Authoring & Playwriting

Hello to everyone who is interested in this topic!

I'm Mashito, a new member of the Stage 32 platform.

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Hello to everyone who is interested in this topic!

I'm Mashito, a new member of the Stage 32 platform.

I am a screenwriter, and I have a great ambition that my current project, the criminal mystery Red Pool, will be very successful. I am new to this industry and you will be surprised and the main privilege is now that, despite my inexperience, there is hardly a lot of interest in my idea. Likewise, I sent one of the episodes and a description of this scenario to a number of producers and other professionals in this business. There is also a lot of interest from their side, although I get a lot of messages and warnings that someone might steal my idea.

Accordingly, I removed the story description from my page.

Since I have never copyrighted my work, I would like to ask for advice on how this can best be done and how the screenwriter can be as sure as possible that his idea is not stolen.

My next point is that by sharing only one part of my script and showing a video of the mood board that I made just to better describe the style of Red Pool as a TV series, I don't think anyone will get it and steal the idea because the key to this is that it's shrouded in history, directly for those who aren't fully invested in this project, and the plot is absolutely unpredictable. So if the idea is trying to steal from the style or the characters, it doesn't matter much because no one knows the characters yet, and I doubt anyone will understand the main character of this story just by reading one part and watching a short video of mine. If someone tries to copy the content and shoot something completely different, good luck to him,LOL, but this idea absolutely cannot be similar to my idea and will be a completely different work because he is not familiar with it.

If you have sincere interest, you can contact me.

I loved this little article about three responses to chaos in society. Toni Morrison had this to say:

“There is, however, a third response to chaos, which I have not heard about, which is stillness. Such stillness can be passivity and dumbfoundedness; it can be paralytic fear. But it can also be art....

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Marcel Nault Jr.

6 months ago

At some point, you'd have to expect that in this cut-throat, merciless industry that is Hollywood. Unfortunately, we never learn from our mistakes and we can get away with almost anything.

It's a saddening state of affairs.

Stephen Olson

2
2 people like this
- Marcel Nault Jr.
- Maurice Vaughan
6 months ago

What is the point of an idea, if it is never realized. Write it.

Sam Sokolow

It is an industry of ideas. I always think it's smart to protect ideas via the Writers' Guild or copyright or some type of legal protection. Writing a script - and registering it - is an even better p...

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Kenneth Adrian Ellis

1
1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
5 months ago

Within this part of the 'ARTS' (Acting. Music making. Writers) scripts get purchase agreements (production agreements. production orders). NOT IDEAS! Not as a condemation for you here; rather as a con...

Maurice Vaughan

1
1 person likes this
- Marcel Nault Jr.
5 months ago

Here's a blog that David M. Adler (entertainment attorney) wrote: "How to Protect Your Script from Theft" www.stage32.com/blog/how-to-protect-your-script-from-theft-3210...

David Broer

1
1 person likes this
- Kenneth Adrian Ellis
6 months ago

I have copyright on my script, that I brought a Canadian writer on. US production will insist on a US copyright anyway. If we don't have that some will try to insert their name on the copyright.

1
1 person likes this
- John Michael German
6 months ago

I am wondering if copyrights are as important as they used to be. Previous to electronic formats all we had was typewritten hard copies. The copyright was used to establish a date proving when you had...

Leif Peterson

1
1 person likes this
- Pat Savage
5 months ago

Recommend numerous registrations for protection. First, register it at US Copyright Office (Library of Congress). Second, register the work at WGA (Writers Guild of America). Third, create a web page...

Amanda Toney

3
3 people like this
5 months ago

We have a really great legal webinar on how to protect your work here: https://www.stage32.com/webinars/Script-Protection-and-Idea-Theft...

Mash Ito

Big thanks for this important information!

Leonardo Ramirez

2
2 people like this
- Terrence Sellers
- Maurice Vaughan
5 months ago

Hi Amina Jindani - I've made the leap from novel writing to screenplays but never the other way around. Would love to hear how your process goes as you develop. I can see where the script could serve...

Amina Jindani

Hi Leonardo. In radio play format, there's no visuals. Visuals are alluded to through soundscape and POV dialogue and VO. So the bulk of the transition is to break up the dialogue and describe the vis...

2
2 people like this
- Maurice Vaughan
- Matthew Parvin
5 months ago

Amina Jindani That sounds incredibly interesting. I may have to just read a script or two in radio play format. The most I’ve ever done is a “reader’s theater” version of one of my works where the kid...

Piper Williams

Thanks for sharing, Amina! Curious which format has captured the truest essence of your original intent.

2
2 people like this
- Leonardo Ramirez
- Maurice Vaughan
5 months ago

i.e. A CREATIVES LIFE!

Geoff Hall

1
1 person likes this
- Stephanie Munch
6 months ago

Stephanie Munch I’d not looked at it like that, Stephanie. There seems to be two facets of it; to nurture and protect. I think it’s calling on writers to construct meaning in the face of chaos, but I’...

Rutger Oosterhoff

So if "chaos" for instance is translated to the israeli- palestinian conflict, I tend to not want to have a black and white opinion. I use the horror to develop a unique story. Whatever story that may...

Stephanie Munch

1
1 person likes this
- Geoff Hall
6 months ago

Oh thank you Geoff, yes, indeed, in this case, where does the protection come from?

1
1 person likes this
- Rutger Oosterhoff
5 months ago

Rutger Oosterhoff yes, the Arab-Israeli conflict, plus the wars in Syria and Ukraine. Earthquakes on the Turkey/Syria border. The oppression and suppression of the people in Myanmar, North Korea, Chin...

5 months ago

Definitely thought provoking.

Suzanne Corso

Love this Sam!!!

Thank you!

Asmaa Jamil

1
1 person likes this
- Hakim Kisakye
6 months ago

Thank you for the post.

2
2 people like this
- Stephanie Munch
- Hakim Kisakye
6 months ago

My question would be - about another reason to do a pitch sheet, and that’s for a Crowdsourcing campaign. Do you have any wisdom to share about this, please? It’s obviously a different accent than a p...

Tracy Richardson Talent Agent

3
3 people like this
6 months ago

Every story ever written has been someones truth , that's why our audience connects with some part of the story or Universal truth.

4
4 people like this
6 months ago

Also looking forward to Wednesday's AMA with Suzanne Corso!

Katy Lee

I'm looking forward to this class. I've written many fiction books, but I have avoided my own story. Thank you for teaching!

1
1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
6 months ago

I second Sam!

Pamela Jaye Smith

1
1 person likes this
- Marcel Nault Jr.
6 months ago

How often do some of you think as you're reading, "Oh, this is something that really happened to that writer" because it sounds/reads/feels different from the rest of the story and rather out of place...

Emily J

5
5 people like this
6 months ago

Hi Suzanne Corso! Thanks for doing this AMA! I'm curious, are there any examples of autobiographical novels that you would recommend writers check out or that you find the most inspiring (for content,...

Niki H

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6 people like this
6 months ago

Thanks for being here Suzanne Corso! How would you advise people on choosing the stories to tell and the stories to cut when basing it on their own lives?

Emily J Thank you. To be honest I would have to research that. Autobiographical is true anyway, nothing to hide. So, therefore a lot easier to write.

Niki H Hi there! Choose the most detailed and interesting stories! The most dramatic and real life. People want action and suspense. Life real life is filled with this!!!!!!

Richard "RB" Botto

2
2 people like this
- Maurice Vaughan
- Leonardo Ramirez
6 months ago

Appreciate your answer, Suzanne Corso. So very insightful. This was one uplifting AMA!

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