TLG looking for good storytellers!

[CopMike]

And the questions are answered :

Hi Mike, here are my answers:

* Are they asking for an application first or shall we already submit ideas and storylines?

Please send first an application - you will get more info afterwards if you get selected.

*But what age? I know some people who have been turned down by publishers partly due to their age, and this could be another problem for some of us.

Same as above - there is no minimum age.

*I'm still a student so while writing is one of my hobbies, I have never done it professionally. Would they still want to hear from me or should I just give it up?

Depends on how much you write but we are more looking for the professionals or very good writers.

Jan

Wish me luck. I sent my email off tonight!

Steve

Good luck to you and everybody else !

[Golbolco]

x

Edited October 27, 2016 by Golbolco
Purging everything I've ever posted

[juralass]

Hi there,

I have applied, its all very secretive and exciting, but they want you to sign away your ideas to lego before any contracts

How dos anyone else feel about this?

Juralass

[Still Raindrop]

I just applied--wish me luck!

[Willdog]

Hi there,

I have applied, its all very secretive and exciting, but they want you to sign away your ideas to lego before any contracts

How dos anyone else feel about this?

Juralass

There is paperwork to sign and everything in the next part before ideas get sent in. Not sure if people sent in ideas already but I got accepted on my application alone. Wonder how many will be accepted? Shout out if anyone else got it? Good Luck.

[David Thomsen]

Hi there,

I have applied, its all very secretive and exciting, but they want you to sign away your ideas to lego before any contracts

How dos anyone else feel about this?

Maybe the Ambassadors could help clarify the exact nature of our role in this project for all of us thinking similar questions...

I have other questions, but I don't think I can ask them here without revealing aspects of the project, so I'll ask them directly.

[Mr Spielbrick]

About signing contracts...

I imagine it's similar to what screenwriter Terry Rossio talks about on his website www.wordplayer.com . When they get sent ideas, the sender knows that Rossio (and his writing partner Ted Elliott) could have had access to their script, and therefor, everything that's in it. From the main concept, to dialogue, to characters. Now, the thing about ideas is that they're never 100% unique. There will always be some guy in Britain or Japan or Argentina or wherever whose idea is similar to yours.

The people sending in ideas to professionals or institutions like The LEGO Company, can get fickle. When an element of a new film or toy reminds them of something they once sent in, they might just sue for breach of copyright. Being professionals, Rssio or TLC won't actually have stolen the idea. They just happened to hit upon a similar idea. But the annoying complainer who willingly sent their own stuff in, which often doesn't get looked at for precisely this reason, can still try.

TLC wants to avoid this, I think. And that's very smart of them. You can't expect to be in on this project, yet not be held responsible for that.

[juralass]

Hi there, I'm happy with the process and reasoning behind the forms now, good luck all and get those imaginations rolling....

accepted so far

Happy Juralass

[David Thomsen]

I'm happy with the reasoning behind the legal process, they just haven't given any indication of what happens if your idea gets accepted... will you be offered a full-time job as a Lego storyteller? Will you be offered a temporary job while this idea is developed to completion? Or will it simply be a matter of, 'hey, thanks for your contribution, we'll take it from here', and no other compensation given other than the satisfaction of having influenced the direction of the toy we all love, and the distinction that goes with this?

If they're 'looking for the professionals' as Jan says, it doesn't seem unprofessional to ask these questions, and I'm asking it here for the benefit of all those who want to participate. Back when they were soliciting for applications for Designers, they clarified from the outset that this was an actual position at TLC. Here, they 'would like to invite AFOLs to contribute', which suggest that our ideas are nothing more than a contribution.

Hey, I'm happy to contribute, as long as I understand that those are the terms. If there might be any sort of actual employment at the end of this, then I'm going to drop my other creative projects to focus on this.

Edited November 20, 2010 by David Thomsen

[Peppermint_M]

You know, I never ever have the formal experience to even consider applying for these things. I wish I could apply, but I have no idea what to put.

[Joebot]

I'm happy with the reasoning behind the legal process, they just haven't given any indication of what happens if your idea gets accepted... will you be offered a full-time job as a Lego storyteller? Will you be offered a temporary job while this idea is developed to completion? Or will it simply be a matter of, 'hey, thanks for your contribution, we'll take it from here', and no other compensation given other than the satisfaction of having influenced the direction of the toy we all love, and the distinction that goes with this?

I was wondering about this too. If this is a paid "consultant" position of some sort, that would really be cool.

Regardless, I fired off my email this morning!

[CopMike]

UPDATE: Jan Beyer relays that TLG has recieved enough application now and doesn´t want any more at this time. Please respect that.

As for your new questions - really, really good ones! But I´ll let the ones that now have already sent in their applications take them direct to TLG in their contacts with them, and therefore I won´t relay them further now.

Again, good luck everybody!

