I’ve lost count of the number of times I have read posts on message boards asking this.

Posting ideas is foolhardy and dangerous because ideas cannot be protected. The same applies to posting a scene from an unfinished script.

A finished script can be registered on-line for $22 with WGA but if you want to discuss ideas you are thinking of working on, don’t without taking some precautions.

You can register a treatment with the WGA, this at least gives you some possible proof that the idea if presented as outlined in your treatment, was first thought of by you.

But here’s the rub, most ideas are not worth stealing because the idea, premise, concept or what ever you want to call it, is not enough on its own.

For any concept to work as a movie needs to have characters, objectives, conflict, a structure and a final outcome.

Now if you think through all those elements and write them down in a coherent, chronological order, you have the makings of a treatment.

I am at the moment creating a new Superhero. The concept of a Superhero is not new, and no doubt the skills I give my Hero will not be that different from other Superheros.

What will be different is how he is formed, the strengths and weakness of his character and the persona he projects when he is the Hero as to when he is not.

The originality is in the fine detail not the overall premise and it is this detail that makes your idea good, bad or indifferent and you will only know this if you work through all the elements of your story before you begin the story.

The advantage of doing this is you will see for yourself the flaws, the mistakes, the inconsistencies and the futility of your idea without having to discuss it with anyone else.

On the other hand it could also empathise the brilliance of your premise, the originality of your character and the value of turning your idea into a fully finished script.

The same applies to individual scenes, if you have written an outline, then fleshed it out to a treatment it should become obvious what each part of the revelation process of your story is needed to make it work.

Construction of the script after having sketched out your story is just a question of dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s in accordance to good script formatting and presentation as you have studied in the many ‘How To’ books you have read.

By the way, if you haven’t studied the craft of screenwriting do not start writing your first script, it will not be worth the paper it is written on or the time you spent writing it.

At some point you have to give your script to somebody else unless you intend to produce, direct, finance and distribute you movie yourself.

If you are not going to do it all by yourself, the established method of raising interest in you concept, is by sending a logline and possibility a synopsis to a complete stranger, neither which really are protected and both are telling somebody else what you idea is.  

The fear of being ripped off or having your idea stolen is a fear of many beginners, but think of it this way, if your idea is good enough to interest others you should be good enough to create more ideas.

In four years I have written 24 feature screenplays, including six assignments (commissions). I have also registered several treatments and have over 70 ideas in ‘My Ideas’ folder to consider at a later date.

Part of being a writer is creating new ideas, turning them into projects and presenting your ideas and projects to others, normally in a pitch.

You won’t be able to swim unless you get in the water.

All sensible advice. Writers do tend to be a paranoid bunch.

I can't remember were I heard this phrase before, but here goes:

"Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright."

“Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright."

Aaron Sorkin (American Screenwriter and Producer, b.1961)

Anyway, it's the same with music...

Quoted from michel Aaron Sorkin (American Screenwriter and Producer, b.1961)

Thaaaat's right. It was from The West Wing - Rob Lowe's character said it.

Quoted from rendevous All sensible advice. Writers do tend to be a paranoid bunch.

Even paranoid people have enemies.

And scripts have been stolen from Simplyscripts in the past.


Phil

Quoted from dogglebe Even paranoid people have enemies. And scripts have been stolen from Simplyscripts in the past.

I'm familiar with one particular incident where someone stole a script that was used in a competition, but has anything been stolen (like a feature) that has actually been produced and distributed?

Quoted from dogglebe Even paranoid people have enemies. And scripts have been stolen from Simplyscripts in the past. Phil

I read that if someone steals your work and has made it, you're more likely to make more money suing them than what you would selling the script to them.

Quoted from Muse32 I read that if someone steals your work and has made it, you're more likely to make more money suing them than what you would selling the script to them.

Yeah, but then you're caught up in court battles and you actually have to prove that it was stolen.  You should look for a court case involving "Dodgeball" that someone posted up here awhile back.  Very interesting stuff.

Somebody lifted a script from here which they filmed for the "On The Lot" competition last year.

The kid even had the nerve to list himself as writer.

He was outed pretty quick -- disqualified -- and it was obviously a pretty significant speed-bump in his young career.

Moral of the story is that in the age of the internet, this kind of theft is pretty dumb.

Eyes are everywhere, and somebody, somewhere, will recognize your plagiarism for what it is.

Quoted from dresseme Yeah, but then you're caught up in court battles and you actually have to prove that it was stolen.  You should look for a court case involving "Dodgeball" that someone posted up here awhile back.  Very interesting stuff.

All you need is proof of when material was written. If you have that then your laughing, especially if you have notes with it aswell of how to story evolved into what it was.

Other than that, if you can't prove it, then technically you're screwed... But to steal someone else's work is shocking, I couldn't imagine a writer stealing another writers work, what is this world coming to?

Plagiarism isn't new at all (I read once that Shakespeare didn't write the first version of Romeo and Juliet), but the advice on the ideas is quite sound. Anyone can take anyone else's idea and run with it, because it is the development of that idea that's worth the money, as opposed to the idea itself. That's why treatment can be copyrighted or registered while ideas really can't.

This is also why you get films from different studios with the same premise (I hearken back to the year of Armageddon/Deep Impact/Space Cowboys) and how The Asylum can do their Mockbusters, or "studio tie-ins". So if you've got a million dollar idea, perhaps you should consider carefully whether you should post it before you've fleshed it. In all honesty, it won't make a lick of difference, since an idea that good will get lifted even after you finish writing it and even after it's fully produced.

Quoted from George Willson Plagiarism isn't new at all (I read once that Shakespeare didn't write the first version of Romeo and Juliet), but the advice on the ideas is quite sound. Anyone can take anyone else's idea and run with it, because it is the development of that idea that's worth the money, as opposed to the idea itself. That's why treatment can be copyrighted or registered while ideas really can't. This is also why you get films from different studios with the same premise (I hearken back to the year of Armageddon/Deep Impact/Space Cowboys) and how The Asylum can do their Mockbusters, or "studio tie-ins". So if you've got a million dollar idea, perhaps you should consider carefully whether you should post it before you've fleshed it. In all honesty, it won't make a lick of difference, since an idea that good will get lifted even after you finish writing it and even after it's fully produced.

Makes sense, so whatever you write, they can rip it off anyways.

If you email your script to yourself before posting it anywhere,  would that not be sufficient proof of ownership?

I doubt that would hold up in a courtroom but I could be wrong. I heard posting to yourself works, via registered post...again that could be BS too.