Is A Treatment Is Registered With The Wga, Can Someone Still Steal It?

Screenplay Copyright: Script Registration Facts & Fiction

By Evan Smith

To steal someone's machine, money, parking space-that'due south depression. But to steal someone'south story? A little made-up tale? A hundred pages of FADE IN here and Cutting TO at that place? Is that even stealing?

Yes dammit! It is! Stealing of the worst kind. Because many hours have been spent and emotions invested, and, funny, just an original story that's already been read by half of Hollywood only doesn't seem so original when pitched a 2d fourth dimension. Cars are insured, money can be borrowed, and, okay, a adept parking space, that tin be worth quite a chip, but to have someone steal your script? Ouch. That'south not only damaging, information technology'due south personal.

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

WHAT Tin can WE PROTECT?

First, what exactly is information technology that nosotros're trying to protect? Our brilliant story ideas? Sorry, just nosotros can't really protect those. The constabulary says that a person cannot copyright a mere thought or concept, and though yous tin sue for "idea misappropriation," such cases are costly and virtually impossible to evidence. And then know that if you lot blubber about a great story while sharing a salad at Denny'southward, some sleaze at the side by side tabular array can take the essence of what he overhears and develop a similar projection, and you can't do a matter about it. Nor can you lot copyright the titillating title that yous dreamed upwardly for the project. If information technology's associated with a successful motion-picture show some twenty-four hours, information technology might then qualify for some level of trademark protection, but until that time it's open up season.

So 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 y'all do not have to annals such materials for them to be copyrighted; protection is automatically afforded "original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible form of expression." Significant, just blazon the matter on paper or salve it every bit a computer file and information technology'due south copyrighted.

Of course, if all you exercise is type a script and store it abroad somewhere, how can you always show that it existed at a certain point in fourth dimension? (Which you would demand to practise if you were going after someone who has stolen your work.) You probably can't, not unless you as well register your already-copyrighted material to create a public record of its being. Which is why all of your friends say to annals scripts with the Writers Guild. Which is a good thought, simply perhaps not the best idea.

REGISTRATION FACTS AND FICTION

Information technology's true. Registering scripts with the Writers Society of America is useful because it creates a public record of your merits to authorship, and it'due south convenient because you receive quick confirmation of the registration and can even annals materials online. The process is relatively simple. First, remember that at that place are actually two split 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 postal service, you will submit a package containing one unbound re-create of the textile, a title page on the script that identifies the material and its creators/owners, and a check for the registration fee. (The fees are $10 for WGA members at either guild, $20 for non-members at WGAwest, and $22 for non-members at WGAeast. Current students tin register for $17 at WGAeast.) For the digitally inclined, you tin fill up out a form at either social club's website and east-post them a file containing the material, and pay past credit card. Whether registering via snail-mail or the net, each society has its ain specific submission requirements, so visit their websites for details (

for WGAw, or for WGAe).

Is it better to register at one guild than at the other? WGAe charges not-members ii dollars more, but it keeps registered material on file for ten years rather than the v you get with WGAw. With both guilds, you can renew a registration before it lapses, but must pay another fee to do and so. Which is best? Perhaps neither.

Though WGA registration is quick and convenient, it is not a substitute for registering your material with the U.Due south. Copyright Office, which is almost as easy to practice. The steps are similar. Simply send in a package that includes a completed awarding grade ("Form PA"), ane copy of the material, and a check for $45. Or y'all can register online and pay $35. (See the Copyright Office website,

, for forms and instructions.)

While all 3 registries serve the principal 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 v or ten years, or longer if you pay for renewals, copyright registration lasts for the life of the copyright-every bit in, an author's life plus lxx years. Also, if your fabric has been registered with the Copyright Function and you finish upwardly suing someone, you tin seek statutory damages and reimbursement of legal fees rather than just "bodily amercement and infringer's profits" that you might otherwise receive. If you tin can evidence that the theft was deliberate, this could make a big difference in the bounty yous receive.

Is at that place a downside to registering with the Copyright Office? Well, information technology does price $13-$35 more, depending on your Club status and submission method. And, typical of a government establishment, it takes a long time, currently viii months, to receive official notification that your piece of work has been accustomed for registration. (Online submissions receive a much faster response.) Merely that doesn't mean that your material isn't protected during that time; submissions are date-stamped every bit before long as they are received by the Copyright Office and protection (for those materials somewhen accepted for registration) is deemed effective as of that date.

Should yous register with both the WGA and the Copyright Office? No, about people would consider that overkill. If you choose to do so regardless, refrain from putting both notices on the script's title page or readers will think you're an apprentice or perhaps paranoid.

