligations.
Written by Sicelo Kula.
