Distribution : Shooting a pilot. by JD Hartman

Somewhat hypothetical, because the shoot crashed for several reasons.... Shooting a pilot for a children's show. Episodic and somewhat educational by design. Screenwriter/Producer/Director/Ideas person assembles crew who will all own a piece of the action and financially benefit depending on how much they put into the show (if successful and sold). In theory, any above or below the line person can opt out at any time in the production run and their future share would become frozen. Ideas person has no film industry experience at all, but claims to have connections at Nickelodeon. We flesh out the ideas, write the script, develop the characters and the set design, start to write a show bible, find locations, all the while toiling under the "idea" persons rule. What are the rules? They won't put them on paper and with every meeting things are changing. Ideas person refuses to copywrite the script or create a legal contract describing what out contributions are and our ownership of the product. Tells us that they don't want to work with anyone who won't trust them. We learn that the ideas person wants to screen the first and possibly all episodes on a local public access cable station to gauge response. We object, as then the cat is out of the bag and anyone could copy the show's theme and beat us to market. The project ends in chaos, as far as any of us know, "Doors" was never finished or shown. Is this thinking wrong? If you have a pilot, you would protect it and certainly not show it to anyone and everyone? You wouldn't enter it in a film festival either, How would you actually rake it to market if not through a private meeting and screening?