Screenwriting : Logline by Christopher Cafiero

You can register your script, treatment, etc with the WGA or you can easily (c) it as well. Also, someone else writing a story based on your logline is not your story. There are hundreds of shows out there now which have the same premise and none of them are exactly alike. Best

Newsflash! Everyone stop worrying about copyrighted. If you can prove you wrote it on X date and it's a close to a mirror image to your work and you can prove that you got your work, you're good. The rest is all just chatter for real and mostly urban myths. Also read the contracts online, I read one where they said if you didn't file a copyright with the feds they could "take" your script and produce it without giving you a cent of compensation. Yes you are held to whatever you sign so READ it! That was a big entity so don't think only small dogs try to be slick and take away your rights.

This is a never ending story: I feel exactly like you, even if you have registered your script, nothing or nobody can somehow copy it for you, or take a cue from it, to rework it in their own way and make it their own, it is difficult for a screenplay for a film, practically impossible for a format television, true a tv series or other.

But it is also true that if you leave what you write in the drawer, you will never know if your stories are interesting and / or successful.

For me it always depends on the context in which you propose your script, moreover, however original we can be in writing, you can be sure that sooner or later, someone else will have the same or at least similar idea, so better get there first and maybe be copied.

This chicken and egg question causes many artists to fear free publicity BUT also shoot themselves in foot . Any story concept is open to alternative interpretation by another artist but the execution of plot, final draft and memorable characters remains in you.

Ideas cannot be protected. And loglines are not a story. Your writing is unique to you. Nobody will write it the way you do. But yes - you can protect your script by registering with the WGA or copyrighting. Although you are protected if you put a copyright notice on your title page.

I do believe there are a few webinars on this site which talk about protecting IP's Best of luck

I have just finished my first feature length script / screenplay and underwent the age old initial step of the poor mans copyright. Print the thing out in its entirety and then mail it to yourself but leave it unopened. That way you can prove yourself as being the author and the date of it if required. I've also then gone through the process of US Copyright Office and waiting for that to be issued.

Christopher,

First, you shouldn't put your Logline on here until the Script is finished and both Lib of Congress and WGA protected. To do so otherwise is not in your best interest.

Forget the Poor Mans Copyright. YOur work is legally protected, as soon as you "Commit the work to a tangible form" -- i.e. as soon as you print it out. But that said, It is not completely protected unless you have formally registered it with the Lib. of Congress.

The WGA is just a formality in case it's sold, as far as Credits go and how they're "assigned." This means $$$ to you. If they 'Buy' the Script and then hand it to someone to do a Re-Write, you at least get Story By and Screenplay by (This is where the $$$ comes in.)

Always Protect your Work before you put out a Logline or a Pitch. A Logline is insufficient to 'protect' your Idea, and someone can run with it. A Logline is not protectable. A Treatment however, is. If you Register it with the WGA.

The basic answer is nothing.

my advice is to stop worrying about that! How many movies have you seen with the same theme, premise, or idea? How many "demonic spirits, ghosts in the house" stories have you seen.? Zombies in a world apocalypse setting? or boy meets girl romance tragedy? If you want to copy write a logline as a story, then write a novella 5,000/10,000 words, or outline your premise. Now your story is unique to your logline. Other than that, don't worry if someone {cough} "steals" your logline. Trust me, there are thousands of scripts out there with your logline premise.

You've got industry individuals saying how they occasionally "borrow" loglines online cause they're "lazy to invent", pretty much says all over net code of conduct...you better have all that's yours online either copyrighted or already filmed...

You just need to know when to be precious and when not to be precious.

It's worth nothing that, in over five years and over 175K downloads on Script Revolution, I've only ever had one writer contact me about plagiarisation and that was a short script that had been rewritten seemingly as an exercise.

In fact, the only strong case of outright theft I know of happened to a producer friend of mine who had a feature script being developed within a studio. They stole it from right under him and kept the opening unchanged. He only had WGA registration.

Statistically, it's incredibly rare to see.

I've seen lots of people complain about idea theft over the years, even believing their idea's been stolen only six months before a movie has been released. People get crazy in this area.

Your risk exposure will always be subject to your need for market exposure. Unknown writers are always going to have to gamble more than those who can circulate stuff within tight circles.

Something I feel a lot of aspiring writers don't want to hear is that you need to be a relentless writing machine to uphold a professional career. I see a lot of amateurs clinging onto material that's taken them months or even years to turnaround like it's a golden goose, material that a pro-writer could turnaround in weeks and willingly discard in a heartbeat to chase a better opportunity.

Ultimately, it's your voice that you want to be known for. Concepts tend to be fleeting and subject to the current market demands. New writers who want to sell on concept tend to have a get rich quick mentality.

Anyway, this all said, sharing a logline before you've executed is pointless. Don't do that.

