ITVS Digital Distribution Survey

For the past three years, ITVS has asked independent producers about how they find and engage audiences.  “Television is still king” the Digital Survey 2009 says.  But other mediums are quickly catching up.  I just completed the 2010 questionnaire.  Look for the results soon.

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.

Secrets to Funding Your Dream Documentary

Here is an except from my interview with Bill Einreinhofer from the CD recording of the  teleseminar “How To Fund Your Dream Documentary.”  Bill is a National Emmy-Award winning producer, writer and director with over 20 years of television production experience.  He shared a lot of useful tips about how to raise money to produce a documentary.  Here he discusses how to approach potential funders.

SYDNYE: Before you introduce yourself and how fabulous you are and how fabulous your idea is, you need to know why and where and how much they give?

BILL: Yes. This is where you start looking at the giving history. This is where these various reference libraries, whether you go to the actual library or whether you view it online line, find out where the money has gone in the past. What are their interests if they are a foundation? Of if they are a corporation, who they are trying to reach? Corporations, I’ve gotten corporation grants to do public television programs, and it’s because those particular corporations wanted to reach the audience that public television gets. You have to figure out what the grant maker wants. And then be able to tell them, “I can deliver what you want to you.” It only makes sense. I mean obviously, it these people are going to be making grants or if they are going to be making advertising buys, they have certain needs. You have to understand what those needs and be able to tell them “this is how I can help you meet those needs.”

SYDNYE : So we’ll talk a little bit more a little bit later about distribution because that is part of it.

BILL: And this is probably the biggest mistake that many people make. In that they’ll put together a wonderful proposal. They’ve got a great theme. They’ve got colorful characters. A really, really good story, they’ve figured out exactly how to shoot it and edit it. They know what the look is and they don’t put anything about how they are going to distribute it. And if no one is ever going to see this program, this film, then why fund it?

You can learn more tips from Bill Einreinhofer about funding documentaries on the 45-minute audio CD “How To Fund Your Dream Documentary.”