A lot of us filmmakers and dramatic writers get nervous about someone stealing our great new idea for a short film. With all right – you cannot copyright an idea! You can only copyright a screenplay or a film. So, until you have your fabulous short film idea down on paper or film, you are probably right in being cautions. But once you have your idea down on paper it is time to ACT. While intellectual property law is complex, protecting your script doesn’t have to be.
One of the most basic tips a teacher of mine once gave me, was to just “put your script in an envelope and mail it to yourself, since this proves the date of creation”. Simple, right? It is. Just take your short film script and post it to yourself as soon as it is completed!
But there are also other copyright offices you can refer to for more information.
In the UK, go to the UK Intellectual Property Office (
www.ipo.gov.uk/copy) and read up on how you can protect your work. You can also go to The Script Factory (
www.scriptfactory.co.uk) and register your short film script.
In the US, check out the United States Copyright Office (
www.copyright.gov) - there is plenty of information there. Or, if you have a screenplay ready, why not register it with the Writers Guild of America West or East (
www.wga.org or
www.wgaeast.org)?
Finally, always remember that while the copyright automatically becomes yours once you have created your script, proving the time when it was created is the difficult thing. So, always do whatever you can, such as mailing yourself a copy, as soon as you can. It will help you sleep better at night.
Finally, to make it clear to everyone else that you have copyright – always mark your short film script with a © next to your name and date.
Got questions about copyrighting your short film script? Contact one of the resources above, or contact us here at The Smalls and we will try to point you in the right direction.
Good luck!