A Filmmaker's Guide to Creating Intellectual Property for Film and TV; No Film School, June 8, 2023

 Jason Hellerman, No Film School; A Filmmaker's Guide to Creating Intellectual Property for Film and TV

"What Are the Kinds of IP You Should Be Creating For Hollywood?  

When it comes to creating intellectual property for Hollywood, various types of stories and packages have historically been successful in the entertainment industry.

1. 1. Spec Scripts: Well-written screenplays and scripts are the foundation of many successful films and television shows. Developing compelling stories with engaging characters and interesting dialogue is crucial. 

   2. Book Adaptations: Hollywood often looks to popular books and novels for source material. If you have a unique and captivating story that could be adapted into a screenplay, it could attract attention from producers and studios. Or maybe you can find lesser-known books that you can show to producers that might be easier to get.  

   3. Franchise Concepts: Do you have an idea for a franchise? Hollywood studios are always on the lookout for potential franchises that can span multiple movies or spin-off projects. Developing a rich and expansive world with the potential for sequels or spin-offs can be highly appealing. These could be pitches for huge worlds you could option together or written documents you make to show them a very lucrative avenue you want to be the voice behind.  

   4. Comic Books and Graphic Novels: The success of comic book adaptations in recent years has made this medium particularly attractive to Hollywood. Creating a captivating comic book series or graphic novel with strong characters and a compelling narrative can pique the interest of producers. You could work with an artist and make your own or just have ideas for when you do a general at DC, Marvel, or another spot.  

   5. Video Games: The boundaries between film and video games are becoming increasingly blurred. Developing a unique and immersive video game concept with a captivating storyline and engaging characters could attract interest from both the gaming and entertainment industries. Do you have games you loved that you want to adapt? Then reach out to those companies or have your reps do it for you. Always have a title a company makes to talk about if you get a general with them.  

   6. Short stories: So many writers I know have made the switch to developing and writing their own short stories. These can serve as ideas you try to get published and retain the rights to, and can also be easily shared and adapted.  

   7. True Stories, News Stories, and Biopics: Stories based on true events or the lives of real people often have a strong appeal to audiences. If you come across an untold story or a compelling biography, it could be worth exploring its potential for adaptation. If something is in the news or zeitgeist, it might be in the public domain or you have fair use of it, so you can adapt it or be inspired by something other people have heard of without paying a penny."

A Supreme Court Without RBG May Impact Hollywood's Grip on Intellectual Property; Billboard, September 21, 2020

Eriq Gardner, Billboard; A Supreme Court Without RBG May Impact Hollywood's Grip on Intellectual Property

 

[Kip Currier: This is a note I posted for my Intellectual Property and Open Movements course I'm teaching this term...

Timely and fascinating article regarding the recent passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her "copyright hawk" impact on many landmark Intellectual Property cases, like some we have already examined this term, e.g. Golan v. Holder (public domain) and Eldred v. Ashcroft (20 year extension of U.S. copyright protection period to Life of the Author plus 70 years.) In noting Ginsburg's judicial philosophy that tended to favor copyright maximalism, while a staunch civil rights defender and advocate for the equal rights of marginalized persons to the end, this article reminds us that people are often much more complex and less easily-defined than the boundaried labels that are often ascribed to them. And Justices are no different in that regard.]

 

 "Ginsburg gravitated to intellectual property disputes almost from the moment the Brooklyn, NY-born attorney was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993. More often than not, when a big ruling on the subject was on the table, it was she who carried the big pen. Notably, in 2003, Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion in Eldred v. Ashcroft that blessed an extension of the copyright term over a free speech challenge. Almost a decade later, she reached a similar conclusion in Golan v. Holder, which dealt with works taken from the public domain to comply with an international treaty. Ginsburg also shaped who could sue for copyright infringement — and when — with her majority opinions in Petrella v. MGM (2013) and Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com (2019). She also wrote a concurring opinion in MGM Studios v. Grokster, the case which apportioned secondary copyright liability in the file-sharing age.

Ginsburg was certainly hawkish when it came to copyright. And her view can be most sharply contrasted with those of Justice Stephen Breyer, demonstrating that there's more to judicial philosophy than a conservative-liberal divide...

Now comes Google v. Oracle, which has been hailed for good reason as the "copyright case of the century." It concerns Oracle's efforts to punish Google for allegedly infringing computer code to build the Android operating system. At issue in the case is the scope of copyright. Does the structure, sequence, and organization of application programming interfaces get protected? And separately, does Google have fair use to whatever is copyrighted? The movie industry is backing Oracle in the case —and the high court's conclusions will surely have an outsized influence both on the development of technology as well as how future copyright cases get adjudicated. Ginsburg's passing is probably bad news for Oracle's chances here. Of all the justices, she was least likely to read limits to copyright protection."

Hollywood wants to outsource copyright enforcement: iiNet ; Australian, 11/20/09

Andrew Colley, Australian; Hollywood wants to outsource copyright enforcement: iiNet:

IINET yesterday accused Hollywood studios of trying to "outsource" its copyright enforcement to internet firms as it continued to battle in the Federal Court against claims it authorised illegal file-sharing on its network.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/iinet-accuses-hollywood-of-outsourcing-copyright-enforcement/story-e6frgakx-1225800094356

As Hollywood Insists Canada Is A Den Of Copyright Thieves, Movie Business Is Thriving; TechDirt, 11/11/09

Mike Masnick, TechDirt; As Hollywood Insists Canada Is A Den Of Copyright Thieves, Movie Business Is Thriving:

"For years, Hollywood has pushed a totally ridiculous claim that Canada is somehow a den of copyright thieves, and it needs to make its copyright laws much more strict. This fantasy has worked on journalists and politicians, who insist that the movie industry is dying in Canada due to rampant piracy. Except someone forgot to inform the real world. An anonymous reader sends over the news that the owners of Cineplex in Canada are reporting record box office sales and revenue, even with the current economic downturn."

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091110/1202446880.shtml

Hollywood aims to block RealNetworks' DVD software - Washington Post, 9/30/08

Hollywood aims to block RealNetworks' DVD software:
"Hollywood's six major movie studios on Tuesday sued RealNetworks Inc. to prevent it from distributing DVD copying software that they said would allow consumers to "rent, rip and return" movies or even copy friends' DVD collections outright...
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges RealNetworks' RealDVD program, which launched Tuesday, illegally bypasses the copyright protection built into DVDs...
The software locks the copy to the hard drive where it is copied and to the program it was copied with, Kimball said, and he asserted that copying one's personal collection of DVDs amounts to "fair use" allowed by law. "
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/30/AR2008093001308.html?sub=AR