[Joebot]

UPDATE: Jan Beyer relays that TLG has recieved enough application now and doesn´t want any more at this time. Please respect that.

Whew, I guess I just snuck in under the wire! I got accepted yesterday afternoon and got my NDA to sign.

[Nikola Bathory]

I'm happy with the reasoning behind the legal process, they just haven't given any indication of what happens if your idea gets accepted... will you be offered a full-time job as a Lego storyteller? Will you be offered a temporary job while this idea is developed to completion? Or will it simply be a matter of, 'hey, thanks for your contribution, we'll take it from here', and no other compensation given other than the satisfaction of having influenced the direction of the toy we all love, and the distinction that goes with this?

I ask myself the same questions. Do you already have some answers or feedback on these topics?

[David Thomsen]

I ask myself the same questions. Do you already have some answers or feedback on these topics?

I didn't actually ask them in the end... I have faith that TLC knows what they're doing, and will do it with integrity.

I sent my submission on the deadline and haven't received any acknowledgement yet... is that anyone else's experience? I guess it's near Christmas time and they would have received a lot of submissions, so maybe they don't have time to acknowledge that they received all our ideas.

[fallentomato]

I sent my submission on the deadline and haven't received any acknowledgement yet... is that anyone else's experience? I guess it's near Christmas time and they would have received a lot of submissions, so maybe they don't have time to acknowledge that they received all our ideas.

Ditto for me. I do hope we hear something back eventually. I don't know if they intend to include us in any other parts of the story process, but it'd be nice to know what they think short of possibly seeing one of these ideas on the shelves in a few years.

[Mr Spielbrick]

Oh, they'll be in touch, I'm sure. The communication so far has been absolutely wonderful, so they'll probably tell us something as soon as they know their next step. I'd forgotten to send the release form at first and I got an almost instant reply reminding me. After that, it's the same, haven't heard anything. They're probably either on holiday or collecting and reviewing the submitted stories. No worries, we'll have word soon enough, I trust.

Whatever happens from now on, the experience has been lovely. Cool of TLG (TLC?) to open up to the fans this way. Just being part of this project in some small way has been very interesting.

And of course, good luck to all of us! Here's hoping one of us EuroBricks members can be proud to have had proper input on a real future theme.

[David Thomsen]

I've finally heard back from them - it turns out I will not be participating further in this process, but I will be getting a complimentary box of Lego.

Ah well. We'll see if anything in 2013 resembles the ideas I've given.

[Mr Spielbrick]

Same here. Which could mean two things - either none of the respondents are involved in the process any longer, or the mail we've received is TLG's very kind way of turning us down.

Either way, it's been really interesting. Thanks CopMike, for letting us know about this in the first place!

[z_zadar]

Same here. Letter was so nice an polite, that is hard to tell what does it acctally mean, except that gift from Denmark is coming ;)

[richthelegodude]

I wish I could have submitted some ideas, I would love to see the return of a monorail in a futuristic setting.

[Joebot]

Same here. Letter was so nice an polite, that is hard to tell what does it acctally mean, except that gift from Denmark is coming ;)

Yep, I got the same message too. My impression from the email is that the participation of the AFOLs is now complete. We were asked to provide some ideas, and that's all. I guess it's not realistic to think that we'd be asked to further develop our ideas into actual products, but man, that would have been amazing.

As David mentioned, I guess I'll just wait until the 2013 catalog shows up to see if any new products in there look "familiar."

Given that the process now seems to be complete ... is there any harm in sharing the ideas that we all submitted? I'm curious what other people came up with. I'm not sure if the NDA prohibits us from doing that though.

[J4ke]

Yeah, I just got an email back too. Was starting to fear that they'd forgotten about me, ahaha.

It seems to be similar to what everyone else has said, IE they took inspiration from our ideas but can't tell us any more than that. I'm totally fine with that, so I guess I have to wait a few years to see if my [CONFIDENTIAL] theme appears, lol.

Speaking of sharing our ideas here, I think the NDAs we signed prohibit us from doing that. So unless I'm given clear confirmation, I'm keeping my contribution to myself.

All in all, it was great to be a part of the LEGO design process. And yay, free lego!

Edited January 17, 2011 by J4ke

[Hewman]

Yep, I got the same message too. My impression from the email is that the participation of the AFOLs is now complete. We

Given that the process now seems to be complete ... is there any harm in sharing the ideas that we all submitted? I'm curious what other people came up with. I'm not sure if the NDA prohibits us from doing that though.

You would most definitely be breaking the non-disclosure agreement and leave yourself open to legal action. I strongly recommend that you do not share your ideas here.

[David Thomsen]

Given that the process now seems to be complete ... is there any harm in sharing the ideas that we all submitted? I'm curious what other people came up with. I'm not sure if the NDA prohibits us from doing that though.

I too have been itching to share my idea, but we're just not allowed to I'm afraid.