Read 'WGA registrations and copyrights by non US citizens' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I got this question recently:

“I’m trying to seek advice on registering my screenplay.  I live in Australia and have just completed a first draft. The story is based in the US and will be targeted at the US market. I believe WGA registration is okay for non US citizens but what about the US Copyright Office? Is that valid for non US citizens as well?”

I’m really not an expert in this area so you might want to do your own research.  In general I think both the WGA and the US Copyright office will work for you even though you don’t live in the U.S. In your case I would use both.  Use the WGA online registration form. That way you’ll immediately have a WGA number and won’t have to wait around for the US Copyright office to get back to you.  In my experience the US Copyright office has taken 6 months or more to get back to me – and I live in the US – so it might be a long while before you hear anything out of them.

Having a copyright or WGA registration number for your screenplay is only a formal way of establishing when you completed your script.  Even without it people are still not allowed to steal your stories and ideas.

As with all legal matters, I highly encourage you to consult with an entertainment lawyer if you have any legal questions.

Read 'Should I put my WGA registration number on my screenplay?' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I’m always happy to answer questions so if you have a question about writing or selling your screenplay please let me know.  No matter how basic or mundane you might think the question is, fire away and if I can, I’ll try and answer it.

I recently got this question: Should I put my WGA registration number on my screenplay?

I have mixed feelings about this.  You should read my post about protecting your work which can be found here: http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/screenwriting-faq/how-do-you-protect-your-work-screenplay-copyrights-and-wga-registration/

To answer the question as simply as possible I would say “yes.”  Most spec scripts you see floating around typically have the WGA registration number in the lower left hand corner of the title page (with the title and “written by you name” in the center of the page and you or your agent’s contact information in the lower right hand corner).

However, I typically do NOT put the WGA registration number on my scripts even though it’s standard to do so.  I’ll typically put something like: “WGA/w Registered”.  The WGA uses a sequential numbering system so that you can tell roughly when a script was registered by looking at the WGA number.  Not a huge deal if you’ve recently registered it but if it’s been sitting on your shelf for a few years you might not want to give that information so easily to the potential reader.

Again, please read my post on protecting your work where I’ll explain why a WGA registration number may not even be needed at all – in which case you would put “@copy: 2009″ in the lower left hand corner.  And you’ll want to update the year often so that producers can’t tell that the script is several years old.

Read 'How do you get an agent for your screenplay? (And why you don’t need one!)' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I get asked this question quite a bit and I see it asked on screenwriting forums often.  The short answer is this: In my experience if you don’t know how to get an agent you probably aren’t ready for one.

Getting an agent isn’t the be-all-end-all in screenwriting.  I’ve optioned dozens of scripts and sold a few and I’ve done so without the benefit of an agent on every single sale and option I’ve ever made.  I have had a few agents over the years but they did a lot less for me than I was doing for myself so we usually parted company after a few months.

The idea that all you need to do is get your script to a good agent and he’ll turn all your screenwriting dreams into a reality is a myth.  A lot of writers (and actors too) think that if they have an agent all they’re going to need to do is write and that their agent will find them writing gigs and sell their scripts.  While this may be true if you make it to the very top of the screenwriting eco-system, it’s not true if you’re just starting out or even if you’ve sold a few scripts.  Besides, it’s a horrible way to live your life even if it were true.  Do you really want to be 100% dependent on someone else for the future of your career?  I know I don’t.

I know a fairly well established television writer who got an agent early in her career and never had to spend any of her time selling her scripts.  She wrote a great spec television script, got it to the right agent, and was hired to write for a major television show.  Now 10 years later her career is slowing down and she has absolutely no idea how to sell a script.  All she can do is write spec scripts and send them to her agent and then wait for her agent to call her.  Her agent is calling less and less.  This example is close to best case scenario, too.

The reality is that most agents who are powerful enough to get your material produced don’t have time to look at material from new writers, and if they do it’s only because someone they knew well has recommended it to them.

If you follow the steps I’m about to outline below about how to get an agent, what will most likely happen, if your writing sample is very strong, is that the only agents who will be willing to sign you as a client will have as little chance (or even less chance) of selling your script as you do yourself.  They’ll either be young agents new to the industry or an established talent agent that runs a ‘literary’ branch on the side.

