Protecting Your Ideas

A lot of people new to the television industry have recently asked me how to protect their television program ideas.  The short answer is you can’t.  As Paige Gold, a lawyer who specializes in copyright protection, puts it “ideas cannot be protected. If they could be, most creative commerce would grind to a virtual halt. However, the exact way in which the idea is expressed may be protected.”

Let’s face it, television show ideas are a dime a dozen.  We’ve all seen lots of the same type of shows in various forms.  Hoarders is airing on A&E while Hoarding: Buried Alive airs on TLC.  Who knows how many people had that same idea.  Once that “idea” is acted upon in the form of a one-pager, treatment, pilot or program, that you can try to protect the actual “work” or “product.” 

The first step that most people think of is copyright protection.  Copyrighting is never necessary though it does offer a written record of the creator and the work.  The filing fee starts at $35 and you can do it online at http://www.copyright.gov/eco/.  You can also register your work with the Writer’s Guild where it will be given an electronic date stamp.  This cost is between $10 – $22. For more information visit https://www.wgaeast.org/script_registration (East) or http://www.wgawregistry.org/webrss/ (West).  You can find a lot of good information about the television and film industries as well there.  However quite frankly, if your idea is in written form, emailing it to yourself also works.  Or, you can have the document notarized and then mail it to yourself.  The thought here is to put a date on the work so you can establish a timeline advantage. 

Walter G. Lehmann, a managing partner at Lehmann Strobel PLC, suggests registering “the most complete expression of the work — a pilot for example, rather than a one-page treatment”.  He warns that, particularly in the case of written documents, just because you register it doesn’t mean someone else hasn’t already done the same.  Every time you submit an idea to a production company, you run the risk of the idea being stolen and it is often easy for the companies to saythat  they already had a similar idea in the works.  Lehmann says “In some cases you will be asked to sign a submission release acknowledging that the production company or distributor may be developing substantially similar programming and waiving your right to claim copyright infringement.  Signing such a release may be the only way to get in to pitch at all, but it is a risk you have to take.”  The Lehmann Strobel website has a lot of great law documents that producers can use including a sample submission letter.  Visit the “Resources” page at www.lehmannstrobel.com and click on “Producers”.

The best way to protect your idea is to make sure it is attached to something that only you can offer such as exclusive access to talent, experts, characters or location.  For example, I know an historian who owns legal documents and photographs that have never been seen before.  No one can steal that from him.  Sandra Thomas, a producer in the Washington, DC area, says if you can offer something that few others have “sign them up exclusively to you for a development period of 6 months or more if you can get it.”  Other than that, she says, “pitch to people you can trust”.  And if someone does steal your idea, at least you know it was a good one.

Steal These Documentary and Series Ideas… Please!

So many ideas and so little time. So I thought I’d share some ideas for free in the hopes that someone in the universe will stumble upon them and turn them into wonderful, fun, insightful shows, series and documentaries. Or at least, get some good brainstorming going. Did I mention that they are absolutely free?

Signs of the Messiah – This would be a documentary following people who are looking for signs that the Messiah is coming in whatever religion in which they believe. I have a friend who studies rap music and hard rock lyrics because he believes that the second coming of Jesus will be announced through music. This made me wonder how many other people out there are sign seekers in such unusual and interesting ways.

The Science Behind Rock Concerts – This documentary would follow one popular music group as they prepare for a concert. As they prepare, the film would delve into how our ears hear music, how our brains process it, how instruments make music, how we are able to sing, why humans respond to music, how microphones pick up music and how speakers broadcast music.

Extreme Collectors – I was amazed to learn that there are people who spend thousands upon thousands of dollars each year to collect sneakers! What other crazy collectors are out there? I’m sure some of these collectors as colorful characters.

6 Degrees of Separation – On each episode, contestants draw a name of a celebrity out of a big name drum. Then they have 48 hours to get in touch with that celebrity. The less steps/contacts it takes to find the celebrity, the more points they get. They also get more points for face to face meetings. The show could be hosted by someone who sort of knows Kevin Bacon. The

Ultimate Couch Potato Life – this lifestyle series would be hosted by a good looking guy with a bit of a beer belly. On each episode, he would give tips on how to maximize the coach potato experience. The tips could range from comfort food recipes to entertaining on game night. There could even be a “tools and technology” segment that explores the many uses of TiVo and such things as chairs with built in refrigerators.

From Celeb to Politician – What makes celebrities like Ronald Reagan, Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to turn in the glamour for a politician’s life? And what makes them so good at it?

A Week In The Life of A Reenactor – Reenactors tend to be pretty colorful characters. They often dedicate all of their spare time to researching, practicing and preparing for reenactments in an effort to make them as real and as accurate as possible.

Greatest Fictional Characters – and their impact on society. These characters can be from books, TV, movies or cartoons. They can be dogs, doctors, lovers, villains, heros or even cars. For example, what effects have Cliff Huxtable, Gregory House and Trapper John had on our collective American psyches? This could be done as a top-10 count down show.

Mommy Bloggers – this is a phenomenon that has reached Wall Street. Many blogs started by moms about family, child rearing and motherhood now have the backing of major sponsorship. Who are these mommy bloggers and how can you cash in?

International Holidays in the U.S. – I’d love to see how Hindus in Berkeley are celebrating Diwali and how the West Indians in DC go all out for the Carnival in Brooklyn. There are lots of international holidays being celebrated in our own back yards. You don’t even need a passport.

If you’ve any of these ideas on air already, that only proves that they are good. Hey, now that I’ve written these ideas out, some of them look kinda good. Hurry up and produce them before I do!  If you have any ideas that you’d like someone else to produce, please share.