I hear Shonda Rhimes has a Lloyds of London insurance policy of $100M, in case she suffers from brain/imagination injuries and cant work

@CJ Walley Best comment! Your VOICE is what ultimately matters most! Stories and concepts will come and go!

Although it is impossible to copyright an idea, it is the execution of the idea that matters most. The movie industry is chock-a-block full of people brimming with ideas they all consider to be genius. Don't put your ideas out there in idea form if you are worried. Execution of the idea is what matters most to those seeking a career as a writer for the entertainment industry.

If I 'steal' your idea, then write my own story based on my interpretation of 'your' story: is that really stealing? Where do you get the basic idea for 'your' story? Stop and think about it - how many times have you seen the Cinderella story concept?

If it's that amazing treat like any other project don't post it until the entire project is protected.

Your paranoia is understandable. And fades with experience.

Your story is 100% of the asset you own. It is less than 2% of the film from a money POV. So why would they risk 98% of their investment to steal from you?

Plus ideas cannot be copyrighted blah blah..

Ideas have no value. A screenplay has some value. So why not just buy your screenplay. Cheaper.

Now here is something that is going to sound like an insult, but I hope it is not that insulting.

Nothing you (I or anyone else) can think of is original. It has been done before in some form.

@Michael LaVoie Thousands (and I mean thousands) of amazing Loglines that get sold on the idea usually end up in development purgatory. Either it falls to a writer's room or staff writer, whose interpretation of the idea is night and day from the initial concept. The exec usually loses interest when the NEXT GREAT idea plops on his desk or computer, or it goes through rewrite hell. By that time, that great logline idea has faded into Hollywood heaven. So I wouldn't worry too much about theft. Back to concept and voice, is "Breaking bad" really that different from "Scarface?" I think not. What is the similarity in the premise, "a nobody, done on his luck guy turns drug dealer turns kingpin of the drug world, then finds redemption by double-crossing the bad guys that helped got him there." It's the VOICE that made the stories vastly different.

Star Wars, Toy Story, and Gravity are excellent suggestions (which I appreciate have been made casually here) but let's not conflate pioneering films with original story ideas.

Star Wars is credited with being the first blockbuster movie and benefited from a host of cutting edge sfx processes that made a new era of filmmaking possible. It was originally conceptualised as a Flash Gordon remake and, when that wasn't possible, Lucas pulled in every influence from every legendary myth he could, as all detailed in the book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.

Toy Story was the poster child for 3D animated films, and much like ILM, developed its own tech to make that type of filmmaking possible (coincidentally, Pixar was originally a Lucas Arts project). The concept of inanimate objects coming to life, particularly in children's stories goes back a long way and has been done countless times.

Gravity again embraced a new era of near photo realism CGI that made the film viable and half the spectacle are the cutting edge effects. Conceptually, it's just another survival movie. It just so happens to take place in space despite early development being focused on the desert.

As ever, if it's not already been done in film, it's most likely been done in literature. Human progress has pretty much now created the Infinite monkey theorem.

But there's something important that screenwriters need to take from this. It's a spin on an existing idea that tends to have significant appeal and the onus shouldn't be on trying to come up with something completely original as that's both next to impossible and most likely going to lead to wacky concepts that don't communicate well.

A great example of an original spin was a spec script that was doing the rounds about five years ago as the fad of zombie movies was dying out. While everyone else was writing "zombies vs x" concepts, a writer conceptualised a story about a family dealing with the fact their daughter was sick and slowly transforming into one. It wasn't a fast action movie, it was a slow drama.

Again, having a well refined and unique artistic voice effectively does this by default.

I read somewhere George Lucas admittedly said he stole (homage) story beat by beat off a Kurosawa samurai movie for Star Wars. And Alfonso Cuarón was accused of stealing Gravity story; dont know if the ppl involved settle quietly.

"The Hidden Fortress" is the movie you're thinking of, Dan.

Paranoia rears its head again - seems to be a weekly event. My advice (speciously to new writers) is to forget about it.

Director Vincente Minnelli once said it's impossible to make a totally original movie. Everything has already been done. The trick is to do it differently. He said that in the late 1940s!

It seems to me that there is little point in posting loglines for which you have no script.

Conversations like these are why I always encourage writers to read up on the history of film. Industry members love talking about this stuff at networking events and are constantly making references. It can be so awkward watching someone in those kind of conversations who's totally lost because their knowledge is based on assumptions, speculation, and common misconceptions. It's like when someone says "Hollywood doesn't know how to make a good movie anymore". It can show a lot of ignorance combined with a degree of arrogance that makes people want to run a mile.

I don't think aspiring screenwriters realise just how bad it looks. Imagine wanting to be taken seriously as a composer but you don't anything about music history past 2005 while constantly referencing Katy Perry and Justin Bieber as examples of artistic genius.

We're lucky enough to be an industry that has a history full of fascinating drama and developments. There's really no excuse not to lap it all up. I keep a list of some of my favourite industry history books here.