How To Register A Script In Los Angeles

Screenplay Copyright: Script Registration Facts & Fiction

By Evan Smith

To steal someone's car, money, parking space-that'southward low. But to steal someone'due south story? A piffling made-up tale? A hundred pages of FADE IN here and CUT TO in that location? Is that fifty-fifty stealing?

Yeah dammit! It is! Stealing of the worst kind. Because many hours have been spent and emotions invested, and, funny, but an original story that's already been read by half of Hollywood just doesn't seem and then original when pitched a 2d time. Cars are insured, money tin can be borrowed, and, okay, a good parking space, that can be worth quite a flake, merely to accept someone steal your script? Ouch. That's not but dissentious, it's personal.

So what can you lot do? How tin can you protect your scripts? Well, anybody says to simply register them with the Writers Guild, right? And all of your problems will disappear. Unfortunately, at least in this case, everyone's advice is worth slightly less than y'all paid for it. Let'southward talk about what screenwriters really can and tin can't do to protect their work.

WHAT Tin can WE PROTECT?

Commencement, what exactly is information technology that we're trying to protect? Our brilliant story ideas? Sorry, but we tin't really protect those. The law says that a person cannot copyright a mere idea or concept, and though you can sue for "idea misappropriation," such cases are plush and nearly impossible to show. So know that if you blab about a swell story while sharing a salad at Denny's, some sleaze at the adjacent table can have the essence of what he overhears and develop a similar projection, and y'all tin't do a thing most it. Nor can y'all copyright the titillating title that yous dreamed up for the project. If it's associated with a successful picture some day, it might then qualify for some level of trademark protection, but until that fourth dimension it's open up season.

So what is protectible? A written handling or outline of a fully developed, unique story should qualify for copyright protection, and a completed script usually does. In fact, current constabulary states that you do not have to register such materials for them to be copyrighted; protection is automatically afforded "original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible form of expression." Meaning, merely type the thing on paper or save it as a computer file and it's copyrighted.

Of course, if all y'all do is type a script and store it away somewhere, how can you lot ever bear witness that it existed at a sure point in time? (Which you would need to do if you were going after someone who has stolen your work.) You probably tin can't, not unless you also annals your already-copyrighted textile to create a public record of its being. Which is why all of your friends say to register scripts with the Writers Guild. Which is a good idea, simply maybe non the all-time idea.

REGISTRATION FACTS AND FICTION

Information technology's true. Registering scripts with the Writers Guild of America is useful because information technology creates a public record of your claim to authorship, and it's convenient because y'all receive quick confirmation of the registration and can even register materials online. The process is relatively simple. First, recollect that in that location are really ii carve up screenwriting guilds, WGAwest, based in LA, and WGAeast, based in NYC. Both have a script registration service and their submission requirements are like. If using regular mail service, you will submit a package containing 1 unbound copy of the material, a title page on the script that identifies the fabric and its creators/owners, and a check for the registration fee. (The fees are $10 for WGA members at either club, $20 for not-members at WGAwest, and $22 for non-members at WGAeast. Current students can register for $17 at WGAeast.) For the digitally inclined, y'all can fill out a form at either social club's website and electronic mail them a file containing the cloth, and pay past credit card. Whether registering via snail-mail or the net, each guild has its own specific submission requirements, so visit their websites for details (

for WGAw, or for WGAe).

Is information technology better to register at one guild than at the other? WGAe charges non-members two dollars more than, but information technology keeps registered material on file for ten years rather than the five y'all get with WGAw. With both guilds, you can renew a registration before information technology lapses, only must pay some other fee to do so. Which is best? Peradventure neither.

Though WGA registration is quick and convenient, it is not a substitute for registering your textile with the U.Due south. Copyright Office, which is almost every bit easy to do. The steps are similar. Just ship in a parcel that includes a completed awarding form ("Form PA"), one copy of the material, and a check for $45. Or you tin can annals online and pay $35. (Encounter the Copyright Office website,

, for forms and instructions.)

While all 3 registries serve the primary purpose of providing writers with a "public claim of authorship," copyright registration offers 2 additional benefits. Though the WGA branches keep your material on file for either 5 or 10 years, or longer if y'all pay for renewals, copyright registration lasts for the life of the copyright-every bit in, an author'southward life plus 70 years. Also, if your textile has been registered with the Copyright Office and you lot end up suing someone, you can seek statutory damages and reimbursement of legal fees rather than just "actual amercement and infringer'south profits" that you might otherwise receive. If you can prove that the theft was deliberate, this could make a big difference in the compensation you lot receive.

Is there a downside to registering with the Copyright Office? Well, it does cost $13-$35 more, depending on your Social club condition and submission method. And, typical of a government institution, information technology takes a long fourth dimension, currently 8 months, to receive official notification that your work has been accustomed for registration. (Online submissions receive a much faster response.) Merely that doesn't mean that your textile isn't protected during that time; submissions are date-stamped as soon as they are received past the Copyright Office and protection (for those materials eventually accepted for registration) is deemed effective as of that appointment.

