Screenwriting : The Gravity of options and legal rights by Eoin O'Sullivan

Wow so interesting. Thanks for sharing Eoin. I wonder what's gonna come out of this.

Yes Shannon, it's going to have a huge impact for writers in terms of contracts. It will be interesting to see what amendments her legal team make to the original complaint and how that plays out in court. More at Tess's blog: http://www.tessgerritsen.com/gravity-lawsuit-affects-every-writer-sells-...

The devil's in the details. There's very little similarity at all between her book and Cuaron's script. That, and once you're doing drafts for the studio, THEY own the drafts, despite any similarity in those.

It's difficult enough to write a great script and story, never mind someone trying to exploit it and sell it as theirs, and not yours.

I totally agree :)

Whatever happens, production companies will soon be adding a new clause in their contracts in regards to acquiring old contracts in their buyouts. It's unfortunate that too often it's the writer who gets shafted the most.

I'm not a big fan of our lawsuit nation, especially when it comes to the notion of "ideas" -- however this is a big deal. The major conglomerate studios (and I would venture to guess this now extends to tech giants) have clauses in their contracts that they own the ideas -- relevant to their business -- that employees have while under said contract. I know at Disney it's in everyone's contract no matter what level they are. When I questioned it through my attorney -- who also represented many others there -- he said, don't even try to fight it. Which is precisely when I stopped pitching my ideas and one of reasons I decided to leave. The thing is, when people are handed a lucrative contract with signing bonuses etc. they most likely WILL sign regardless of clauses like this. I really hope she wins and the big conglomerates stop thinking they have the right to universally in perpetuity cash in.

lawsuits need to happen in order for us to change the laws and/or current state of contracts. it's not about "ideas" or stealing an idea. it's about a hidden loophole in the contracts. this is a contract hidden inside a contract. it's like having a bank buy out your mortgage company without even consulting you. most people just let it happen and continue to pay their mortgage with the new company. but if they read the contract concerning the buyout then they might not realize that they might be in trouble down the road. i'm guessing -- they'll eventually just settle out of court b/c the publicity on stuff like this makes the studio look bad. the backlash will happen.

http://m.hollywoodreporter.com/entry/view/id/915084