How
I got started
I got started by having relevant experience (production &
teaching preschool), great ideas and contacting someone in television
the day after he was asked to produce material for a new preschool
science show. Was it destiny, a psychic flash, luck? I don't know,
but it all came down to being the right person, with the right
skills, in the right place. If you want to replicate my path I
recommend daily meditation, staying hydrated, and finding a way
to hang out with people in the television industry.
Getting
Started...
Disclaimer
I am not a lawyer. Before doing any business in the entertainment
industry make sure you educate yourself. I am not a lawyer (there,
I said it twice) and don't want to hear you complain because
something I said is not 100% accurate.
You can't copyright ideas
If you call me up and tell me your idea for an amazing book, film,
character - whatever - I can steal it from you. Ha! Sucker...
You have no protection while it is in your head, even if you have
a whole movie thought out scene by scene, word by word. You can
only copyright the implementation of ideas in novel and concrete
forms. Tell someone your amazing, intricate, billion dollar idea
and it is a goner. Don't.
Read
up and always use protection
Before you talk to anyone read the books below, then write up
your idea to the best of your ability and register it with the
US copyright office. The closer to the date you write it up that
you register, the more rights you have, such as having legal fees
paid for if someone steals your idea. It is CHEAP to do this.
I think the new fee is $45 with a $10 savings if you do it electronically.
Visit http://www.copyright.gov/
Read
these books
Don't
call until you have
Please
don't put me in a position of hearing your idea before you have
them protected.
Release
Form
If
you have a project you absolutely want me to look at, two things
need to happen. First I am going to insist that you've protected
yourself (see above). Second, I'm going to protect myself from
you. I will ask you to sign a release form so we know that there
are no implied contracts involved in your sending me your material,
that I may have a similar project in the works and that I may
have already had a very similar idea, and so on.
Rule
of Thumb
Unless
you have a job offer (read = funded project for me to work on)
do not call me until you have...
1)
Done your homework (read books above)
2) Come up with an original idea worthy of being produced
3) Have written it up as a treatment or in more detail
4) Have registered it with the copyright office
Thank
You!
Thank you for protecting yourself and taking steps to launch
your career. Know that I am in your corner and, once you have
taken the steps above, would love to hear from you.
May
you...
May
you have an amazing idea for a screenplay, write it up as a treatment
based on the wisdom in the book above and these
websites. May you be smart enough to register your work with
the copyright office, send a query letter to an agency, sign with
an agent, then have him/her sell it for $500,000.
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