uncredited script

EP2005

EP2005

Well-known member
About a year or two ago, a friend of a producer wrote a script for a premise that the producer came up with and wanted to shoot. We never got around to making the film, but the script was written for the producer none the less. No credit was given on the title page because there wasnt even a title page, so basically an uncredited script.

Two years later, im reading over this script, and i must shoot it. I liked it when i first read it, but didnt think a low budget would do it justice. Now i have a budget to do something good, and it HAS to be this script.

HERE'S MY PROBLEM!!

I dont talk to the producer anymore, and there's no possibility of us ever talking again (bad bad bad falling out), but there's no way i can give credit to the original writer because I DONT KNOW WHO HE IS!

Do i pass up on a script that i absolutly LOVE and must do?

Do i go and copywrite the script under my name and film it and become scum?

Should the blame be on the writer for not caring enough to put his name on the script and obviously thinking that the gold he's written is nothing more than crap?
 
If you love the script and want to do the film for yourself, then go ahead, probably no one would mind (because no one would know):). But if you're actually planning on distributing the film then get ready to go to court because I can guarantee you that as soon as your film goes public the original writer or the producer is going to show up and demand a cut.

The blame isn't on the writer. Pure gold to you is crap to someone else. Doesn't change the fact that it's his/her intellectual property.
 
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You have to suck it up and do things properly.

Contact the producer - who can give you the contact details of the writer.

Contracts will have to be filled out (yes, even for low/no budgets films).

It will probably be a case of these people will want a cut of the cake.

But hey, wouldn't you?

EJ
 
Hairy Lime said:
Or find a writer you trust to tell a similar story that you'd like to film.
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ok so if i go on this theory, how much of a change is needed? if the idea is the same, with similar situations, but the lines are different, does that constitute as a "different" script ?
 
you'd have to change character names, dialouge, probably any subplot it maybe have. May as well change the perspective of the movie. But keep the core concept.
 
Okay, first of all -- there are hundreds of thousands of unproduced scripts out there, so when one is contemplating pilfering someone else's work because they won't take the effort to PICK UP THE PHONE and call the producer who KNOWS the name of the screenwriter, I'm... baffled.

Dude. How hard can it be? Pick up the phone. Don't steal someone's work. Don't "change 10%" and think that's going to give you some magical copyright protection. You know what's up. And now the world knows what's up. Do the right thing. Call that producer and ask him about the scriptwriter.

And besides, it probably isn't the writer's script anymore anyway. If it was written as a work for hire for that producer, then it is the producer's property.

And don't go thinking you can just file for a copyright on someone else's work. Copyright vests with the original author, whether they file for it or not.

There is no alternative here. Contact the producer and arrange to secure proper legal rights. Or, if you can't possibly imagine being the one to contact him, have a third party contact him. But that is the only proper, legal way to go. And if that is too abhorrent of a prospect, then the only other proper/moral/ethical thing to do would be to shred the script and move on to something else.
 
brianluce said:
Some unbelievable replies here to an ubelievably shameless and grotesque query.
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I don't see any replies on here that don't tell the guy to either write something different, abandon all hope or suck it up and call the producer.

But if you meant "unbelievable replies" in a good way, ignore the preceding.

Fox
 
EP2005 said:
ok so if i go on this theory, how much of a change is needed? if the idea is the same, with similar situations, but the lines are different, does that constitute as a "different" script ?
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I'm not suggesting a change. I'm talking about a whole new script, preferably by a writer who has never read the original material.

What drew you to that particular script? See if you can find that in an entirely new story.
 
JasonFox said:
I don't see any replies on here that don't tell the guy to either write something different, abandon all hope or suck it up and call the producer.



Fox
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Because many of the replies say in essence. "steal as much as you can, change a few things around and no one will notice."

The original query deserves condemnation, not workarounds.
 
Well, the original poster is passionate about the script. What's to condemn about that?

