Master and negotiate your screenwriting rights

Understanding the legal aspects of screenwriting rights is crucial to protecting and exploiting creative work within the series industry. This three-day course provides you with the tools to enhance your legal knowledge and, through practical exercises, to defend your screenwriting rights and negotiate with potential partners.

objectives

Understand the principles of contract law
Understand authors’ rights and copyrights systems, and the different types of agreements and contracts for screenwriters in the European series industry
Experience and learn how to negotiate screenwriting rights, and how to read and draft major contractual clauses.

method

Lectures on contract laws and contractual practices
Learning by doing: case studies and negotiation simulation
Ensuring knowledge acquisition throughout the course by MCQs and practical exercises

format

Dates : June 11-13, 2024 (three full consecutive days from 10am to 6pm – 21 hours)
Location: Lille – France (10 rue des Poissonceaux, 59000)
Language: Entirely in English
Number of participants: 5 à 12 participants

who can register

European series writers (fiction, animation, documentary…) and European agents or writers representatives.

Requirements:

No pre-existing project is needed to participate in this program.
Participants must be over 18 years old or above

If you have special circumstances, such as a disability, please let us know so that we can discuss your needs. Contact: smi@seriesmania.com

Program outline

This 3-day training program covers various aspects of contract law and copyright in the series industry. Participants explore topics such as territorial application of copyright, economic and moral rights, and specificities of contracts involving intellectual property. The program includes interactive sessions such as case studies and negotiation simulations to enhance practical skills and promote effective negotiations.

Day 1 – Fundamentals

Contract law
Copyrights
Specificities of Intellectual Property rights
Case studies and knowledge check

Day 2 – Contractual practice

Stages in the creation of an audiovisual work
The different types of contracts and agreements
Case studies and knowledge check

Day 3 – Application and negotiation simulation

Tips for better negotiation
Negotiation simulation
Final debrief

the speaker

With over twenty years of experience in the areas of intellectual property, film and music, Laurence is an entertainment attorney with expertise in transactional (Business and Legal Affairs) and negotiation.From working for the motion pictures studios Columbia TriStar (Sony Pictures Entertainment) and DreamWorks SKG in Los Angeles, to the law firm Paul Hastings in Paris, to opening her solo entertainment law practice, Laurence now counsels and represents producers, filmmakers, artists and entrepreneurs in all business and legal affairs aspects of their projects and assists them set-up their projects internationally.

tuition fees

1260€ per participant (taxes included)

For French participants, depending on your eligibility, all training programs can be funded in part or in full by AFDAS or other funding organizations.

For other participants, we encourage you to contact local funds or writers’ guilds to inquire about potential funding.

Series Mania Institute urges all candidates to anticipate further costs that are not included in the tuition fees, such as travel, accommodation and daily expenses.

key dates

March 14, 2024: Registration opening
May 22, 2024 at 5pm (CET): Registration deadline
Tuesday June 11, 2024 to Thursday June 13, 2024: Training program

registration

To register, fill in the online registration form accessible on this web page. It is necessary to provide a CV in english, as well as a copy of the identity card or passport.

Following the submission of the registration form, each participant will be contacted by Series Mania Institute within the following 15 days, in order to validate their participation.

The rules & regulations terms must be accepted in the registration form.

Only applications in English will be accepted.

Submissions by e-mail, post or any other means will not be accepted.