Without divulging too much confidential information, I’d like to share some growing pains from my creative endeavor. Currently? Things are going well. I’ve got a network on the line who wants to sign a deal for a season of a show I developed. Rad! Right? Well, yes, just as soon as I take care of some issues that I should have taken care of from the beginning. So, learn from me folks, and wrap it up tight before the big deal is dangling.

1.    Controlling Interest

Is the project you are working on your idea, baby and dream? Establish controlling interest and hold on tight. I, naively, thought that the people I was creating my dream with were all on the same page with me and we’d never, ever have a disagreement on how to move forward.  (Yeah, and I thought I’d marry my prom date, too.)  This is a growing pain of most start-ups. You need people to help you create your vision, so you begin to chip away percentages to get people involved. We all have to do it, but just make sure you don’t give away more than 49%.

2.    Iron Clad Legal Documents

It’s a heck of a lot easier to get all the signatures involved when you are actually face to face. Tracking down talent, crew and anybody else involved a year later is a major bummer, not to mention a time drain. This one? I actually did right. 

3.    A Great Lawyer

I’ve got a great lawyer. Why? He works not by the hour, but by result. I love him for this. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to talk to him on the phone and strategize without counting the minutes. We worked out a deal where I tell him the documents/work I need, he tells me the price.  Oh, and he’s good.

4.    Creative Vision

I created the vision and thought everyone loved the show and felt the same way I did about it. Ummm, wrong. Once the pilots were done there were a lot of murmurs about how to change it. I didn’t agree with 99% of them and there were some bitter exchanges. Try as hard as you possibly can to get people that genuinely love the creative vision. Otherwise? You’ll be wasting precious time defending your choices, when you could be brainstorming and creating with like-minded folks.

5.    Know the Deal You Want

This is the big one that my team ran into. Specifically? I created the show with folks from New York literally shooting until the day before I moved to California. It was no secret I was moving here, in fact, we all had spoken about how if we were lucky enough to get picked up, some of us may have to consider a move. It all depended on the deal. I, of course, pressed West Coast deals, as I wanted to stay in SoCal. The other half? They were anxiously pitching East Coast. It became Biggie/Tupac within our group and it all fell apart when I secured a West Coast deal. Instead of celebrating with the people that helped make my dream, I’m buying them out.

In conclusion? Work hard to get your dream made, but make sure you’ve got people on board with you who truly dig your idea, understand the vision, agree with where you want it to go and trust you to lead.  I’m blessed that I was able to squeak through this phase virtually unscathed and still able to take advantage of the deal in front of me. But, it was a close one. And, hopefully soon I can say those magical words “Check your local listings.”

Oh, and anyone know a good producer?