Creators, Talent & Media Brands, and Hollywood are slowly embracing the positive side of technological innovations to improve the way they do business around entertainment projects, collaboration, and deals. All these new tools and tech are actually making it more difficult to collaborate. Even more important it means there are more ways for people to access your work and livelihood WITHOUT YOU EVEN KNOWING IT.
Your Career & Creative Business Are More Vulnerable Than You Think
Ultimately, IP is everything in the creative industries. It’s your brand, ideas, identity, and relationships all connected together in success. All are valuable and worth protecting.
If you do not have a system to manage and monitor how your IP flows through the relationships and partners you do business with, then you are increasing the likelihood of IP theft, misrepresentation, or even digital attacks on your business.
Unauthorized access to your information and digital attacks may sound extreme and sinister - like something you would see in a movie, but they happen every day. You’re probably picturing a hacker gaining access to your profile or taking over your whole computer with a virus. These days that has gotten better if you use identity providers like Apple, Google, or Microsoft to log in to your apps and tools, but even with that, your IP is more vulnerable than you think.
What are Information Security and Cybersecurity?
Whether you have a small creative business that owns a few pieces of IP, or you have a mountain of creative IP like Amazon, Netflix, or Discovery, you need to be dealing with security.
There are two types of security that affect your creative business: Information security (InfoSec) and cybersecurity.
Information security protects sensitive data from unauthorized acts such as scrutiny, modification, recording, disruption, or destruction. The goal is to secure and preserve the privacy of important data like relationship information, financial information, or intellectual property.
Cybersecurity is the practice of safeguarding your digital information, systems, and networks from a digital attack. Digital attacks may include anything from interrupting usual online practices, accessing private information, sabotaging processes, infiltrating networks, or destroying programs.
When Chaos is the Process, You Are at the Greatest Risk
If you are developing and producing movies, TV shows, podcasts, digital content, games, or anything else in the entertainment and media industry, then you understand that the process involves people. A LOT OF PEOPLE. Companies, agencies, and collaborators are constantly sharing information to get a project developed, coordinate the production, and seal the deal to get it sold. IP is being traded to get the final product done.
From start to finish your IP is floating in a sea of companies, applications, tools, and people’s email boxes all trying to get released to audiences who can enjoy the experience of your content and the experiences that surround it.
It’s a rollercoaster of bumper cars riding down a track that looks like a maze from a Stephen King movie.
Think of all the devices, passwords, storage locations, duplicate copies, outdated information, untracked and unprotected IP, and information floating around in today’s process.
Even though today’s system works, it could be so much better for everyone’s mental health especially if there was a way to allow everyone’s UNIQUE systems to work together in a way that empowers trust, collaboration, and IP safety between creators, partners, and brands who work together to bring ideas to market.
How Does it Affect Your Success?
Did you know that IP theft is one of the largest problems in entertainment and media?
IP is vulnerable because of its potential for all that can be done with it. A virtual never-ending sea of derivations, deals, relationships, partnerships, ideas, outlets, and uses.
Because it can go in so many directions, it’s hard to track and even easier to steal. Creators often struggle to maintain knowledge and control of where their IP travels to and who may possess a derivative of it even WITH copyright or licensing rights.
Every business is an IP business. For creators and brands building products and services in the media and entertainment industry, original ideas and IP are what make money because the rights to use them empowers the creation of monetization engines like subscriptions, tickets, retail, and so much more.
Your ideas and creative IP are also how audiences are built, careers are made, and IP becomes more valuable. Star Wars, The Walking Dead, Joe Rogan’s podcast, and the content creators are uploading to TikTok are all IP. The best creators in the world use it to generate more viewers, more revenue, more deals, and more relationships.
Digital Sprawl is Hard to Manage and Track
There are so many places your IP can be seen or shared. Personal websites, projects in progress, development apps, contract drafting software, and random notes on top of all of the incoming emails and professional profiles to review and network with. Hosting services like Google Drive or Dropbox seem like the safe option, but a single compromised login and password can bring everything down, putting you and your work in danger.
On top of all of this, circulating your ideas is conducted via email which isn’t the safest option. Recipients can easily forward your script or project around without you ever knowing.
The Pitfalls
- Multiple devices
- Numerous apps and tools
- Many accounts and login info to keep track of
- Risk of email forwarding to unintended parties
That is a lot to keep track of especially with submissions, development, and deals all functioning online.
IP is valuable. Ideas are valuable. This is the livelihood of entertainment & media professionals and proper security is vital to keep ideas and IP safe. Quality cybersecurity is the answer to protecting the Hollywood livelihood.
How Symbonic Keeps Your IP Safe
Your ideas, stories, brand, and IP are a top priority at Symbonic because we understand how valuable they are to your business and career. We want you to be empowered with collaboration and feedback while at the same time feel secure that your ideas are protected.
It can all be very confusing. Technology is great because there is something new being developed every single day, but it can be A LOT to keep up with. Symbonic offers a better experience to keep your ideas and IP safe and secure through:
- Our unique IP Lock code is associated with your specific ideas and projects
- Invitation based internal & external collaboration
- Personalized tracking and communication logs
