I'm new here but unless I missed something, this question wasn't answered where I read.

If I post a scene or short story, is it safe here without being copyrighted or WGA-registered?

I only really ask because most of my stories are really important to me and I don't want particular things, scene, etc taken from here.

Mr. Blonde,
Welcome to the site. There is a lot of great information here. People who are willing to help with what ever you have to offer script wise.

You will hear two schools of thought on this.

First (Which I agree with) protect your work. I do, even if it is junk  (like mine).

I do both, WGA and Copyright.

Others will say it is not important. That if someone wants to take your work they will.

Either way (in my opinion) follow your heart.

And again welcome and have fun.

Shawn....><  

Thank you, but that makes it difficult.

The stuff I've written is the stuff I care about. The stuff that I'd be willing to share, but it's impossible to register individual scenes with the WGA or copyright them...

Maybe I'll do some small tests.

Again, thank you and if it works out, I'd like to share some of my scenes with the people here.

So are you talking about a script, scenes, or ideas? If you have a script, all of your ideas in that script are protected when you file it.

Shawn.....><

That's the thing. In my first post, I stated that I have never finished a script. Never even gotten close. So, I have scenes and synopses.

A lot of them.

i'm sorry. I did not see in the starting thread that you have never finished a script, sorry.
Shawn.....><

I know you didn't. It's not a problem. =)

I was specifying so you'd know, not to make you feel bad. =)

From my research, once you post something, even to a blog: Boom! It's published and subject to copyright laws. BUT! We enter murky territory. Proof about copyright is sometimes difficult.

I don't worry about it myself. If someone wants to "steal" my work, then I'm flattered. There's lots more where that came from. Seriously. And I am very serious now. (Te-he). Snap out of it, Sandra.   No really...

If a person is working all the time, they really aren't concerned about it as much as you'd think. If you really are worried though, then register the copyright and don't fret.

One more thing... If you're working on something very long and intense, consider publishing it as a book first. The detail you have there will be plenty proof enough.

Sandra

Nah, screw it. I'll post a couple of my scenes here as test runs. After all, to use them, they'd have to write the entire story anyway, so, I should be good to go.

You don't need to copyright your stuff, don't worry about it. If you really, really want to, copyright everything you have done, will cost you $25 or something.

In terms of not finishing work, just push through. Stop all this rewriting BS! Get a first draft out, leave it for a week, then come back to it. Oh, and post it on here too so we can help you/tell you how good it is/rip it to shreds.

Please, rip it to shreds. But stealing is my one fear.

You know, that if I were finally to finish one, someone would snag it... Lol.

And, I can't stop re-writing. It's never right! Ever.

Maybe I'll post up one of my pilot openings before the night's out.

Stealing happens much, much less than most people think. I was reading a book, and in it, it said that it's much easier to just buy a script, instead of read it, see that there is a great idea there, and hire some other random writers to write a script from that idea. It takes up time and effort and money, so they just buy the original.

In terms of rewriting ... well I dunno, I don't have that problem. Once it's done, it's done, ready for someone to tell me if it's actually good or not.

I want to test something. For anyone looking at this, that is.

In my sig are some of my more recent projects.

Which, if any, sound interesting from the title/genre?

If you want, order them. That way, I'll get a sense of people's preferences here.

From reading posts, I'm getting the gist of some people but all the help I can get, the better off I am. =)

Quoted from Mr. Blonde I want to test something. For anyone looking at this, that is. In my sig are some of my more recent projects. Which, if any, sound interesting from the title/genre? If you want, order them. That way, I'll get a sense of people's preferences here. From reading posts, I'm getting the gist of some people but all the help I can get, the better off I am. =)

Purely based on title:

I love the sound of

The Gold Standard

Sandra

We'll see. It's about a street gang.

Which reminds me, I checked out the Work in Progress section. It says that to post, a script has to be at least halfway-done.

Guess I'm not posting up anything I've written.

I was going to put up a few of my beginnings but I don't want to get the admins pissed off at me so soon.

That reminds me of something else. The FAQ section. I was reading that, but there's no area to put your script in, to upload. All they have is a link online, but that's not making a lick of sense to me.

EDIT:

That reminds me. On the introduction page, I put down one of my weaker beginnings, in case anyone cares. It seemed like the most logical place for it because it's an introduction to how I write.