Your series has been sold to the network and you get to guide it creatively and nurture it.   It’s like having a baby and putting it up for an open adoption.  You will take care of it everyday, but will not own it.  You can love it, take care of it, but at the end of the day the adopted parents will make all of the life’s decisions.

The network loves your show.  The executives see the total package potential.    It is moving forward into development, but what happens next. What do you get?  What do you do?

Most creators have visions of merchandising and licensing in their heads.  Dollar signs dance around in their dreams, in hopes that Nick will take their property and make it a number one hit. But what do Nick, Disney and Cartoon Network want? They want the whole thing, all of it, all rights, all merchandise and all licensing.  Remember, the US government granted them the privilege in 1994 with the Fin Syn Act (See “Money, Money Where Are You?”).  Since they are in the driver’s seats they can ask for it all. 

Every one of my content client’s goals is to get their show on a US network, first and foremost.  This is when I ask the question, “Are you willing to sell your rights away?”  Many stop short and say “Hell NO!”  

Many will have a real clear idea of what networks they would like their shows ultimately to land on. But not all of them have analyzed if their type of show is the kind of show these networks like. They just know they like that network or know that it is number 1.  

The other night I invited Mike Young, co-CEO of Moonscoop, to speak to my class about co-production and the facts of life about where money comes from. Mike’s is one of the few studios that survived post “Fin-Syn,” which was a ruling in Congress in 1994 that now allows networks and broadcasters to own what they air, a 180 degree turn from the “separation of church and state” laws that existed since the emergence of radio in 1927.

Now that sunlight is being cast on my KidScreen notebook I am assessing the results.  I must say it was a more positive event then in the past.  One major player asked me for production bids for a television series. Another company asked for a client to quote on a style of animation for a DVD feature.

This is one of the questions being asked.  Commercials are the backbone of the money used to license shows or develop content, but what if you don’t have a broadcast deal yet? Where does the money come from?

Commercials have the highest budgets above any other type of production. The advertiser only has 30 seconds to convince the viewer to buy their brand of toilet paper.   Frame for frame a commercial costs more then even LORD OF THE RINGS.