Should you register with both the WGA and the Copyright Part? No, most people would consider that overkill. If you lot choose to practise so regardless, refrain from putting both notices on the script'due south title page or readers will think you lot're an apprentice or perhaps paranoid.

"Notices"? If yous register a script with the WGA, you have the pick of putting a "WGA Registered" notice on the championship page. If you elect to not do then, you should put a Copyright observe on the script whether you take registered with the Copyright Office or not, to prevent an infringer from claiming that he didn't know that the work was protected. (Adding this observe is completely legal because, call back, your cloth is automatically copyrighted the second information technology's put into a tangible form.) Copyright notices consist of three parts, placed in whatever order: the word "Copyright" or the copyright symbol, the name(s) of the copyright possessor(s), and the engagement the cloth was copyrighted (created).

Are in that location any other means to protect a script? There are two, one skilful and one not and so.

1. Contained SCRIPT REGISTRIES

Go hunting online and you tin find some independent script registries that aren't affiliated with the WGA or the U.S. Government. These companies charge a few bucks less than the Guild registries but provide the same bones service-they shop a copy of your work to support your claim of authorship. Nonetheless, like the Guilds, independent registries neither enhance your rights in a property nor provide the benefits associated with copyright registration. Farther, one wonders if some of these outfits will notwithstanding be in business in ten years, and what might happen to a registry'due south stored materials if information technology fails. So approach with caution.

2. POOR Man'S COPYRIGHT

Some folks will tell you that all yous have to do to protect a script is seal it in an envelope and post it to yourself, so store it un-opened and so that the postage stamp mark provides an official, dated record of the textile'southward existence. Sounds great! And it'south a lot cheaper than paying those $20-$30 dollar registration fees, correct? Which must exist why they dubbed the concept a "Poor Man's Copyright."

People love this thought, I love this idea, it's got a overnice average-Joe-finds-a-loophole experience to it-but it'southward a bad thought. Why? Because mailing something to yourself doesn't copyright the affair; the fabric was automatically copyrighted when you typed it into "tangible form." As for providing an official, dated record of the material's existence, nowadays, information technology is and then easy to simulated a self-mailing (ever hear of re-sealable envelopes?) that any opposing lawyer with half a brain is leap to ask that your sealed package be ruled inadmissible as evidence (leaving y'all with no case if the estimate agrees). Finally, mailing scripts to yourself is not the aforementioned equally filing for copyright registration, and so you will not be able to seek statutory amercement and legal expenses in a lawsuit. Bottom line, a Poor Man'south Copyright is a romantic concept that offers picayune in the fashion of reliable protection.

Okay, and so that'south how, where, and why one registers a script. Just does that truly protect a person'due south work?

IF SOMEONE STEALS YOUR WORK

Unfortunately, while registering original textile is a good policy, it protects you but in that it proves that your work existed at a sure point in time, providing you lot with that "public claim to authorship" I keep mentioning. If someone steals your work, you lot can't but call up and say, "Ha! Gotcha, the script was registered, ship me a check and make it a large one!" Rather, if you think you've got a example worth pursuing, you should contact an experienced lawyer and keep as advised. (I should point out that I am non a lawyer and zip stated in this article is intended to exist legal advice. All of the information provided has been gathered from publications of the U.South. Copyright Office, WGAwest, and WGAeast.) You might finish up pressuring the infringing party to compensate you lot to avoid a suit or you might make up one's mind to take the case to court. Be aware that copyright cases can be hard to win unless the theft is breathy. You accept to prove things like prior access, substantial similarities, bodily amercement, etc. Your lawyer volition lay out the odds and likely costs and so that you lot can decide what to do, if anything.

Is there anything else yous can exercise to protect your work? Possibly the best defense of all is to practice a simple bit of common sense: exist picky when circulating your piece of work. In Hollywood, everyone thinks he's a producer, manager, writer, or role player, and all are looking for projects that tin rocket them to a big career. Simply don't exist seduced; no matter how earnest and flattering he seems, when your waiter tries to convince you that he's the perfect guy to go your script made, resist the urge to hand him a copy. Circulate your fabric only to people who are established professionals or who can connect you straight to established professionals.

Lastly, try to relax about all of this. The adept news is that, though nobody can guarantee that someone won't steal your work, few professionals are interested in doing so. In most instances, when someone develops a project like to another person'south, it'due south purely a coincidence-two writers living in the same world at the same time, who come up with the same story. It happens, besides often, merely y'all tin't let information technology go to you lot. Because the alternative is to not send your material to everyone, which might non be the all-time way to sell a script.

About Evan Smith

Evan Smith is the Chair of the screenwriting plan at Syracuse University 's Newhouse School and the author of what many take described equally the seminal book on sitcom writing, WRITING TELEVISION SITCOMS. Evan has written comedy and drama for Paramount , MTM, Fox , Us , and various producers, and has worked as a programming VP developing Boob tube-movies, specials, and series. Evan is acclaimed for his industry seminars and manufactures on screenwriting technique, and he serves as a script consultant for screenwriters and amusement companies.

Screenwriting Article by Evan Smith