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Writers Guide for Reality TV Producers

Reality TV producers should be aware of the copyright infringement or the unauthorized use of material under the copyright law. When working with the writers on ideas and concepts for your reality TV show, you have to establish right away that you are the copyright owner with the exclusive rights to reproduce and perform the copyrighted work.
  1. Look for Writer

    • Register your concept with WGA (Writers Guild of America) and sign up for IMDbpro, which is a subscription website designed to help film professionals all over the world to find information about each other. Try to find the writers that previously worked on the shows that are similar to your project.

    Work-for-Hire Agreement

    • Draft a writer's work-for-hire agreement to avoid story theft or use of your idea. Find a good copyright lawyer, who knows the Copyright Act of 1976 to help you out. In the work-for-hire agreement, you are hiring an independent contractor (a writer) to create your show and you will be the owner of the copyright in that work.

    Work for Hire

    • Make sure you have one of the nine categories to qualify your agreement as a work-for-hire agreement. In case of reality TV, a writer's work must be either a contribution to a collective work or a part of a motion picture of other audiovisual work. Study ongoing reality TV litigations to avoid the same problems and look into insuring your project.

Film Production

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