The biggest problem is that the trades, newspapers, and Internet websites all love to publish news of court battles as if they were Hollywood dramas -- the little guy vs. Goliath. The reality is that almost all copyright lawsuits are dismissed once judges review the legal briefs filed by the party claiming their project has been ripped off. Very few of these plagiarism lawsuits go to trial. And when they do go to trial, in almost every instance, the defendant wins. I just googled, "Screenplay plagiarism lawsuit won by plaintiff," and came up with no winning court cases for the plaintiff after searching through several search results (Don’t be thrown off by the headline of one search result -- Sophia Stewart Wins Matrix Lawsuit Against Wachowski. Sophia Stewart did not win.) Some of the claims of plagiarism are “settled out of court,” which might imply that the accuser was paid off in some hush-hush deal worth thousands, perhaps millions of dollars because their original claim had merit and the accused used cash to make the whole sorry episode end. The reality is “settled out of court” usually means a last ditch effort by the plaintiff to avoid being faced with a judgment that will stick them with the bill for not only their own legal representation, but the legal fee run up by the defendant’s legal counsel, which could amount to six figures or much more if the accused is a major filmmaker or studio. Do you believe the Entertainment Industry steals the creative work of screenwriters trying to break in?
Screenwriting : Should screenwriters worry about having their work stolen by hollywood? by Richard Finney
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From the perspective of a producer in Hollywood: I find a script I like written by an unsold, unproduced writer. I could steal it, pay a professional writer to do the rewrites and then face the lawsuit if it happens. Or... I could offer scale plus 10%, pay a professional writer to do the rewrites and then not face a lawsuit. Much cheaper to pay the WGA scale. Hell, much cheaper to pay ten time scale than pay to defend a lawsuit.
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And it's even cheaper, if the writer is unproduced and not WGA, to pay 50% scale. But I want to live in your world, D. :)
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usually its a really crappy wannabe writer who sees a few similarities between their project and a produced one and tries to sue. the truth is, Hollywood doesn't need to steal your project or idea. To think that they do is just paranoia and self-delusion. I'm not saying it NEVER happens, but there are no original ideas out there. My company spent a year+ developing a family film titled Family Bond. the week we were to go out with it, another project was sent out called Family Bonds - with an S. it was Very very close to ours. this shit just happens.
Even if the issue was prevalent, which is clearly isn't, I feel worrying about it is pointless and possibly more harmful to a writer's progress. I think many want to believe it happens. They need Hollywood to be full of copy and paste corporate monsters.
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It makes better business sense for them to just buy your script, which is what they usually do. Lawsuits are mostly from people who think they have been ripped off, but have not been. Once it gets to court the lawsuits are tossed out because there is just no merit to the case at all. Often it's a delusional person. It's cheaper for a producer to buy your screenplay.
As many posters here have pointed out, in terms of newer screenwriters, it is far cheaper and easier to just buy the screenplay outright. In addition, the idea of stealing a screenplay from any writer, especially a newer one, doesn't happen as often as writers think it does. There are very few truly original ideas. Just because a writer thinks up a great original medieval detective story, doesn't mean there aren't other writers thinking up similar stories. In fact it's probably likely that most ideas that any screenwriter has written or developed, has been or is being written by another writer (or many other writers) in some form or another. Obviously I'm not talking the exact screenplay, but one of a similar genre, storyline, historical event, plot, etc. It's the execution and which script hits the market and gets attention first, that separate them. While there are cases of scripts being stolen, they aren't very common. What I do think is a more frequent problem, is idea contamination, especially during sweepstakes pitching. During a bake-off, when a dozen or more writers are pitching their take for an OWA, it is possible for the producers or execs to "steal" an idea that was pitched to them from a writer (who was not hired) and then "give it" to a writer, who was hired. It may be intentional or they honestly may not know where the specific idea or details they are "stealing" came from. Regardless, it's the original writer's idea and it is used without compensation. It's generally not the entire pitch, but can be an idea, character, scene, specific plot points, beats, etc. It's unfortunate, but it can and does happen.
No.... As long as you are registered with the WGAw, the WGAe or, protected by copy right...I wouldn't worry about it. Keep it moving Richard and don't let the thought of your script being stolen, take away your good gracious energy =) Good Luck Richard!!!
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or there's always the alternative...never ever show anything you've written to anyone and just wait for success. let me know how that goes.
Hi Danny.... how can he build success if no one ever sees his work?
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Um, exactly. I was being sarcastic.
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Kalisa, thanks for your best wishes!!! But to clarify, I'm not personally concerned about this topic. I've been in the WGA for years and am also a film producer. But I know a lot of people who are concerned, which is why I wrote a piece about this subject for my newsletter. I love the responses thus far which shows that everyone is aware of the issue, but apparently most have kept the issue in perspective., which is great!!!
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My two cents here is that I had 2 scripts I wrote in the mid 90's and shopped around LA turn into films years later that used their concepts but not the executions of those 2 scripts' concepts. After speaking with 2 IP attorneys about it, I decided to chalk it up as "imitation is flattery" and use it to remind myself that my ideas are good enough to be in the Hollywood ballpark too.
Awesome! Great piece and thank you Richard =)