Indie producer Sinking Ship Productions in mid-February saw its Dino Dan (pictured) toy line unveiled at the American International Toy Fair in New York City, before it hits retail stores next fall.

The glitzy Dino Dan booth was festooned with licensed products that include dinosaur excavation kits, prehistoric play-sets, fossil replica kits, action figures and even Dino Dan outdoor adventure gear.

But Sinking Ship principal Blair Powers knows the toy line could never have got to the US toy fair, or would risk a legal quagmire, had his company not established a clean chain of title for the Canadian TV series from the
outset.

Translation: showing where the Dino Dan project originated from creatively and assigning all rights to the indie producer.

“We started with an idea, became self-financed; and then secured all of the underlying rights,” Powers recalled Friday during an Interactive Ontario panel on the risks and rewards of assigning rights for new media product to fully exploit them.

Each episode of Dino Dan takes viewers on a journey with Dino Dan and his friends as they encounter computer-generated dinosaurs and learn about dinosaurs, their surroundings, and the importance of the scientific method.

Powers said Sinking Ship next developed cross-platform content at TV series extensions, including a Dino Dan website and a licensed toy line – all calculated to be all things dinosaurs.

“We really want to own dinosaurs, the look of dinosaurs and what they mean for kids and in the toy space,” he explained.

But to make a business out of Dino Dan‘s creation, Sinking Ship has had to secure and protect all rights from the series, from inception to series launch and exploitation.

“The producer is engaging them (creators) to do their thing and assign in ownership,” summed up fellow panelist Susan H. Abramovitch, a partner in entertainment law at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP.

That’s no easy matter, especially when it comes to compensating Dino Dan actors beyond their on-camera performances.

“The questions you need to ask yourself before you even go to ACTRA are really important for you,” Powers told the iLunch 9 gathering.

“Once you know what you need, the paperwork with ACTRA is much more straightforward,” he added.

Noreen Murphy, a steward with ACTRA Toronto, was quick to dispel any notion among digital media producers at the Interactive Ontario gathering that the Canadian actors union is inflexible when it comes to new media buy-out fees, beyond minimal day rates for actors.

“We have a mandate from our members that they want to be in this (new media). We’re open and listening,” Murphy said.

“But also keep in mind that the (IPA) agreements are collective agreements that are negotiated and can’t be manipulated until the next negotiations,” she added.

Other thou shalt nots for digital media producers when deal-making include going without insurance to protect against claims you have violated the rights of others.

“The risk of being sued is greatest in the first year or two, but it never goes away,” said Damian Schleifer, vice president of Front Row Insurance Brokers.

Doing the deal in new media also calls for properly structuring the company to fulfill business obligations and avoid future obstacles that surprise existing and potential investors and backers.

“Limit surprises. If you expect you were going to sell ‘X’ and you only sold ‘Y’, need to demonstrate you are on top of it and will limit surprises going ahead,” added John Cho, director of transaction services Toronto at KPMG.