A Question about Studio Tapas and other general Tapas Inquries

[DiegoPalacios]

Where one can see the submission agreement?.....i'm a "read before sign" type

[DiegoPalacios]

Just found the agreement.

Here it is in case more people are curious.

https://studiotapas.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Studio-Tapas-Submissions-Agreement-Form.pdf

I couldn't find anything about copyright....at least i would expect clarity about if it's shared or not.

[skicoak]

That agreement is hot garbage.

"I understand that Tapas Media reserves all rights to develop and publish any concepts and
ideas conceived independently and not derived from the Submission, both internally and
with third parties, without any obligation to me, even if such concepts or ideas are similar
or identical to any in the Submission."

It straight out says Studio Tapas can develop CONCEPTS OR IDEAS that are IDENTICAL to the individual(s) that submit it...without the the individual(s) and they have no legal recourse to contest it.

Hot garbage.

[jensrichard77]

Well in defense of Tapas. I’m not sure that they are trying to lure out a good story and keep it for themselves.
But as may has said many times.
”There are no original stories left to be told”
- or something like that.

We are all telling the same stories over and over and you will always find similar stories to all stories.
I guess that Tapas is just trying to say is:

”You may have a great story about Cinderella, but we are already working on a Cinderella story that we want to create.”

And they don't want you to sue them for their Cinderella story just because you told them about yours

[skicoak]

You wouldn't need to sign away that right if that was legally defensible.

And note, it includes the right to develop such AFTER you submit your ideas.

This is why the big publishers don't take submissions...or unsolicited pitches. It's legally sketchy behavior to do so under any circumstance.

[jensrichard77]

So you sell your story to Tapas in exchange of being ”employed” to work at the studio and create stories for Tapas.

If you want your story to belong to you, just pitch it for a premium or keep it as a monetized Comunity story

[skicoak]

First off the minutiae...

just pitch it for a premium or keep it as a monetized Comunity story

As per @ratique...

Studio Tapas is the entity that produces Premium series. A Premium series could be a Tapas Original or a Tapas Exclusive, and is generally a story produced together with Tapas. In other words: The Studio Tapas team is responsible for creating Premium series.

And...

A series created by the creator alone without Tapas' support is a Community Series, even if they are monetizing their series on our platform or receive marketing support. Monetization opportunities for our community will be expanded in the coming months, to allow for the more unique stories we enjoy creating and reading to succeed and earn money, while allowing creators to stay fully independent.

This clears up some of the terms we're using...premium series is not community...community monetization will have changes soon.

Now this...

...is directly from the link on the app on how to professionally publish with Tapas...from agent, manager, publisher or professional creator...please note the language on directly submitting.

Notice it's entirely different from this Studio Tapas submissions form.... Which is, by it's self definition, a potential professional opportunity. I can't reconcile the difference when one condition asks the creator to give up so many legal rights.

Like I originally questioned, there are like 60K content creators on just this site alone they could have reach out to for these opportunities...running a cattle call under this revised hot garbage IP ownership conditions make no sense.

None.

[jensrichard77]

Hmmm. It does sound strange... So to be a part of Tapas Studio, which makes Tapas series, you have to surrender a story that Tapas can keep and then they will decide If you can tag along with the Studio team??

[skicoak]

That's how it would work if this was a contest for a job or there were posted job openings... But there aren't any.

This is strictly "We want to hear your ideas but sign away all your rights to them... Then maybe we'll think about it if you meet all our other criteria."

Shady.

[Iris-Grimoire]

I mean, say someone submits an Omegaverse comic about zombies, and they get turned down, but elsewhere in the studio someone comes up with an Omegaverse story with zombies. Different characters, different story story, but without that agreement it could be grounds for Tapas getting sued.

Don't get clickbaity, they say "conceived independently and not derived from the Submission". Tapas already gets into trouble on the regular, I'm not sure they'd be happy to see staff openly stealing stories from submissions that could be already on Webtoons or elsewhere by the time they finish it. It may be identical, but are they really going to risk it or just change up enough that it isn't if they find out?

[HGohwell]

someone submits an Omegaverse comic about zombies, and they get turned down, but elsewhere in the studio someone comes up with an Omegaverse story with zombies

I'm not a copyright lawyer or anything so, I don't know the legal definitions, but this isn't what identical means to the common person, is it? That's similar. And if the identical word that concerns me in the entire paragraph. It's an odd choice of words, and maybe there's some legal standard us non-legal people don't understand. But to mean, identical means identical not same over all concept, as in so the same you can't tell them apart except for maybe minor details. And that's the concerning part, because what are the odds of Studio coming us with a story identical to your after you've submitted your story? It might be that Tapas isn't that stupid, but it feels like an unsettling choice of word.

just change up enough that it isn't if they find out?

And quite honestly, this is worse? They're not stupid enough to outright steal your story, they'll steal it and then change it just enough you can't say anything.

As I say, I'm sure it's just asscovering, or there's some legal reason/definition, but to a layman, it's a weird choice of word.

[thedude3445]

I'm planning on pitching an original story in the very near future and this post has helped a lot; thank you. Is there any way that Tapas can update parts of the Submission Guidelines pages to clarify some of these things? Because I did not see this post until just now and this cleared up a few issues I had been having.

EDIT: They updated the guidelines! Thank you!

[skicoak]

Don't get clickbaity, they say "conceived independently and not derived from the Submission".

And the basis for anyone believing that wholesale is trusting in the entire corporate entity of Tapas....while they "trust" everyone so much they have those submitting to this sign away all their rights to an IP they've developed. It's shady.

But to mean, identical means identical not same over all concept, as in so the same you can't tell them apart except for maybe minor details.

All the workshops I have attended on this point to like to use Frankenstein's monster as a prime example...the original concept is in the public domain but Universal's version has a small list of distinct visual points that protect their version (Green, flat top, bolts in neck, ect.) as an independent IP. And they have been legally successful in defending those as a whole and individually as distinctive.

[Aykay]

I probably should have pointed this out earlier while new monetization methods are wonderful. This will still be affected by story prominence.

If the general audience for outliner stories grows then the new monetization methods could be very fruitful, otherwise it is more likely to be more of the same.

[Awesomeness_Studios]

Wait so I'm reading this more and basically if I pitch an idea to Studio Tapas, I basically sell them the story idea and I become an employee of the company. If this is the case, then that easily answers a lot of my questions lol.

[jensrichard77]

That's how I understand it. But no guarantee of employment and they might have a similar story in pipe so you can’t claim that it is your story or something like that.

[skicoak]

...and they might have a similar story in pipe so you can’t claim that it is your story or something like that.

The document assumes nothing about JUST existing projects, that's why it's so dangerous...it broadly protects Tapas on projects developed even after they review your pitch.