"Notices"? If you register a script with the WGA, y'all have the choice of putting a "WGA Registered" notice on the championship folio. If you elect to not practice so, you lot should put a Copyright notice on the script whether you have registered with the Copyright Part or non, to prevent an infringer from claiming that he didn't know that the work was protected. (Calculation this notice is completely legal because, remember, your material is automatically copyrighted the 2nd it'due south put into a tangible form.) Copyright notices consist of three parts, placed in any order: the give-and-take "Copyright" or the copyright symbol, the name(s) of the copyright possessor(s), and the date the material was copyrighted (created).

Are there any other means to protect a script? There are ii, 1 expert and i not so.

1. INDEPENDENT SCRIPT REGISTRIES

Go hunting online and y'all 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 Club registries merely provide the aforementioned basic service-they store a copy of your work to support your claim of authorship. However, like the Guilds, independent registries neither enhance your rights in a holding nor provide the benefits associated with copyright registration. Further, one wonders if some of these outfits will still exist in business concern in 10 years, and what might happen to a registry'southward stored materials if it fails. And so approach with caution.

two. POOR Human being'Southward COPYRIGHT

Some folks volition tell yous that all yous have to do to protect a script is seal it in an envelope and mail service it to yourself, and so store it un-opened so that the postage marker provides an official, dated record of the material'south existence. Sounds dandy! And it'south a lot cheaper than paying those $20-$30 dollar registration fees, right? Which must be why they dubbed the concept a "Poor Man'due south Copyright."

People honey this idea, I beloved this idea, information technology'south got a nice average-Joe-finds-a-loophole feel to it-just it'due south a bad idea. Why? Because mailing something to yourself doesn't copyright the thing; the material was automatically copyrighted when you typed it into "tangible form." Every bit for providing an official, dated record of the material's existence, nowadays, it is so easy to fake a self-mailing (always hear of re-sealable envelopes?) that any opposing lawyer with half a encephalon is bound to ask that your sealed package be ruled inadmissible equally show (leaving yous with no instance if the judge agrees). Finally, mailing scripts to yourself is non the aforementioned as filing for copyright registration, and so y'all will not exist able to seek statutory damages and legal expenses in a lawsuit. Bottom line, a Poor Man's Copyright is a romantic concept that offers picayune in the way of reliable protection.

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

IF SOMEONE STEALS YOUR Piece of work

Unfortunately, while registering original material is a good policy, it protects you merely in that information technology proves that your work existed at a certain signal in time, providing you with that "public merits to authorship" I keep mentioning. If someone steals your piece of work, you can't just recollect and say, "Ha! Gotcha, the script was registered, ship me a bank check and make it a large one!" Rather, if you call up you've got a case worth pursuing, you should contact an experienced lawyer and proceed as advised. (I should point out that I am non a lawyer and null stated in this article is intended to be legal advice. All of the data provided has been gathered from publications of the U.South. Copyright Office, WGAwest, and WGAeast.) You might stop up pressuring the infringing party to compensate y'all to avoid a suit or you might determine to take the case to courtroom. Be aware that copyright cases tin can be hard to win unless the theft is breathy. Y'all have to evidence things like prior access, substantial similarities, actual damages, etc. Your lawyer will lay out the odds and likely costs so that you can make up one's mind what to practice, if anything.

Is there anything else y'all can practise to protect your piece of work? Perhaps the best defense of all is to practise a simple bit 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 large career. But don't be seduced; no matter how earnest and flattering he seems, when your waiter tries to convince you that he'southward the perfect guy to get your script made, resist the urge to paw him a copy. Circulate your material only to people who are established professionals or who tin can connect you directly to established professionals.

Lastly, try to relax about all of this. The expert news is that, though nobody can guarantee that someone won't steal your work, few professionals are interested in doing so. In near instances, when someone develops a project similar to some other person's, information technology'south purely a coincidence-two writers living in the aforementioned world at the aforementioned time, who come upwardly with the same story. It happens, also oft, but yous can't let information technology go to you. Because the culling is to not send your material to anybody, which might not be the best fashion to sell a script.

Near Evan Smith

Evan Smith is the Chair of the screenwriting program at Syracuse University 's Newhouse School and the author of what many have described as the seminal book on sitcom writing, WRITING TELEVISION SITCOMS. Evan has written comedy and drama for Paramount , MTM, Fox , The states , and various producers, and has worked as a programming VP developing TV-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 amusement companies.

Screenwriting Article by Evan Smith