John August

Rights and Copyright

Finding a writer

QandA, Rights and Copyright

   I have this vision of a modern version of famed movie CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG. My vision has a multicultural cast with actor/comedian Wayne Brady playing the starring role (Dick Van Dyke’s character). I need a writer. How can I find one? And at what price?

–Les Williams

On the scale of marketable ideas, that’s not bad, although I suspect in this remake-crazy culture, someone’s already working on it. Regardless, I’m sure Wayne Brady and his representatives are happy that you’re out there, working to find him roles.

Ignoring for the moment that someone actually owns the underlying rights (probably MGM, but maybe Ian Fleming’s estate), I see two main paths which you could take in pursuit of a screenwriter to implement your vision.

First, you could find a screenwriter who is already somewhat successful. I’m not talking Robert Towne or Callie Khouri, but rather a writer who got credit on Eddie Griffin’s latest movie, or a Mandy Moore vehicle. Since you’re not bringing a lot to the project other than your enthusiasm, you may have a hard time convincing this writer’s agent to take you seriously. But I’d bet out of a list of 10 candidates, you’d find at least two writers willing to hear you describe your vision for the movie. And if it’s as good as you think it is, maybe one writer will say yes. Working together, the two of you either write the script as a spec, or approach the rights holder and convince them to commission a script.

The other option would be to find a screenwriter without any produced credits, and convince her to write the script for you. Maybe you pay her a few thousand dollars, maybe you don’t. Either way, you work together to create the best possible script you can, with some sort of written contract between you clarifying that you’re attached as a producer. When it’s finished, you approach the rights holder and convince them that your script will make the definitive multi-ethnic CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG for the new millennium.

How do you find this newbie writer in the first place? You might have luck with online screenwriting forums and workshops. As long as you can read the writer’s work, it doesn’t matter where they live. Another good option would be to find writers who’ve won (or made the final rounds) in one of the many screenwriting competitions, such as the ones sponsored by Final Draft or the Austin Film Festival.

Which way is better? Honestly, they’re both difficult. But a producer’s job is always difficult, and many of today’s top producers started their careers exactly this way, with nothing more to offer than their imagination and tenacity.

Spoofs in your script

QandA, Rights and Copyright

I have a question about copyright. I just finished writing
a comedy script which I would like to get made, but in the script I have involved
some slight spoofs
of other films and a few references. What I would like to know is does this
infringe on the copyright? The references and spoofs are indirect and only
take up parts of the film, but I don’t want to make a film then find out I’m
being sued
by everyone. Please help.

–Bunmi

Usually, I’d write up a lengthy explanation of copyright law as I understand
it, which although hopefully entertaining would probably be grossly inaccurate.

So I’ll just give my opinion instead.
You can’t go through life afraid of being sued. If your script is funny, and
part of the reason is because of references and spoofs of other movies, then
you obviously don’t want to remove them. So don’t. I guarantee, no one is going
to sue you just for typing them in your script.

If someone buys your script and makes it, maybe the copyright owners of the
original movies will sue, but I seriously doubt it. There’s a long tradition
of movies parodying each other, and it would be hard to prove any actual damage
or wrongdoing.

Besides, at that point, it’s not your problem. Any lawsuit is going to be
directed at the big rich studio, not the measly underpaid writer. There would
probably even be language in your contract with the studio protecting you just
in case.

So while I can’t say that you’re absolutely, 100 percent safe, I can assure
you that your time is better spent writing funny scenes than worrying about
lawsuits.

More copyrights and changes

Dead Projects, QandA, Rights and Copyright

How important is it to have your screenplay registered through the US copyright
office? And if you do get it registered, what happens if you add more scenes
later on?

–Ben Goldblatt

Officially, yes, you should copyright your screenplay (with the little "c" symbol,
name and date) on the title page, and then send it in to the U.S. office, a
procedure you can probably find on-line. And if you make major revisions, you
should probably re-register the whole thing.
Unofficially, nobody does this. Sometimes you’ll see the copyright symbol
on a script, but most of the time you won’t. And none of my writer friends
regularly send in their work to be "officially" copyrighted.

Although it’s not really the same thing, most writers I know do register their
scripts with the Writer’s Guild in Los Angeles, a painless procedure
that can occasionally help if your idea is blatantly stolen. But the truth
is that "someone might steal my idea" is more often the fear of an
aspiring writer who’s never put pen to paper than of a working screenwriter.

I’m ragging on it, but sometimes copyright becomes very important. For instance,
when a script is sold, what the studio is really buying is the copyright. (Or
the right to copyright.) I’m currently adapting BARBARELLA, a project to which
four different studios were claiming copyright. It’s taken the legal teams
more than a year to sort out who really owns what, since two of the original
French comic books were already made into a movie.

The process of determining copyright is called "clearing the chain of
title," and it’s often used as the answer to "Why haven’t they paid
me my money yet?"