I did the pitch, but not to the original guy. I ended up pitching to a prod co, that wants me to bring back a detailed treatment for the pilot.
That's always a good sign. Did you have then sign a NDA?
Seems entering "pitch" into their search engine was easy enough to get some quick results:
Thanks for those. I did find them but didn’t think they met the criteria.
I knew about the reality show suit. I, too, pitched a makeup effects
reality competition show (with Tom Savini as the host) in 2008. We
were told at that meeting that NBC already had a show like that in
development for SyFy with Ve Neil attached and that they were in
talks with one of the Westmore’s as host. Since I knew Ve, I contacted
her and she confirmed it. This was 2008. My lawyer has suggested
that we may be asked to testify on this case.
I also found the Angela Wilder example but it’s clear that this is no
more than a nuisance lawsuit that has no merit.
But I now see what you were getting at. That anyone can sue for anything.
Neither case shows that producers or prodCo’s take concepts and run with
it - as you said. Writers can, and do, sue producers and prodCo’s all the
time. With that in mind I know of fourteen cases - all dismissed.
This is a great example of why producers and prodCo’s and studios have
much more to fear from writers with concepts. Writers do not need to
fear their concept being taken - producers, prodCo’s and studios need to
fear being sued.