Keep in mind signing with either of these types of agents is not without value.  But if you do sign with them don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re on easy street and don’t have to keep pushing your scripts yourself.  Having any sort of an agent, even one with no real credits or clout in the industry does give you some additional credentials.  Most “screenwriters” don’t even have a bad agent so you’ll look more professional than many people when you make submissions by mentioning this in your query letter.  For instance, many production companies will not accept submissions from writers directly, so you can have your agent submit it for you or simply submit it on behalf of your agent.  But in either case it’s you out beating the bush for sales.

One last point I’d like to make about trying to find an agent.  Try and put yourself in the position of that “good” agent who has lots of contacts and can get a script made or get a writer hired onto a television show.  How would you try and find up-and-coming talent if you were that agent?  Reading blind submissions is just too time consuming and costly.  The chance of finding one great script in a pile of thousands doesn’t justify the rewards.  Their time is too precious.  However, if an up-and-coming actor tells the “good” agent about a recent short film he did that won a writing award at a film festival and that actor gives a copy of the short film to the agent along with that writer’s newest feature film script, the agent will probably consider the submission.  The “good” agent will probably look at the short film and if he likes it he might take a look at the feature script.  This is how connections are made.  This is how you get a good agent.  You build your writing resume one project at a time and eventually things will start to open up for you.

With that said, there are a few ways that you can try and get an agent.  Just to reiterate, even if you get an agent it doesn’t mean you will be able to sit back and just write.  You’re still going to have to spend a lot of your time trying to get your stuff produced because most likely your agent won’t.

Keep in mind too, I highly encourage you to do exactly what I’m going to spell out below even though I doubt it will result in you getting a “good” agent.  Any agent is better than no agent (usually) and it’s just one more angle that you should be pursing to get your scripts made.  Who knows, they might just sell one of your scripts for you and at the very least they might give your own submissions a little more juice.

The Writer’s Guild of America has a list of signatory agents which can be found here:

http://www.wga.org/agency/agencylist.asp

As a rule all the agents on this list are reputable.  They must agree to adhere to the WGA rules to be a signatory agency.  Most of the agencies you’ve heard of (CAA, William Morris, etc.) simply won’t accept unsolicited submissions and will probably send your query letter back un-read.  Don’t worry too much about this.  Just send your query letter to every single agency on the list and see if anything sticks.  It probably won’t but you never know.

In addition, The Hollywood Creative Directory (HCD) has an agents/managers edition.  There’s an online edition here: http://shop.hcdonline.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=hcd&Product_Code=ADBK0&Category_Code=Books

Or you can buy it from Amazon by clicking here. Make sure you get the “Representation” edition.

The HCD is a great resource because it lists managers as well as agents and you might have a little more luck finding a manager.  The exact difference between an agent and a manager will be covered in a future post, but suffice it to say that an agent is more geared towards selling your script and getting you work as a writer while a manager is more geared towards career development and might be able to act as a script consultant and help you develop your work.  This is the path I’ve chosen; I currently have a manager but not an agent.

To submit you’ll want to write a professional query letter.  My query letter is usually around ½ to ¾ of a page long where I introduce myself and two scripts with log lines.  I also include a 1 page synopsis for each script that I pitched in the query letter.  NEVER send a complete script unless they’ve requested you to do so.  Years ago it was considered polite to include a self-addressed stamped post card so they could easily reply to you, but I’ve found most of the time they’ll just pick up the phone or drop you an email so make sure you include a phone number and an email address in your query letter. Read my full post on how to write a professional query letter by clicking here.

Be careful.  There are a lot of so-called “agents” and “managers” out there who will want to charge you something to help you “develop” your screenplay.  An agent or manager may be willing to take you on as a client “if” you use the script development services that they recommend.  DO NOT DO THIS.  Any reputable agent or manager does NOT charge you anything upfront for their services.  They only get paid when you get paid.  Typically agents get 10% and managers take 15% – and only when you’ve earned money as a screenwriter.  If they want up-front fees for anything or try and sell you something their business is selling aspiring screenwriters services NOT selling screenplays to producers so don’t bother with them.

