Copyright
One of the biggest fears for any scriptwriter is their work falling into the wrong hands and being horribly pirated - or as a lot would say theft. However if you copyright your script then this shouldn't be a worry. There are certain things that you cannot copyright though: ideas, titles, plots, phrases and basically anything that isn’t written down. You can use copyright your original script to make sure you work will always be your work.
Copyright happens automatically when a script is created but proving it was written before another similar work can sometimes be difficult. You can email or post the script back to yourself to show the date it was created or alternatively there are a number of script registration services available.
There are a few other ways to protect your script other than copyrighting it. If you give copies to people you trust and get them to read it then they can testify that you have written the script and when they read it.
One method that it already quite well known is “Poor Man’s Copyright”. This entails posting your script to yourself via registered mail and keeping it somewhere safe, without opening it. Because the date should be stamped on the envelope this proves when you wrote the script. However there is no guarantee that this method would hold up in a court of law.
Copyright can cause problems in the writing process for example screenwriters may not have the time or money to obtain permission form a company to use their product and if they do get taken to court or even are accused it can damage their reputation and confidence. Copyright issues would be researched in pre-production to avoid many of these problems, it is a issue that can be worked around quite easily but it can limit what a writer can put in a screenplay.
As I researched about Copyright on the internet I found other terms that have to do with copyright:
Moral Rights: These are the following rights that belong to an author of a copyright work: to be identified as the author, for the work not to be treated in a derogatory way and the right to object to false attribution. Typically with artists’ works, moral rights in the work will prevent others from manipulating, changing or altering the work without the artist’s permission.
Public Domain: This term refers to works/information etc. which have no identified proprietary owners and which can be used by anyone.
REFERENCES
http://paulashwell2.wordpress.com/
http://careers.stateuniversity.com/pages/135/Scriptwriter.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/further/glossary
http://www.writersstore.com/the-ins-and-outs-of-tv-series-writer-deals
No comments:
Post a Comment