I don't mean a finished script (because you can copyright it), but any simple idea that is still under development.
We were at my dad’s godmother’s (who is also his aunt and my great-aunt) in this summer. When I’m told her about Stage32, pitch sessions, etc., she said me that I should be careful about sharing my ideas because they can easily be stolen. She told me an example, which is that Mark Zuckerberg steal the Facebook’s idea.
Since then, my dad has repeated his godmother's words many times.
What do you think about it?
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Hi, Imola Orbán. I share my ideas with a person or two to get feedback on them sometimes, but I usually don't share them until I'm ready to pitch the scripts.
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An idea is a dime a dozen. I'm not trying to be harsh, but realistic here. There are thousands of ghost stories, only one Haunting of Hill House. Ocean tragedies abound. Only one Titanic.
Ideas aren't copyrightable. They're nothing but thought until they are developed, written, turned into something tangible.
If you are pitching, you already have something tangible and righted. Which cannot be stolen. Because you wrote it, in your distinct voice, in a way no one but YOU can.
And THAT is where the value is. Not in an idea.
Billions of people everywhere have ideas. Very few have the skill, ambition, and execution to make it happen. The dedication to edit and rewrite, and rewrite, and rewrite. Just to be told no, we still just can't make a place for this. To do it all again with the next producer to take interest.
I understand the concern and the place it comes from. But if you have a script that you've written, you shouldn't worry about an idea. The idea is nothing. The story is the actual product. Not the idea.
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This really happened. I said to myself around 2000, "I will go to Miami and become known as a Miami photographer". I did it, and succeeded. It was not overnight, and it was not by playing it safe. And frankly, there are numerous other great photogs there, the task seemed impossible, but, I went on a lark, a gut, repeating a step my twin brother and I did in 1979 just getting up and going to LA/Hwd - going to action.
My process now, GO BIG and GET IT OUT THERE.
But back to hiding and protecting your work - back to 2000 - As this was also the early days of the internet, my work was stolen by a few companies and web developers who loved my shots of Miami. So well meaning advice to me was similar, "Protect your work by hiding it" "watermark it" they would say. "Great stuff, get it hung it in expensive galleries, get it produced and get an agent and and and and and ..."
This "safe advice" is always given in the game for books and inventions. I did none of that. I created my own brand and littered the internet with it.
I did the opposite of hiding , pushing out to Flickr and my own sites. Web developers loved my shots and yep stole them. Used them on their corporate websites with impunity. I got into arguments about it.
So I found myself in a place where I could either lose my mind over my "precious" or keep moving forward and focus on my passion of shooting and publicly displaying my work without worrying about the thieves.
In 2010, I get a phone call that there is going to be a huge Miami Chamber of Commerce birthday party for Miami - at the American Airline Arena, (Miami Heat!) and they wanted to display my work in the lounge off of the Miami Heat locker room ! Dumbstruck - the pause on my end - the curator told me it was not a prank phone call, they loved my work, huge compliments and that other photographers were being too difficult to work with, too many restrictions and issues.
They easily spent several thousand dollars producing my work on canvas, and the prices they put on my work blew my mind. And we even sold a few!
Sometimes it's not just the financial rewards, sometimes it's like capture the flag, capture and hold the spot, yep get shot at but the tote board has my name on it at the top.
So yep it's a catch-22.
For me, risky yeah, but better than hiding it - and the risk paid off.
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@Tom that's actual work that was stolen. Love the way you decided to just flip the script, but that's a far cry from a stolen "idea". That was your actual photography that was taken. It wasn't an idea for a picture that was taken.
I feel those are two distinctly different situations. Ideas aren't work. You did the work. Others used it without paying you. That's absolutely theft of your work. I'm sorry that happened to you.
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Always register copyright on finished script. Granted ideas can be stolen, there is a fine line as far as how original it was to begin with. Also, if you don't take chances, nothing will get made.
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Some years ago, I shared some creative work (narrative form) with a friend for peer feedback and, not long after, I discovered this individual had utilised my idea and created a piece of work, which was basically a slightly re-hashed version of what I had provided her with. One perspective is that it inspired her to create something, but my idea was still used and it didn't sit right with me, so much so that I now have a fear around doing this - even on this platform, which is very supportive of creatives. It is a block and a fear I need to work through and overcome (all part of the process), but I can certainly see the benefit of sharing when something is finalised. I am an open and trusting person but have possibly overshared in the past, something which I am now more hesitant about doing.
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I never do. Even the loglines and excerpts I have here aren’t exactly my final product, apart from the tangled one cuz that I can’t sell. I've changed names and made things more generic, because I don’t trust anyone.
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When I've asked professional writers this (or watched others ask the same writers), most say they don't worry about it. They say that ideas themselves are a dime a dozen. Scripts quite similar to each other can still be sold one after another. Two people having the same idea doesn't guarantee the same script (let alone good ones). And when I hear other's ideas, my thought isn't, "ooh, I'd love to just do their same idea." Most good writers have enough ideas in their head to worry about, let alone to take yours.
If you are worried, so long as you don't get deep into specifics, you'll be fine.
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Spencer Magusson - agree!
Elle Bolan - thank you. I am no victim though. Ulitmately, these "thieves" actually flattered me by showcasing my work, so there is an upside ... this current phase of my creativity has more than compensated already for the past!
--
Caine: Is it good to seek the past, Master Po? Does it not rob the present?
Master Po: If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present. But if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future. The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past.
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I agree with Spencer Magnusson , I’ve heard that too. Every screenwriter, director, or producer has way more ideas than time to bring them to life. So personally, I don’t share my ideas just because people are already tired of hearing them.