I was wondering if anyone had any experience with developing and pitching games that are based on a Movie or TV show? I know these are popular; but I'm not sure how to go about this. I've considered contacting the show producer before even developing the game to see if a game is even an option. I hate to put the time into it and find out it never had a chance. On the other hand, it may appear amateur to bring up a game idea when there is nothing to show. So I guess my questions are: Should I contact the show producer now? OR should I develop and test the prototype, then find a interested publisher and let them contact the show producer? OR should I develop the protype, THEN contact the show for interest and THEN find a publisher? Any advice on this topic would be apprecaited.
Entertainment Licensing
I have not tried this myself. I have talked to a designer who has done a game using a comic strip as the theme and he wasted allot of time going the wrong way about it. Contrary to what might seem logical you don’t go to rights holder first. You find a company who is interested in the game and they work out the details. These fees can be very large so if you’re going to pitch this sort of thing go for major producers. You’ll need a working game to show them first but the prototype does not need to be professional produced, all you need is one that is playable. The game company will work out all the other aspects like art, licensing etc.
Find out who owns the rights to the show in question. If it's ABC/Disney or Time Warner, chances are that unless you are willing to spend a fortune or you already have a separate license you have already taken to market then they won't even give you any real consideration.
You don't need a fully developed game, but some prototype parts are useful during negotiation. Most licenses for a good property can cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in guarantees on future royalties.
You can occasionally find a good license for cheap, but that's realtively rare.
BTW -- you can sometimes get a dirt cheap license for the NON-EXCLUSIVE rights to license intellectual property, particularly if you license it only for one product instead of a product line. For example, licensing a non-exclusive right to produce a single board game without supplements for a short period of time is generally cheaper than a 3 year exclusive license to produce a CCG.
Exclusive licenses are safer for hot properties. For less desirable properties a non-exclusive license may be available for less and you might not get any competition.
this is great help. thank you.