I have 35+ years of experience working in the film industry with Intellectual Property Lawyer parents (both of them). Everything done in this industry is exclusively under "Working for Hire". There's no way around this. And this is because the Producer or the owner of the Film, game or any media entity must own the copyright in order to license the final product. Otherwise you can't license your product to a network, your game to a distribution outlet, etc. If you are artists from Universities, I am surprised they did not teach you about this, since it is the only way to do business in the professional world. If you need any advice let me know. I try to help if I can.