Sure, he's too big a chicken to address the situation directly by going to the producer in question, but he also makes it sound like that would be a fool's errand. So I suggested an alternative - find another script with a similar theme that moves him just a much. Ideas can't be copyrighted so if he wants a script written with the same general idea, he's free to do so. Finding another writer to do that is one of his options. He certainly shouldn't start with the original script as a template, but give the new writer the general idea and see what he comes up with on his own.

I guarantee you that if you took 10 talented writers and gave them all the same story to tell, they'd all tell it completely differently.
 
brianluce said:
Because many of the replies say in essence. "steal as much as you can, change a few things around and no one will notice."

The original query deserves condemnation, not workarounds.
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I saw one reply that even hinted at merely doing a workaround. The fact is, we all see things every day that spark an idea. Do we want to steal that very idea? For most of us, no. But we want to know how to express it in our own, unique way and in such a manner as to not tread on the original concept. Thinking otherwise would've prevented us from a great slew of "Die Hard on a _____" movies. Oh wait, I see your point. Crap.

Fox
 
From the way I read the original post it sounds like the writer was a "Work for hire" in that case the producer owns the rights. I would have a 3rd party contact the producer and ask him who has the rights and who gets the writers credit?
 
Hairy Lime said:
Well, the original poster is passionate about the script. What's to condemn about that?
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because he's perfectly willing to rip off someone else's toil and sweat. That's wrong in my book.
 
Hairy Lime said:
Where did he say he wanted to rip it off? He acknowledged that doing so would make him "scum" ...
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At the risk of getting into this, I think the original post asked if he should "go and copyright the script under my name and film it and become scum".

To my pea-brain that is equivalent to saying "I really need some cash now. Should I go and kill my rich mother and speed up my inheritence, even though by doing so I become scum?" To even ask the question puts one into territory most would not ever even consider going to.

But I am sympathetic. I volunteer to contact the producer and ask the hard question(s) if the original poster pm's me with the details.

In any event, whatever happens, if the resulting script is too close to the original, don't you think this entire thread might be Exhibit "A" in the resulting infringement lawsuit?

Just a few thoughts ...
 
Well, i finally got around to reading the replies to this thread, and i think i need to be a little more in detail with the situation.

A couple years ago, this guy, who I think was a filmmaker/screenwriter, was asked to write a script about a subject a producer wanted to do a short film about with me. All that this producer told the screenwriter was, "Write me a short about music and dreams." That was it, nothing more, nothing less. Somehow he talked this screenwriter into writing him a FREE short film. This WAS NOT a work for hire, seeing as there was no money involved, so my belief is that this is nor owned by the producer, but by the original writer, even though he never gave credit to himself (he wrote the damn thing in microsoft wordpad)

Im not sure of the conversation between the two, but im sure it was along the lines of "I dont have any money to give you, but i like some of your previous videos, so do me a favor and do this for me" or whatever producers say to hustle people.

I was sent the first 5 pages, and i liked it, so i told the producer to tell the screenwriter to keep on writing. After the script was complete, i was told by the producer that he "didnt understand it" and that it was "not what he was expecting", while me on the other hand loved every second of it. Due to the differencing opinions, the script wasnt talked about ever again between me and the producer.

Which brings me to now, two years later. I'm searching through old files on my computer and i come across the script and read it again, and i have to make this short film. But i CANNOT talk to the producer to find out who originally wrote the script. I wish i could, but the bridge between me and the producer was nuked and the surrounding land is radioactive. There is no possibility of me talking with him ever again.


So all in all, i wanted to clear up that i am FULLY against stealing this script, i am FULLY against changing it (which is sort of impossible seeing as it is quite original and would be hard to change anything) and i wanted to make sure nobody thought i was some scum bag who was willing to go against the morals of being a filmmaker.

I seem to always find myself in f'ed up situations!




And thank you to Barry for unlocking the thread so i could clear this up a bit!
 
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