How To Register A Written Script?

Screenplay Copyright: Script Registration Facts & Fiction

Past Evan Smith

To steal someone's automobile, money, parking space-that'south low. Just to steal someone'south story? A little made-up tale? A hundred pages of FADE IN here and CUT TO there? Is that fifty-fifty stealing?

Aye dammit! It is! Stealing of the worst kind. Considering many hours take been spent and emotions invested, and, funny, but an original story that's already been read by half of Hollywood merely doesn't seem so original when pitched a second time. Cars are insured, money can be borrowed, and, okay, a good parking infinite, that can exist worth quite a fleck, only to have someone steal your script? Ouch. That'south not just damaging, information technology'due south personal.

And then what tin you do? How can you protect your scripts? Well, everyone says to just annals them with the Writers Order, right? And all of your bug volition disappear. Unfortunately, at least in this case, everyone'south advice is worth slightly less than you paid for information technology. Let'south talk almost what screenwriters really tin can and can't do to protect their work.

WHAT Tin WE PROTECT?

First, what exactly is it that we're trying to protect? Our brilliant story ideas? Deplorable, but nosotros can't really protect those. The police says that a person cannot copyright a mere idea or concept, and though y'all tin can sue for "thought misappropriation," such cases are costly and nearly impossible to prove. And so know that if you blubber almost a great story while sharing a salad at Denny'south, some sleaze at the adjacent table can accept the essence of what he overhears and develop a like project, and you can't do a thing about it. Nor tin can you copyright the titillating title that y'all dreamed upwardly for the project. If it's associated with a successful film some twenty-four hour period, it might then authorize for some level of trademark protection, but until that fourth dimension it's open season.

Then what is protectible? A written treatment or outline of a fully developed, unique story should qualify for copyright protection, and a completed script usually does. In fact, current law states that you exercise non have to annals such materials for them to be copyrighted; protection is automatically afforded "original works of authorship that are stock-still in a tangible form of expression." Meaning, just type the matter on paper or relieve it as a figurer file and it'due south copyrighted.

Of grade, if all you lot do is type a script and store information technology away somewhere, how can you always prove that it existed at a certain point in time? (Which you would need to practice if you lot were going later on someone who has stolen your work.) You probably tin can't, not unless you likewise register your already-copyrighted cloth to create a public record of its existence. Which is why all of your friends say to register scripts with the Writers Order. Which is a skillful idea, but perhaps not the all-time idea.

REGISTRATION FACTS AND FICTION

Information technology's true. Registering scripts with the Writers Club of America is useful because information technology creates a public record of your merits to authorship, and it's user-friendly because y'all receive quick confirmation of the registration and can even annals materials online. The procedure is relatively simple. First, remember that there are actually two separate screenwriting guilds, WGAwest, based in LA, and WGAeast, based in NYC. Both have a script registration service and their submission requirements are similar. If using regular mail, y'all will submit a package containing 1 unbound re-create of the textile, a title folio on the script that identifies the textile and its creators/owners, and a check for the registration fee. (The fees are $10 for WGA members at either guild, $twenty for not-members at WGAwest, and $22 for non-members at WGAeast. Electric current students can register for $17 at WGAeast.) For the digitally inclined, yous can fill out a course at either club'south website and eastward-mail them a file containing the material, and pay past credit card. Whether registering via snail-mail or the internet, each guild has its ain specific submission requirements, so visit their websites for details (

for WGAw, or for WGAe).

Is it ameliorate to register at one guild than at the other? WGAe charges non-members 2 dollars more, but it keeps registered material on file for ten years rather than the v y'all get with WGAw. With both guilds, you lot can renew a registration earlier it lapses, merely must pay another fee to do and so. Which is best? Perhaps neither.

Though WGA registration is quick and convenient, it is non a substitute for registering your material with the U.Southward. Copyright Office, which is near as easy to do. The steps are similar. Just send in a package that includes a completed application form ("Form PA"), one re-create of the material, and a check for $45. Or you can register online and pay $35. (Run into the Copyright Office website,

, for forms and instructions.)

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

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

Should you lot annals with both the WGA and the Copyright Office? No, most people would consider that overkill. If yous cull to practise and then regardless, refrain from putting both notices on the script's championship page or readers will recall you're an amateur or perhaps paranoid.

