Archive for the ‘Stalemate’ tag
Forms of Collaboration (PART 2 of 3)
By Jesse Rosenblatt, Esq
Collaborations can take many forms, even ones that you may not intend. The two most common forms of collaboration I see are:
• Two People Intentionally Collaborate From The Beginning Of A Project
This is exactly what it sounds like. You and another writer come together to create a single collaborative work and the presumption (in the absence of a collaboration agreement to the contrary) is generally that 50% of the work is owned by each of you and that both of you will share equally in any revenues from the project.
This is all well and good, assuming both parties share the same expectations about each facet of the project. However, once there’s a disagreement, a standstill or one collaborator wants to walk away for any reason, problems begin, often leading to a stalemate which freezes the project indefinitely. At that stage, unless both parties can find a way to reach an agreement with respect to each other’s rights and obligations going forward, there is often no way to proceed effectively to finish or exploit the work.
• A Solo Writer Inadvertently Lets Someone Become A Collaborator In Their Project
This can happen in a variety of ways. Letting a friend casually contribute notes/suggestions/additions/alterations, etc. to your work can create a collaboration. Incorporating a producer’s (or other third party’s) notes when conducting a rewrite can create a collaboration.
As just one common example of how this may play out, let’s say a producer is interested in your screenplay. The producer may say that they want to see a rewrite from you before deciding how they want to proceed, and, to shape the project more to their liking, the producer contributes notes/suggestions/additions/alterations to your script. Once you incorporate those notes, you have inadvertently given that producer a rights interest in your project.
Now, even if that producer elects not to option or purchase your script (or if they option it but don’t ever exercise their option), technically that producer still has rights in your material, since you incorporated and expressed their ideas in your work. There’s now the potential that if you want to option/sell your script elsewhere, this producer may fly in (often out of nowhere once they get wind of your impending deal) and demand to be compensated for their work and/or involved in the project somehow.
Whatever the case, once someone’s intellectual property finds its way into your work, that collaborator has an argument that they have an ownership interest in your project. This dilutes your absolute interest in your own work and can potentially inhibit your project from ever seeing the light of day. If a third party is excited by your work and anxious to make a deal with you, it can be problematic (and potentially expensive) to have to seek out a signed document from your collaborator granting you all of their rights. It’s also unlikely that the excited third party will wait around while you sort things out and negotiate with your collaborator. Without the ability to grant 100% of the rights in your project to a third party, you may have great difficulty finding anyone willing to offer you a deal.
Jesse Rosenblatt is the founder of the Law Office of Jesse Rosenblatt, an entertainment law/consulting firm servicing corporate and individual clients across all segments of the entertainment business. He has over 10 years experience working and negotiating with many of the most powerful players in the entertainment industry.
For more information, please visit www.jesserosenblatt.com or contact Jesse at jesse@jesserosenblatt.com.
