Hey everyone,
So I am new to this community and I am learning more and more about the industry of film and television by the day! Last week on twitter, many established white writers announced that they were opening up their DMs to black writers in order to get more representation in the industry and to ultimately have more black stories made into tv and film projects. Naturally, I was very encouraged and I began reaching out to writers who have dedicated time to reading black written scripts! One established write responded to me and said all I have to do is sign the attached release form and email it to another email address and an upper-level comedy writer from a production company will read my script. She did not promise that I will hear any feedback from this writer or that anything will come of it.
So I read the release form and man the language in there was very alarming! Below are a couple excerpts from the form:
"Company shall be entitled to all rights of exploitation in any ideas, concepts, or materials that Company independently creates, or that Company acquires from a third party, even if similar or identical to the Material. Submitter acknowledges that any Material submitted by Submitter to Company
may be similar or identical to projects, products, ideas, designs, and other materials that are already owned by Company, submitted to Company by others, and that materials used by Company may embody elements similar to any Material provided by Submitter to Company."
The next point says this:
"Submitter understands and agrees that Company is entitled to use any part of the Material not owned or controlled by Submitter without any notice, compensation, credit, or any other consideration to Submitter. "
Essentially I read that as, if I sign this form and send over my script and an executive likes it, they can replicate it and do whatever they want with it and do not have to include me in the process at all. I will become an afterthought because I signed my rights away. I really apologize for this lengthy post but I wanted to know if this is standard in the TV and Film business or is that type of contract predatory. Because it feels very exploitive to me. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this!
Thanks in advance!
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Thanks for that perspective CJ! I appreciate it
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yeah, there were a lot of white people offering support for black businesses across all industries on social media last week after the death of George Floyd. I don't think there was any bad intention in the request being for black writers to submit scripts, in fact a lot of people I know personally benefited from that hype.
As for the contract... it's kind of controversial in my opinion because why make you sign such an intense release form just to read a script? There was a time, back in the day when companies started making writers sign release forms because companies got sued a lot for copyright infringement for having similar stories in their films to screenwriters who could prove that they wrote their story before the film was released. That era is also why so many companies don't accept unsolicited material, to avoid any legal hassles in future.
I have to admit, I've read a few release forms and they contain similar clauses to indemnify the company from any lawsuits should they make something similar or use similar ideas as the script you submit etc. It seems to be normal, but it's totally unfair. I've been invited twice to submit and was presented with release forms that had that clause in it and I refused to sign. It's just too risky. And most companies stopped doing it a long long time ago, so I don't feel like I'm loosing out on anything. I pitch my work, it gets requested and read.
Another interesting perspective! Since I'm so new to this arena, I really don't know what to think. I must also say that in addition to the language in the release form, the other alarming point I saw was that the name of production company is named Soup Cart Inc. I looked it up and found nothing on it. But the form says that any subsidiaries or parent companies of this prod. company is also waived of any liability. So I have no idea who that company is affiliated or associated with. It very much seems that way by design. Just seems sketchy to me.
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I'm with Ally Shina, in that the paragraphs you, Niyi Odumosu, quote are very intense! I've signed release forms that protected the prodco from the risks of similar material, without the specific - and scary - clauses detailed in this thread. I wouldn't sign it!
Not to mention, it kind of negates the whole purpose of the Twitter call to give writers of color access, IMO.
I've seen other calls like this on Twitter, where established writers offer to read scripts - and with the direct claim they will pass on any they deem excellent to their network of execs/showrunners. Testimonials that followed showed this was a real deal. And all without release forms (at least for the ones I participated in).
So, like I said, this particular Twitter thing seems to kill the spirit they're purportedly trying to create.
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John Ellis I really appreciate your view on this. This all goes back to my original question "Standard or Predatory?" because the language just seemed so intense. Especially since the writer already told me there's no guarantee I would hear anything back at all. Kinda feels like I would be sending my script to a blackhole. However at the same time, CJ Walley makes some valid points and I really need to determine my risk tolerance level. I haven't been writing for too long so having my script read by an established writer seems like a really good opportunity. I'll continue to mull on this but thanks for everyone's perspectives!
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CJ Walley Since your response, I have already copyrighted my script online. This community has already been a huge help!
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I know about eerily similar idea in a movie thing., CJ Walley. When I saw Avatar there were concepts in that film that I wrote a story idea for on an index card when I was 15 which was in 1981. I still hesitate to write the script because folks will say "You got that from Avatar" which I didn't.