"Notices"? If yous register a script with the WGA, you take the choice of putting a "WGA Registered" notice on the title page. If you elect to not do and so, yous should put a Copyright notice on the script whether you have registered with the Copyright Office or not, to prevent an infringer from claiming that he didn't know that the work was protected. (Calculation this find is completely legal because, call up, your cloth is automatically copyrighted the 2nd it'southward put into a tangible grade.) Copyright notices consist of iii parts, placed in any social club: the word "Copyright" or the copyright symbol, the name(s) of the copyright owner(southward), and the engagement the material was copyrighted (created).

Are there any other ways to protect a script? There are two, one skillful and i not so.

1. INDEPENDENT SCRIPT REGISTRIES

Go hunting online and y'all can find some contained script registries that aren't affiliated with the WGA or the U.Southward. Government. These companies charge a few bucks less than the Club registries but provide the same basic service-they shop a copy of your piece of work to support your claim of authorship. Even so, similar the Guilds, independent registries neither heighten your rights in a holding nor provide the benefits associated with copyright registration. Further, ane wonders if some of these outfits will all the same be in business in 10 years, and what might happen to a registry's stored materials if information technology fails. And so arroyo with caution.

two. POOR MAN'South COPYRIGHT

Some folks volition tell you lot that all yous have to do to protect a script is seal it in an envelope and mail it to yourself, then store it united nations-opened and then that the postage mark provides an official, dated tape of the cloth'south being. Sounds great! And information technology'south a lot cheaper than paying those $xx-$xxx dollar registration fees, right? Which must be why they dubbed the concept a "Poor Man's Copyright."

People love this idea, I love this idea, it's got a prissy average-Joe-finds-a-loophole feel to it-but it'south a bad thought. Why? Because mailing something to yourself doesn't copyright the thing; the material was automatically copyrighted when y'all typed it into "tangible class." As for providing an official, dated record of the textile'southward beingness, nowadays, it is then easy to fake a cocky-mailing (ever hear of re-sealable envelopes?) that whatsoever opposing lawyer with one-half a brain is bound to ask that your sealed package exist ruled inadmissible as evidence (leaving you with no example if the judge agrees). Finally, mailing scripts to yourself is not the same as filing for copyright registration, so you will not be able to seek statutory amercement and legal expenses in a lawsuit. Lesser line, a Poor Homo'southward Copyright is a romantic concept that offers fiddling in the way of reliable protection.

Okay, and then that'southward how, where, and why ane registers a script. But does that truly protect a person's work?

IF SOMEONE STEALS YOUR WORK

Unfortunately, while registering original material is a good policy, it protects you merely in that it proves that your work existed at a sure point in time, providing you lot with that "public claim to authorship" I continue mentioning. If someone steals your work, y'all can't but telephone call upward and say, "Ha! Gotcha, the script was registered, send me a cheque and get in a large one!" Rather, if you think yous've got a case worth pursuing, you should contact an experienced lawyer and proceed as advised. (I should point out that I am not a lawyer and nothing stated in this article is intended to be legal communication. All of the information provided has been gathered from publications of the U.S. Copyright Office, WGAwest, and WGAeast.) You might end up pressuring the infringing party to recoup yous to avoid a adapt or you might make up one's mind to take the example to court. Be aware that copyright cases can be difficult to win unless the theft is blatant. You take to prove things like prior access, substantial similarities, actual damages, etc. Your lawyer volition lay out the odds and likely costs and then that you tin can decide what to practise, if anything.

Is there anything else you can do to protect your piece of work? Perhaps the best defense of all is to practice a simple flake of common sense: exist picky when circulating your work. In Hollywood, everyone thinks he's a producer, director, writer, or actor, and all are looking for projects that can rocket them to a big career. But don't be seduced; no affair how earnest and flattering he seems, when your waiter tries to convince you lot that he's the perfect guy to get your script made, resist the urge to hand him a copy. Circulate your cloth only to people who are established professionals or who can connect yous direct to established professionals.

Lastly, try to relax about all of this. The good 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 similar to some other person'due south, it's purely a coincidence-two writers living in the same world at the aforementioned time, who come with the aforementioned story. It happens, besides ofttimes, simply you tin can't allow information technology get to you. Because the alternative is to non send your material to everyone, which might not be the best fashion to sell a script.

About Evan Smith

Evan Smith is the Chair of the screenwriting program at Syracuse University 'southward Newhouse School and the author of what many have described equally the seminal book on sitcom writing, WRITING TELEVISION SITCOMS. Evan has written one-act and drama for Paramount , MTM, Play a joke on , USA , and various producers, and has worked as a programming VP developing Idiot box-movies, specials, and series. Evan is acclaimed for his industry seminars and articles on screenwriting technique, and he serves as a script consultant for screenwriters and entertainment companies.

Screenwriting Article by Evan Smith