inside LG15

Hey everyone,

We are really excited to be doing TSIY2 and can’t wait to see the amazing pilots people come up with. We put out our rules a few weeks ago over at LG15 there have been some requests for clarification about the rules. I went through and answered the first couple waves of questions and a couple users have added a series of new more detailed questions they would like me to answer. I want to thank these users for asking a lot of good questions and I’d like to take this chance to do my best to answer the remaining questions. Below are the answers. I want to note that a good amount of the questions are very specific legal questions asking a bunch of “what if” questions pertaining to the contractual relationship between EQAL and the winning producer. I cannot go into those detailed questions here because the answers are unique to the specific winning producer. If my failure to provide specific answers to those questions makes any producer unwilling to submit his/her pilot, I understand. However, we hope that you trust that we will honor our end of the bargain, be good partners with the producer, and do our best to make a very successful TSIY2.

Site Features: Regarding the website, as previously discussed the new version of LG15.com will launch in time for producers to submit their pilots on October 1st. The website will receive new features, upgrades, and technical support that is consistent with all other EQAL websites.

Legal Issues:
Question: On a previous question about retaining rights, you said “We will be acquiring the rights so the producer cannot submit the show places without our consent.”; is that limited to the particular pieces of content created for TSIY2, or does that extend to the characters and additional mythology created in support of it, i.e. would EQAL fully and exclusively own the rights to the characters of the winning show? (Thus blocking continuation of the series independently.)

Answer: EQAL will be the owner of all IP in TSIY2. We are NOT doing this for personal benefit. We are doing this because all characters in TSIY2 will become canon to the LG15 Universe and those characters need to be built on by the community in TSIY3, 4 and so on. We will be using a Creative Commons non-commercial share-like license for all of the LG15 content, including the content we acquire with TSIY2. Therefore, we need to have ownership so that those characters will be part of the canon and new producers can build off of them under our license to the LG15 Universe.

Question: Once the winning show is over, will there be any remaining/future liabilities for the winning team, or does the contract just end?

Answer: They will have to send us all the video files - we will send them a hard drive and paid postage. After that, no further obligations or liabilities.

Question: Given that TSIY shows are officially canon, how would credit be handled in potential future plots which use characters or plot elements created by the winning team? e.g. would there be “Based on characters created by…” credit? Or is all of that swallowed when EQAL obtains the rights? (This is of importance even if EQAL does not plan to continue LG15 or to touch upon TSIY storylines, because future TSIY teams might do this.)

Answer: We will give credit to the Producers of all TSIY shows based on our contract with those producers. Those contracts are private and confidential.

Question: You have had 16 days to look into the IRS issue. What tax-status will the $5000 have?

Answer: The winning team will not have to pay taxes on the $5,000. All further details will be discussed with the winning team.

All further questions in the Legal, Organization, and PR issues are too specific to cover in this general setting and those issues will be dealt with between EQAL and the Producer and are covered by the private and confidential contract between us.

OpAphid & Nikki Bower:

Question: Which exact “version” of OpAphid and other related characters can/should be used? Should any post-LG15 character developments (e.g. RE88) be disregarded, or should the characters as they stood after their full storylines (e.g. after RE88) be integrated?

Answer: You should use the version of OpAphid that ends with Nikki Bower saying they are missing and haven’t been heard from in weeks. Nikki Bower’s statement can be regarded as canon and you should not use any OpAphid character developments that happened as a result of RE88.

Question: In the past, we were explicitly told not to regard Nikki Bower Reports as canon. Nevertheless, Nikki Bower had important roles in several high-profile LG15 episodes, making the character itself canon. In that light, how should writers treat the information from “Following the Drugs - NBR Investigates”, in which Nikki B. states “OpAphid is missing and hasn’t been heard from in weeks. And Tachyon and Brother… they’re missing too.” as well as “Tachyon, Brother, and OpAphid, they were the only people watching Bree’s videos”. Should this be regarded canon LG15 information and thus form the starting point for any TSIY storyline not based on RE88 events, or should this be disregarded like other NBRs, and the teams are free to make up their own explanation of the characters’ absence (with Glenn’s help)?

Answer: See above.
Question: While we’re on the topic, is Nikki B. eligible for TSIY storylines?

Answer: Yes, Nikki B. the character is eligible but I have no idea if Nikki B. the actress is available. That is up to her as it is up to any other actor to participate in TSIY2.

Question: What is the process for incorporating “OpAphid assets” in TSIY? For example, will EQAL or Glenn provide, say, the voice of OpAphid, or is the cooperation limited to “only” Glenn himself (as in, no Mari, no Op/Tachyon actresses)? How does a producer go about determining what is possible and what is not?

Answer: This is going to be up to Glenn and the Producer. I would tailor your pilot to make sure it can exist only with “Glenn himself” but have ideas for how to incorporate OpAphid’s voice if that is what the Producer wants to do in case Glenn can arrange that. This is all between Glenn and the Producer.

Thanks again to LG15 Today for all the good questions. At this point, I won’t be answering any more general questions in this public setting. If specific producers that are going to be 100% percent making pilots would like to ask me follow-up questions, they can do so by sending me a private message at any of our sites - Level26.com, GetCookin.PaulaDeen.com, HarpersGlobe.com.

Greg

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 12:05 am and is filed under LG15, LG15: The Show is Yours. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.