Protect your films and ideas...

GageFX

GageFX

Carbonite Member
As paranoid as I had been, it seems both a copy of my script and fight choreography leaked out. And it has already made it's way into a released film.

This sucks.

Protect your work.

Seeing it on film, though, I am justified in knowing it is just as great as I knew it would be.

Back to the drawing board.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxkr4wS7XqY

-GageFX
 
lol. i love that scene, me and my friend watched it a few times and it alwasy roxxorz our boxxorz!

didnt know that was you though, congrats, sorry someone stole something so great. maybe next time though :p
 
protect your films and ideas...?

protect your films and ideas...?

Hey,


Is that really so? I couldn't see the linked file but did someone really steal your stuff? Are seriously throwing in the towel?
 
(no Robert... shhhhh. it's joke. I dont want anyone else to know, though.)
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Hey I'm pretty sure that if I saw the link I would be able to say "That GageFX, what a funny guy". Seeing that I cannot see the link I don't know whether to say" that sucks" or "LOL". Lay off!
 
David Jimerson said:
That's the "poor man's copyright." It's appropriately named, because if you rely on it, you'll stay a poor man.
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Joe Eszterhas says in his book Devil's Guide to Hollywood:

"What can you do to prevent being ripped off?
It's not easy to do anything about it. You can do a few things to protect yourself, but not many. The day that you finish an outline or a script, send it to yourself in the mail. When you receive it, make sure not to open it and make sure you put it away in a safe place. That way, if you're ripped off somewhere along the line, your lawyer can dramatically open the envelope in a courtroom and prove (a) that you wrote it and (b) when you wrote it."

Just as important: You can send an idea, a script, or an outline to the Writers Guild of America and register it - even if you're not a member of the Guild. (You can do it online. It costs 20 bucks if you're not a member.) If you're ripped off, you can then refer to the contents and the date in court.

So that's some pretty good info.
 
-zach- said:
Joe Eszterhas says in his book Devil's Guide to Hollywood:

"What can you do to prevent being ripped off?
It's not easy to do anything about it. You can do a few things to protect yourself, but not many. The day that you finish an outline or a script, send it to yourself in the mail. When you receive it, make sure not to open it and make sure you put it away in a safe place. That way, if you're ripped off somewhere along the line, your lawyer can dramatically open the envelope in a courtroom and prove (a) that you wrote it and (b) when you wrote it."

Just as important: You can send an idea, a script, or an outline to the Writers Guild of America and register it - even if you're not a member of the Guild. (You can do it online. It costs 20 bucks if you're not a member.) If you're ripped off, you can then refer to the contents and the date in court.

So that's some pretty good info.
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As David Jimerson stated, you will remain a poor man. Lets say I have taken a bunch of envelopes and mail them to myself. I Later see your script, print off a copy, replace the cover sheet, put it in one of my envelopes and mail it to myself. My canceled postmark pre-dates yours. I win. WGA is fine and I register with them myself, but to fully protect yourself you have to spend that 45$ and get a copyright registration. Only with the copyright registration are you eligable for monetary damages. With the WGA you can win in court, proving it was your script but all you get is bragging rights.

note: not a lawyer, but this is how I understand things.
 
I have had so many ideas "stolen" before. What you soon realize is that you're not nearly as original as you thought. We're all affected by the same media streams. I forgot which one, but a famous screenwriter had come up with this idea he believed was his most original idea ever. He honed the treatment and carefully set up meetings with 5 of the top producers in Hollywood. He went to the first one and excitedly pitched his idea. After he was finished the producer looked back at him, deadfaced and said, "I've heard that idea 5 times this month".

I came up with this idea for a screenplay about a town of people who realize they can make a lot of money by faking a UFO crash to drum up tourism (a la Roswell). I thought it was pretty original. Eight months later I see that exact logline sold for a million bucks! And here's the kicker. The father of one of my tennis students was the agent! Agh!
 
I had written a novel that I converted to a screenplay. I thought it was brilliant and original. No one had seen it but my wife. Then I watched U-Turn. It was so similar I wanted to kill someone. So I did. No, not really, but I was still peeved.

I was able to salvage enough of it to rework to something different. But if someone had asked me that day, I would have sworn Oliver Stone stole my idea.
 
Did anyone actually look at the video clips and then read the post in the context of the scripts?

No, I dont actually think my copyright was protected.

Joke.

Maybe not funny, but a joke.

-GageFX
 
Well, considering the movie was made 12 years ago, yeah. Obviously a joke. But I don't think that makes anyone's posts less relevant. It's a valid issue. Besides, some of the posters stated that they could not get the link to work. So there was no way for them to know it was a joke.
 
-zach- said:
Joe Eszterhas says in his book Devil's Guide to Hollywood:

"What can you do to prevent being ripped off?
It's not easy to do anything about it. You can do a few things to protect yourself, but not many. The day that you finish an outline or a script, send it to yourself in the mail. When you receive it, make sure not to open it and make sure you put it away in a safe place. That way, if you're ripped off somewhere along the line, your lawyer can dramatically open the envelope in a courtroom and prove (a) that you wrote it and (b) when you wrote it."

Just as important: You can send an idea, a script, or an outline to the Writers Guild of America and register it - even if you're not a member of the Guild. (You can do it online. It costs 20 bucks if you're not a member.) If you're ripped off, you can then refer to the contents and the date in court.

So that's some pretty good info.
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No. Not in the way you're presenting it here, it's not.


Cryogenic Filmworks said:
As David Jimerson stated, you will remain a poor man. Lets say I have taken a bunch of envelopes and mail them to myself. I Later see your script, print off a copy, replace the cover sheet, put it in one of my envelopes and mail it to myself. My canceled postmark pre-dates yours. I win. WGA is fine and I register with them myself, but to fully protect yourself you have to spend that 45$ and get a copyright registration. Only with the copyright registration are you eligable for monetary damages. With the WGA you can win in court, proving it was your script but all you get is bragging rights.

note: not a lawyer, but this is how I understand things.
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I *am* a lawyer, and know the rules of evidence as well as the relative reliability of same. What you describe above is exactly how I would attack its reliability -- anyone can send himself an unsealed envelope and get a postmark, then retype someone else's script and put it in that envelope and seal it.

It ain't getting you anywhere. (Besides, you have to prove that whoever's supposedly infringing somehow had access to your work, and a postmarked envelope isn't going to do that -- and may well work against you.)

To say nothing of the fact that without a bona fide copyright registration, you don't even have access to the courts to press a case.

Registration with the WG gets you a reference date, nothing more. It is not the same as registering a copyright.

So, register the frickin' copyright. It's only 30 bucks and it's the only real protection.
 
GageFX said:
Did anyone actually look at the video clips and then read the post in the context of the scripts?

No, I dont actually think my copyright was protected.

Joke.

Maybe not funny, but a joke.

-GageFX
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Yeah, we saw it and it was duly noted as an attempt at humor. Unfortunately for you, most of us have already shared a chuckle on that very clip in an old thread where we discussed its cheesiness in great detail. :)
 
I will remember to read every post/thread ever before posting next time. I'll even check some other message boards in case you may have seen something there also.

My point isnt so much the clip, but my comment about mailing myself the script was as much a joke as the clip. And that has been discussed ad naseum also.... so.... the underlying theme of the post was not that one clip. It was not "How do to register copyright for my script.", it was - with the addition of post number #2.... "Hey look at the retardedly funny movie clips from the 80s and 90s..... what else have you found?"

But I failed. It happens.

-GageFX
 
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