My artist collaborator and I met in London to have a preliminary discussion about legal matters that may be of relevance to an animation series we’re developing, with media lawyers Lee & Thompson.  The Lee part of the firm is named in the opening verse of Roxy Music’s Virginia Plain. Rock and roll.

That alone made it an auspicious day, but there was more.  While waiting for my colleague, a bearded and turban wearing Indian man singled me out in the throng around Bond Street and, showing me a black and white photo of his yogi, proceeded to tell me that the lines on my forehead indicate that I will be receiving three pieces of luck in the next couple of months, with the date August 22 of particular significance.

Now, I have no particular conviction that this swami is going to be correct, but given that I currently have a pilot script with three top tv producers, I’m certainly in the market for good news.  And yes, part of the soothsayer’s modus operandi was to confuse, but the whole business was so bizarre and intriguingly conducted, that I was more than happy to part with money for the experience — and in return for it I received what seems to be some kind of colourful seedpod.  Or maybe a magic bean.  Hmm.

Needless to say, I didn’t share this incident with our friend in the legal world.  Not the best gambit.  Instead, we talked about the show concept, showed him the character art and told him what kind of feel the series would have, and he seemed to get it.  No surprise, given his grasp of the animation industry, about which he is far more informed than either of us.

What’s interesting is what we can potentially expect from Lee & Thompson.  Increasingly, they’re acting to represent the talent they work with and be bridges to the realisation of projects.  It’s a role more typically seen in America, and calls for some degree of diplomacy since they don’t want to tread on the toes of agents and managers.  But for someone like myself with neither, it offers the possibility of having someone to act as an intermediary should any negotiations take place.  And I like the sound of that.

As far as the future is concerned, it was interesting to get the perspective of someone who’s been there and done that with other creative teams.  What we’re up against is the desire of any producers who like what we’ve come with to control it.  Lee & Thompson will be in our corner to strike the best possible deal, but reality is the concept will be more than 50% controlled by people we’ve never met.  In an ideal world, they’ll be people who have our concept’s best needs at heart, but that’s by no means guaranteed, and the history of entertainment is full of legal disputes around exactly such issues.

The nature of progress is incremental.  This particular project is only a few months old, and at this stage exists as some character notes and concepts, a sample script, and a web domain name.  That’s it.  But in the last few weeks we’ve met with a Soho company that specialises in post production who are willing to lend their arm to getting the concept showcased to the right people and would hopefully sort the animation out should things turn out the way we want.  And now we’ve got our very own legal representation.  Which is fine: as a non-smoker who’s given up drinking, I could do with an expensive hobby, and I reckon law fits the bill.

Want new insight into a creative project or other issue?  Come to the Constellations workshop in Nottingham, August 29.  Click for more details.