Read 'How do you protect your work? Screenplay copyrights and WGA registration' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

There are two main ways that you can protect your screenplay from theft – using the Writer’s Guild of America’s (WGA) registration service or sending it to the Library of Congress for a copyright.

I used to send all my scripts to the WGA.  It doesn’t cost too much and it’s very easy.  Within a few days of submitting they will send you a sheet back with your WGA registration number on it and an official looking piece of paper as proof of registration.  You can now register online, too, so it’s even quicker and easier.

However, I no longer bother registering any of my scripts with the WGA.  Submitting to the Library of Congress isn’t too much harder and is actually cheaper in the long run because you never have to renew it.  The WGA’s registration service only lasts for 5 years so you have to renew it every 5 years.  The copyright lasts essentially for the life of the author (there are some different criteria for the exact date and length of the copyright but it lasts a long time and you’ll never have to renew it (See this page for exact details on how long a copyright lasts: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-duration.html).

The WGA is much faster than the copyright office.  If you finish a script and need to register it fast (producers and directors will often not read material unless it’s copyrighted or registered with the WGA) you might want to go with the WGA.  If you use the online registration service you can actually get a WGA number instantly.  With the copyright office it takes a few months for them to send you back your copyright information.

Another thing I don’t like about the WGA registration is the numbers are chronological so it’s pretty easy for a producer or director to tell how old the script is.  If they see that your WGA number is much lower than what’s currently being issued it might reflect negatively on your script.  I have many scripts that were written 5 or more years ago and I’d rather not let a producer know that if I can help it.  It might give them the feeling like my script isn’t fresh and has been passed on many times (often true)  which isn’t something I want the producer to be thinking while they’re reading my script.

With that said if you want to register your script with the WGA you can go here:

http://www.wgawregistry.org/webrss/

If you want to get a copyright on your script you can go here:

http://www.copyright.gov/forms/

Use this form: http://www.copyright.gov/forms/formgr_pa.pdf

This is the actual PDF that you need to print and send in – about half way through this page is form PA (Performing Arts) with instructions.  You only need to fill out form PA.

The prices change from time to time so make sure you double check the actual cost when you send it in.  You can find the fees listed here: http://www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html

You’re filling out “Registration of a basic claim in an original work of authorship on Form CO or other paper form.” At the time of this writing (February 2009) the cost is $45.

I’m no lawyer so please don’t take this post as any sort of legal advice.  Always consult with a good entertainment lawyer if you have legal questions about your screenplay.  My understanding of copyright law is that people are not allowed to steal your work even if you haven’t sent it to the Library of Congress or the WGA.  Doing either of those things simply makes it easier to prove that a work or idea is yours and when it was created.  By not having an official copyright or WGA registration number it doesn’t mean people are allowed to steal your work – they’re not.  It just might be harder to prove that it’s your work and when you created that work if you ever have to take someone to court.

I find a lot of writers are overly concerned with people stealing their “great ideas.”  In my experience I’ve never read or even heard an idea that was so great in-and-of-itself that anyone could turn it into a great script.  A screenplay is a lot more than one idea.  It’s the execution of a lot of ideas together.  My advice is to send your script to anyone who seems half-way legitimate but always use caution.  Get a copyright on your script and keep track of whom you’re sending it to but don’t worry too much about people stealing your ideas.  You’re going to have to send your scripts out if you ever expect to sell them.

If a producer is smart enough to raise a million dollars or more to shoot your script why wouldn’t they pay you for your efforts?  It would be stupid not to.  Stealing it would be more hassle than it’s worth.  Nobody wants their movie tied up in legal battles after it is shot.

If a wanna-be writer is simply going to take your script and send it out as their own let them.  If they ever do sell your script and it gets made you’ll know about it and it will be quite easy for you to make a claim against them since you’ve got a copyright on it.

If someone solicits scripts and all their trying to do is steal other people’s ideas so they can make one master work compilation of all the great ideas that are floating around out there I seriously doubt they’re smart enough to pull it off and if they are I wish them luck.