For the longest time I’ve wanted to start a certain website, but it’s going to be very hard to finally do it. Here goes:
I want to start a website in which people can share their ideas for movies, t.v. shows, books, and video games. But I want the users who submit ideas to be legally protected from having anyone who reads it take their ideas.
Why start this? A.) I enjoy hearing about people’s ideas for stories, b.) we could support each other in our writing, ideas, etc., and c.) hopefully industry types will come to see this website as a good grazing ground for potential projects to pick up.
My tentative title for the website is Pitchanidea.com, which hasn’t been taken yet. It’s hard to believe such a database/website doesn’t already exist, but well, it’s time it did.
Why would people worried about others stealing their ideas trust an anonymous person on a website? What protections will the OP put in place to make sure that one poster(or anyone just browsing the site) doesn’t steal another poster’s idea?
First of all, “ideas” cannot be legally protected. It has to be much more detailed description to get protection.
Second, writers can already protect their work by submitting a detasiled synopsis to the Screen Writers Guild.
There is absolutely no way that your website would have any legal effect. You will get zero support from industry professionals. No writer will consider submitting his ideas to you. No producer will consider looking on your site for projects. You might even get sued by the guild if you try.
This is a Very Bad Idea.
Pitch your movies ideas might make a fun threador two on the Straight Dope. But don’t expect it to be taken seriously.
You can do it without the legal protection angle, and people might still be interested in contributing - that’s pretty much what HalfBakery is (only for inventions, not stories).
But I’m fairly sure there must also already be implementations of forum sites where people can publish their fiction anyway.
I’m pretty sure this already exists. Steam greenlight already covers the video game pitch aspect for instance.
Kickstarter already covers all of it plus funding. You pitch the idea, you find out if anyone’s willing to fund it.
As others have said, the legal part of protecting ideas is either impossible or a nightmare.
There’s no real need for it. If you want to share and discuss ideas on the net for free you can already just about anywhere. If you want to actually coalesce it into a REAL idea and try and take it somewhere but you don’t have funding, the sites to make that happen already exist. There’s printers/manufacturers that do stuff on demand in any size and run you want; for most things nowadays there’s really nothing stopping you except for money, and like I said we have sites to solve that if you have a good idea and pitch it well.
Pitching to the big leagues is last decade. This decade is all about self-starting by pitching to the community, not to the industry.
So if you need money to make it happen and you think it’s a great idea…pitch it on kickstarter
Others have pointed out why this project will have difficulties. But I’d like to ask what help it is you’re seeking.
Are you looking for people to do the work of setting up a website? Or are you asking for somebody to host it or give you money? If so, you’ve essentially repeated the problem of your initial concept: it’s relatively easy to come up with an idea. The real work is developing that idea into a finished product and financing its production.
I don’t know if I can help you do this, but Thank You for asking if it can be done! I have many ideas/projects that I’d love to give a shot in front of people who know what works and what doesn’t. I doubt I’d ever earn a nickle at it, but I know that I truly would like to try. Some stories are just meant to be made.
Some of the websites like Kickstarter seem Phenomenal and I get the raising money part. I’m a little lost on how to turn a finished story into an animated short though…
Different tack:
By putting the on the web it is now copyrighted. How much of the story of protected from unauthorized derivative works? So for example I post a 1 page short story about an antelope and a marshmallow and their various hijinks as they travel from West Covina, CA to Paducah, KY, how protected would that be from a person at FOX making a TV show about an antelope and a marshmallow and their various hijinks as they travel from West Covina, CA to Paducah, KY?
