Producing : AMA - Protecting Series Pilots - Open to Questions by Brandon Blake

Great stuff! Thank you!

Hi Brandon, as a producer if you get a talent attachment agreement for your unscripted cast and you get a presentation order from a network and your original attachment agreement expires, do you have to renew that agreement or does the network presentation agreement the cast signs supersede the original agreement?

Thanks for the AMA, Brandon Blake. Do you think a writer should register a pilot and a show bible with the U.S. Copyright Office (at the same time)?

Personally. I would not, with T.V. almost every network is doing something similar to each other.

Hi Brandon, is a pilot named same and based on 1st book in my 9-book crime series and WGA registered protected ok?

Brandon,What does an entertainment attorney charge? Thank you. Best, Jed.

Amanda, Thanks for the question. The talent agreement or network agreement you sign later would supersede the attachment, but it's not a good idea to shop a project past the attachment period, because the cast might not be interested anymore, especially if you are talking about a significant amount of time later. Depending on what the attachment deal said, you also would no longer be protected from any non circumvent or NDA that was part of it. Hope that helps.

Maurice, Sure, you can register the pilot and show bible at the same time if you have both done at the same time. Otherwise just copyright them when they are finished. As with all of this, this is not legal advice but for informational purposes. Thanks for the question!

Jeb, Thanks for the question. Titles (meaning the name of the book or series) are not protected, not for books or series without a trademark. I also wrote the article about the shortcoming of WGA registration, so check out what I say about that in my article: https://www.filmtvlaw.com/blog/2022/11/29/protecting-a-tv-pilot

You're welcome, Brandon Blake. Thanks for the answer.

Thank you, Brandon.