Chapter 5: Developing an Idea
At the end of each chapter of Greenlit you’ll find a list of useful exercises, links and useful resources. Here are some of them:
How to Devise a Game Show by D. Bodycombe – game shows are very specialized but you might be called upon to develop one, or to include game show elements in your format. This excellent e-book describes the development process, including all the legal considerations, in great detail.
HARO – Help a Reporter Out – a free online US-based resource that puts journalists in touch with experts and PR people. They have more than 100,000 sources and you can send a request for a request with an expert, information or stories to be included in their email newsletter, which goes out three times a day. Good for research: gathering background information and finding potential experts (do your own due diligence).
ProfNet – a US-based database that lists approximately 27,000 academic and corporate experts willing to talk to the media. Free to journalists, but experts must pay a fee.
Trading TV Formats by Chrisoph Fey – published by the European Broadcasting Union, this book discusses the issues around the copyright of programme formats and how to protect yourself. Although it’s a complex area, the book does an admirable job of explaining it in plain English with lots of case studies and advice.
Writers Guild of America West – WGA provide a script registration service that you can use for your programme proposal/treatment. You don’t have to be member and you don’t have to live in the USA. WGA suggests registering drafts and works-in –progress with them and then registering the final draft with the US Copyright Office at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The WGAW registration fee for non-members is currently $20.
Writers Guild of America East - the WGA also has an east coast office. Registration currently costs $22 for non-members.
US Copyright Office at the Library of Congress, Washington D.C. – offers various services that register and record the authorship of an original work.
BECTU - the UK’s media and entertainment union offer a registration service to its members for “proposals, concepts, ideas, formats and outlines, as long as they are written down in detail”.
The Script Vault – approved by The Writers Guild of Great Britain, The Writers Vault offer a script, format or treatment registration service for £10. They also offer a useful ‘notice of copyrigtht ownership’ paragraph you can include when sending your idea to third parties.
Own It – provides a free intellectual property advice service for creative professionals in the UK.
Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers