Protect your TV scripts and shows using copyright laws
It is advisable for producers to protect their content from plagiarism. FILE
Television is turning into an effective media of communication. There are many TV shows coming up whether for entertainment or knowledge and many are making a lot of money from them.
The most basic TV show has three main parties that is actors, directors, producers and the script writer who also doubles up as the concept holder.
So once you come up with a concept for TV, you need to get a director to coach the actors on how to bring the concept to life. The producer is the one who shoots the programme and does all the editing that is required.
Once the production is ready then you approach TV stations with a bid to sell to them the programme. If they are in agreement then they will purchase your programme and air it. They will pay you royalties for your show and maintain most of the rights.
A TV show therefore has very many legal issues for consideration. The concept holder or the script writer will need to protect the concept even before involving other parties. This can be done through copyrights.
Many script writers get their concepts duplicated when they share them out to other people. Sometimes script writers approach TV stations before protecting their content and it can easily be plagiarised.
Once the concept is protected and ready for shooting and production, the script writer needs a producer. In most cases, the producer will take up ownership of the entire programme including the concept.
They are the ones who do the shooting and get the directors and actors. Once the final product is ready for marketing, then they approach various TV stations to air the programme.
The first agreement is between the script writer and the producer. In most cases, the producer takes ownership of the scripts and pays the script writer per script. This agreement can be flexible but the salient terms are on script writing and the payment terms.
Ownership of the final product is also a term of the contract. Once the producer has ownership of the script, then he is the one who develops it to final product by sourcing a director and actor. Most of the legal issues are borne by the producer.
One, he has to ensure that approvals from regulators are sought. For example, in some locations you need a licence before you can shoot. He also has to ensure the content is edited to avoid flouting the law.
He must avoid defamatory content, pornographic content, hate speech and other illegal content to protect the programme from being banned and suffering heavy losses.
He must also ensure his work is protected by copyright law and trademark law. The TV programme itself should be trademarked so as to avoid passing off by other producers.
Therefore, when choosing the name and brand of the programme, the producer must ensure he does not take up a name that sounds similar to any another.
The producer also needs to secure the relationship between the directors and actors through confidentiality agreements and restriction covenants.
What this means, is that the actors are barred from acting in a competing programme. The producer is now ready to market the programme to media houses.
The agreement between the station and the producer will provide for payment terms and ownership rights. Intellectual property is the biggest issue in the entertainment industry as it is a creative one.
