Pitch meeting or not, how well you network is entirely up to you. And those who devote the time and attention to exposing their pro- jects and connecting with the "in crowd" are going to eventually find Hollywood knocking on their door. POWER OF ATTORNEY Confidence is the mother's milk of reality television. Without it, you can't sell a project. Without it, you can't produce a project. But there is one aspect of the reality TV experience that should remove any and all traces of confidence from your mind. It's the confidence that you're smart enough and savvy enough not to get screwed. The nature of reality television is so highly exploitative--for producers and performers alike--that it is imperative to seek and obtain proper legal counsel after your first show sells and the contract is delivered to your door. Eventually, if you hang in through the ups and downs of the busi- ness, there's an excellent possibility that you will end up producing something. But there's no chance for you to produce anything with- out first signing something. From protecting your rights to preserv- ing your dignity, an adequate attorney is always better than an excellent agent in defending your interests and safeguarding your good name. Although we have examined numerous ways of protecting your work (registering program concepts with the WGA, for example), an attorney who is well versed in entertainment law can quickly--and sometimes inexpensively--take you through the motions of securing your intellectual property to an extent that online registrations simply cannot. Also valuable to an aspiring producer, particularly one indepen- dently producing a pilot, is that an attorney can help draft and orga- nize the vast array of legal forms requisite for video production. From preparing specialized documents for obtaining permission for location shoots to drafting personal release forms to indemnify pro- ducers from any right to privacy lawsuits by individuals captured on tape, an attorney more than protects a producer's work; he or she also protects the producer's career. 228 | Making Sense of Reality