It may seem obvious, but the participants need to agree on the core question of WHAT the format planned project actually is : Is it to be a web-based series of short vignettes ? A docu -drama limited television series? A multi-camera family sitcom ? A “noir” thriller feature film? Or ….? Mere informal, oral understandings simply don’t cut it! You’re professional screenwriters, so act like it.īelow, I will touch on the major issues that the team members need to discuss and address in their collaboration agreement. Plus, there is a core legal reason for a collaboration agreement: rights in and transfers of copyrightable matter ( which includes pretty much any of the literary and filmed entertainment works contemplated here) must be established in writing. T he collaboration agreement should be thought of as the “constitution” of the joint creative endeavor between two or more participants: the agreement will memorialize everyone’s respective rights and responsibilities and governs the project as it goes through all the stages of development, production, and (hopefully) exploitation.Įven if the screenwriter collaborators haven’t settled on the exact details of their strategy, a collaboration agreement will be an invaluable guide as they move ahead through the process.įrankly, screenwriting collaborators should embrace this process-because if they are on very different pages creatively or otherwise, as they work out these terms, wouldn’t it be better that they find that out now … before wasting months or even years on a doomed runaway train? If one of you isn’t hiring the other(s) on the project, and you are each going to invest you r time and creative and business energies into the project, the collaboration agreement will sketch everything out clearly and (hopefully) succinctly. I’m not here to psychoanalyze these common excuses-nor am I in the least bit qualified to do so-but, rather, I am going to try to explain how a written agreement governing the agreement from its earliest stages is actually quite critical. theses could be written about why creative folks looking to work together on a television or film script forge ahead with the collaborative work, but shy away from establishing the terms of their collaboration in a formal written agreement.Įxcuses ranging from “but we are such old, good friends!” to “I don’t want to act like I don’t trust him/her!” abound.
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