John August

QandA

You can’t copyright titles

Film Industry, QandA, Rights and Copyright

questionmarkI am currently writing a screenplay and just curious when you think I should begin legal counsel. I think I need to copyright the movie name especially since I just created a Twitter account using it. Since I’m only about half way done it seems a little premature to begin the process. What do you think?

— Michelle
Madison, Wisconsin

This is an evergreen question, and the answer will never change: you can’t copyright titles.

Copyright is a bundle of protections granted to the creator of a work. It doesn’t cover the pure idea (“Save the Last Dance with dinosaurs”); it covers the expression of the idea (your original, 120-page screenplay Dinosalsa: The Jurassic Dance).

Your title alone simply isn’t enough to copyright. Even a work that is copyrighted (like a novel) has no special protection for its title. If you don’t believe me, do an Amazon search for [“dead of night.”](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dead+of+night&x=0&y=0)

What you’re talking about is trademark, the little TM (or R) that you might see after a title like Transformers. But that’s actually uncommon for movies. Transformers has it because it was originally a toy line. This week’s number one movie, The Roommate, has no trademark on its title. Ditto for True Grit, The King’s Speech and No Strings Attached.

When a movie is inching closer to production, the producers can register a title with the MPAA, giving it some exclusivity. As we started shooting The Nines, we had to clear the title against The Whole Nine Yards and a few others. Likewise, we had to give our blessing to the subsequent movies 9 and Nine.

MPAA title registration isn’t copyright or trademark. It’s a non-governmental system specific to the [motion picture industry](http://www.mpaa.org/faq):

> The Bureau is a voluntary central registration entity for titles of movies intended for U.S. theatrical distribution, and it is intended to prevent public confusion over films with similar titles.

> In order to register titles, filmmakers must subscribe to the Bureau’s registry. There are currently almost 400 subscribers, including all of the major motion picture studios. Subscribers are bound by the Bureau’s rules, which prescribe procedures for registering titles and handling any related disputes.

You can’t copyright your title. You can’t trademark it (most likely). And at this early stage you can’t register it with the MPAA.

But the little steps you’re taking will be helpful down the road. If possible, you’ll want to have the URL and Twitter name for your movie. If your movie gets made, these will be a big help for marketing. Squatters will often snatch them up, so it’s worth trying to grab what you think you might use.

When to talk about your idea

Monsterpocalypse, Preacher, Producers, Psych 101

Last night, I moderated a panel with eleven of the writers nominated for WGA screenwriting awards. By any normal standard, it was way too many people to have on a stage, but we managed to make it work. My thanks to the panelists, the WGA and the Writers Guild Foundation for putting it all together.

The organizers had already decided there wouldn’t be a Q&A afterwards, but I wanted to give the audience a chance to participate a little. So I told them to tweet their best question to @johnaugust. I would pick one to ask before the end of the session.

I chose one by @oHaiZZ:

> Lawrence Turman suggests asking random people for their opinions of your concept. Any panelists do this or is mums the word?

Aaron Sorkin cautioned that talking about what you’re planning to write can easily sap your enthusiasm for it. Stuart Blumberg agreed, noting that even one ‘meh’ response might scare you off your dream project.

Lisa Cholodenko said that while they were working on The Kids Are All Right, they hadn’t talked to many folks about the plot. Only after the movie was finished did an executive mention that she’d read a couple of scripts with similar storylines over the years. Had Cholodenko known there were competing projects, she might have had second thoughts, worried that someone would beat her to the screen.

I largely agree with these opinions, but I also agree with Turman. I think the difference is that Larry Turman is a producer, not a writer.

A producer serves several functions, but one of the most important is pitchman. He needs to convince directors, actors, studios — and ultimately audiences — to invest their time and money in a movie. So he’s constantly testing and refining his message. He doesn’t have to write “Wuthering Heights with mummies” — he just has to gauge if there’s interest. If no one sparks to it, he has very little at stake.

The writer, on the other hand, has spent days, weeks or months thinking and writing. It’s so easy to get derailed and never finish. So my advice depends on your job title:

Producer – pitch constantly.

Screenwriter – zip it and write.

The 20-page threshold
—

Several panelists mentioned how valuable they found it to get feedback from trusted colleagues at around the 20-page mark. By that point, you’re far enough into the script to feel you have a handle on it. You hopefully like what you’ve written. But you’re wondering if it’s actually any good.

That’s a good time to get feedback.

It doesn’t have to be 20 pages. For Monsterpocalypse, I shared the first act. For Preacher, it was 45 pages. In both cases, enthusiastic feedback gave me a nice bounce of energy to help me finish.

Yes, you’re taking a risk that you’ll get a bad reaction. But if it’s not working at this stage, it’s unlikely the problems would magically resolve themselves by page 120. Very few good movies have bad first acts. It’s worth stopping forward progress to get the beginning right.

Anatomy of a script series

Education, News, WGA

Each year, the Writers Guild Foundation holds a series of discussions with film and television writers focusing on one of their past or current projects. This year, I’ll be a guest, talking about Big Fish.

The lineup for the series looks great:

__Tuesday February 22:__ Debra Granik on Winter’s Bone (screening at 5:15 pm)

__Wednesday March 2:__ Glenn Gordon Caron on Medium (screening at 6:10 pm)

__Wednesday March 9:__ Steve Levitan on Modern Family (screening at 6:30 pm)

__March 16:__ John August on Big Fish (screening at 5:00 pm)

__March 23:__ Marta Kauffman & David Crane on Friends (screening at 6:30 pm)

__March 30:__ Mike Werb & Michael Colleary on Face/Off (screening at 4:45 pm)

Winnie Holzman (Wicked, My So-Called Life) and Robin Schiff (Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion) are hosting.

It’s a pretty small room, and the event always sells out. So if you’re interested, you may want to [get tickets now](https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/155452).

Handling IMs in screenplays

Formatting, QandA

questionmarkI’m working on a script in which there are several IM conversations, not short ones. How do you go about formatting these in your scripts?

— Ben
NYC

Whether text messages or computer-based IMs, my instinct would be to handle them as dialogue blocks. The first time you do it in the script, call it out in scene description.

Hearing a BUZZ, Brent checks his mobile -- new text. [Note: IMs are in italics.]

COLIN (TEXT)

Can’t find Becca.

BRENT (TEXT)

On my way.

It’s ultimately the director’s choice how to show that onscreen. For 2011, the style to beat has to be BBC’s Sherlock.

sherlock text message

IMs and texts aren’t going away, so I wouldn’t be surprised if over the next few years screenwriters start using an alternative format for them. I chose dialogue blocks because that’s the closest analogy. But it misrepresents what characters are really doing on screen.

Something more like this could ultimately become common:

MICAH

Hold on. I’ll check.

On the computer --

MICAH: Red or green?

LISA: Huh

MICAH: Sauce.

LISA: Red. Green makes me puke.

MICAH

Green for Lisa.