Reader Question: What measures should a writer take to protect a script?

An open forum question via email Christy Wegener:

Hello Scott:

I have a question for your blog:

Besides registering your script with the U.S. copyright office and WGA, are there any additional measures writers need to take to protect material? Is it necessary to register with both the WGA and copyright office?

Thank you!

Thought for sure I’d answered this, but couldn’t find it in GITS Reader Questions, so here’s my non-legally binding two cents.

First off, Hwood is a small community. Therefore trust is a big thing. Megamillion dollar deals are cemented based on phone conversations and emails, essentially the equivalent of a handshake. So if someone gets a reputation for out-and-out theft, they will have a hard time surviving because everybody pretty much knows everybody else’s business. Hard-ass negotiations? Not a problem. Thievery. That is a problem.

If you’re a writer represented by a well-known, established agency and/or manager, you have little to fear in the way of someone stealing your story. Taking ideas you pitch and tweaking them for their own purposes? You always run the risk of this. For instance, a certain studio whose name I won’t mention, but rhymes with Snisney has had a reputation for inviting multiple sets of writers to come in on an OWA (open writing assignment), then settling on one of those writers [or going with a writer with whom the studio has an overall deal], and as if by magic some of the ideas that were kicked around during all those writers’ meetings end up in the final movie. As a writer, what can you do? It’s hard to prove who contributed what as you don’t know if some other writer pitched the ideas you yourself presented. Plus the studio exec, when sitting at a meeting, can at any time say, “Hey, we were just talking about that precise idea,” and you will never know if, indeed, they did have a moment of creative synchronicity or they just stole the idea from you. But that’s typically dealing with a story beat or dynamic, or a character. For big ticket items like a fully fleshed-out pitch or completed screenplay, a working screenwriter who is repped by an agent or manager can be pretty confident their story won’t be ripped off.

Now for someone who is not repped by an agent or manager, I do recommend doing something to protect your original written material. If you want to be as safe as possible, you can register your script or treatment with the WGA and get a copyright, but if I had to choose one over the other, I’d go with the copyright as — I’m assuming — it would have more weight in a legal case.

BTW, most script readers I know suggest that you do not include the copyright or WGA registration number with the script, for instance on its title page, as this denotes an ‘amateur.’ That’s probably precisely due to what I noted above, that working represented writers don’t have to worry about getting ripped off [I can’t remember the last time I registered any original story with the WGA].

Final word: If you write a great script, even if you’re unrepresented, there’s about zero chance anyone will steal your story. Why? Because it’s not just about your script, it’s about you. Hwood is always looking for fresh ‘blood,’ so they’d be shooting themselves in the foot — and inviting a lawsuit — to rip off a script from a talented writer, rather than try to nurture a relationship with you in hopes of setting up another big project. 

Yet another motivation to write a great script!

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