Before Submitting Your Work To Anyone

[Kim Welch]

I would like to hear what others think or know from experience about this subject. Are these guidelines the rule and or best practice?

Kim

BEFORE SUBMITTING:

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A LITERARY AGENT OR AT LEAST AN ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER TO SUBMIT ON YOUR BEHALF

ALL MATERIAL SHOULD BE COPYWRITTEN AND TRADEMARKED
CONTACT THE COPYRIGHT OFFICE IN WASHINGTON THEY WILL SEND YOU THE FORMS

MAKE SURE A RELEASE IS SIGNED BY THE PERSON AND OR PERSONS WHO ARE RECEIVING
THE MATERIALS BEFORE "THEY RECEIVE THE MATERIALS"

THIS IS STANDARD INDUSTRY PRACTICE IN FILM, THEATRE, BOOKS, TV ETC

SHOULD THEY REFUSE TO SIGN--DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR MATERIALS==NO EXCEPTIONS

DO NOT SEND A SCRIPT, NOVEL, TREATMENT ETC, WITHOUT THE OTHER PARTY SIGNING A NON-DISCLOSURE RELEASE FORM, THAT CLEARLY SPECIFIES WHAT THEY CAN AND CANNOT DO WITH YOUR MATERIAL. BE AS EXPLICIT AND DETAILED AS POSSIBLE

MAKE SURE YOU SEND THIS BY FED=EX AS WELL--AND RECEIVE A COPY OF A SIGNATURE FROM FED-EX FOR THE PKG, THIS IS ONLY AFTER THEY HAVE SIGNED THE NON-DISCLOSURE CONFIDENTIALITY AGGREEMENT

BE SMART AND MOST OF ALL ACT LIKE A TRUE PROFESSIONAL!


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[DannyG]

Well sans full script, I don't see how alot of that would be possible in a typical "pitch" scenario.

 

[snwbrder0721]

I don't think you have to have an agent, it probably would help, especially for a first script, to add some credibility to it. As far as the copyright stuff, I've always heard about registering the idea/treatment/script with the writers guild of America ($25???) and that that would be suffiecient copyright protection. I thought that so long as you have that you can use it to prove you had your idea first (or find out someone else did) if a studio makes a movie with an idea like yours.

 

[DerekEastham]

A Lawyer/agent is really more about getting someone to actually read your script... it's not necessary for the copyright issues... the WGA will take care of that. But to really have a better chance of being read and passed up the reading chain, an agent can become a very big part of that.