Using brand names & trademarks as plot points

[ReneC]

I'm writing a sci-fi television series set about 60 years in the future. I want to use a couple of current brands/trademarks as key elements in the story and have a couple of questions about it. I'm assuming the companies should be contacted and might even endorse the idea (one can hope).

1. At what point should the companies be approached about using their brands/trademarks in an ongoing basis?

2. Who should be the one to contact the companies? The writer? Agent? Lawyer? Producers?

3. Should fictional companies be used in place of existing companies, much like Oceanic Airlines?

One example is Google, not so much the search engine as the company itself. Google is an important part of the back-story and its technology (not yet developed) will be used frequently over the course of the series.

[clockwork]

Honestly, I wouldn't even worry about it until you sell it and it looks like it's actually going to be made. Even then, there are people at studios and production companies whose sole job it is to 'clear' material for production, obtaining permissions and licences for songs, brands, even people, and at that point they'll either get the clearances or they won't. At the script stage, put in whatever you need to tell the story in the richest, most engaging way. Nobody's going to sue you for using Google (or anything else) in a spec. When you're charging people to come see your film - that's when they'll start getting interested in how (and for how much) they're being represented.

[ReneC]

Thanks for the advice. It does make sense and I'll continue plodding along. It's only that if I end up being forced to change or drop the brand later it will require a complete re-write of back-story and key plot elements going forward. I won't worry about it at this stage though, once the 2-part pilot is done and a synopsis of the next few episodes I'll pitch it and cross my fingers.