Shell: You might want to follow the link in the column to writer/director Frank Darabont's (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) piece on the difference between a successful moviemaker and a wannabe. More good advice generally applicable to any field of endeavor.
I dug out the 18 pages of the first script I started last night and reread them. The script still sucks, but I'm starting to think it might be salvageable. I'm tempted to put a link to it and ask for critiques, but there may not be enough to go on.
Zix -- same happens with me and the fiddle tunes I write. I have recordings of me putting down the basic idea, and to hear the the various tunes now (as opposed to the original "idea") is like night and day.
Sounds similar to your 18-page thing there. I re-worked some "phrases" in the tunes, added some new ones, took out others, and the end product was a GOOD tune. If you re-work your manuscript, I'm betting it'll turn out great!
If you want others to give input on your partial screenplay, you may want to consider sending it to them privately, rather then posting a link. It would be very sad for anyone on "the internet" to steal your idea.
If you want others to give input on your partial screenplay, you may want to consider sending it to them privately, rather then posting a link. It would be very sad for anyone on "the internet" to steal your idea.
In addition, it could be bad in what I believe is an unprecidented way. If you were to write a book and post it online, the potential publishers you go to would offer you less money because you would be effectively offering them a second run of your book, which you "published" on the internet already. I don't know if screenplays would work the same way, but I would think it would be the same or worse.
That's a common concern, but it's usually unfounded. In the first place, the way the copyright law now works is that a work is copyrighted as soon as the author writes it. It does not have to be registered first. In the second place, there's no incentive for an editor or producer to steal anyone's work--it's cheaper (and more ethical, of course) just to pay the original author, since they'll have to pay someone for it anyway. Paying the original author also eliminates a potential lawsuit, and since screenplay prices are set by the Writers' Guild of America anyway, it's the same cost to them whoever writes it. (Actually, it costs them MORE to have a WGA member write it, since they don't have to pay you Guild minimums if you aren't yet a WGA member.)
In the second place, it's not possible to copyright an idea, only the execution of an idea. In fact, you can't even copyright a title, believe it or not. You can call your movie "The Matrix" if you want to, and the Wachowski brothers can't do squat--unless you use their characters' names or any of their dialogue. Then they can sue you. There are exceptions for certain titles-as-franchise, like "Gone With The Wind" or "Star Wars", perhaps, but they're the exception rather than the rule. Actually, I borrowed (er, swiped) the core idea for the screenplay from a well-known book, except that I changed the time period, characters, motivations, locations, scope of the plot, and the resolution. That's quite legal. Otherwise every single "boy loves girl, but parents keep them apart" story would be an illegal ripoff of Romeo and Juliet.
I do appreciate the concern, though. I still don't know if it's worth showing anyone else yet--or at all. It's not even the complete first act, so there's probably not enough material for someone to judge it. Jury's still out...
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matt ramir
dude thats cool
but i want to get into science stuff
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Mister P-Mosh
Heh, that was very interesting, but unfortunate for me as my job right now consists of mostly waiting.
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Zixar
Matt: Such as?
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Shellon
Am familiar with Terry Rossio; reading his stuff and his advise in Writers Digest. This was a good one! Thanks Zix
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Zixar
Shell: You might want to follow the link in the column to writer/director Frank Darabont's (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) piece on the difference between a successful moviemaker and a wannabe. More good advice generally applicable to any field of endeavor.
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Zixar
I dug out the 18 pages of the first script I started last night and reread them. The script still sucks, but I'm starting to think it might be salvageable. I'm tempted to put a link to it and ask for critiques, but there may not be enough to go on.
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Shellon
I dug out the 18 pages of the first script I started last night and reread them. The script still sucks.....
===============================================
Maybe not zix, maybe it's good!
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krys
That is one profound statement.
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dmiller
Zix -- same happens with me and the fiddle tunes I write. I have recordings of me putting down the basic idea, and to hear the the various tunes now (as opposed to the original "idea") is like night and day.
Sounds similar to your 18-page thing there. I re-worked some "phrases" in the tunes, added some new ones, took out others, and the end product was a GOOD tune. If you re-work your manuscript, I'm betting it'll turn out great!
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dmiller
BTW -- that was a good column by Terry Rossio.
:)-->
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notinKansasanymore
If you want others to give input on your partial screenplay, you may want to consider sending it to them privately, rather then posting a link. It would be very sad for anyone on "the internet" to steal your idea.
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Mister P-Mosh
In addition, it could be bad in what I believe is an unprecidented way. If you were to write a book and post it online, the potential publishers you go to would offer you less money because you would be effectively offering them a second run of your book, which you "published" on the internet already. I don't know if screenplays would work the same way, but I would think it would be the same or worse.
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Zixar
That's a common concern, but it's usually unfounded. In the first place, the way the copyright law now works is that a work is copyrighted as soon as the author writes it. It does not have to be registered first. In the second place, there's no incentive for an editor or producer to steal anyone's work--it's cheaper (and more ethical, of course) just to pay the original author, since they'll have to pay someone for it anyway. Paying the original author also eliminates a potential lawsuit, and since screenplay prices are set by the Writers' Guild of America anyway, it's the same cost to them whoever writes it. (Actually, it costs them MORE to have a WGA member write it, since they don't have to pay you Guild minimums if you aren't yet a WGA member.)
In the second place, it's not possible to copyright an idea, only the execution of an idea. In fact, you can't even copyright a title, believe it or not. You can call your movie "The Matrix" if you want to, and the Wachowski brothers can't do squat--unless you use their characters' names or any of their dialogue. Then they can sue you. There are exceptions for certain titles-as-franchise, like "Gone With The Wind" or "Star Wars", perhaps, but they're the exception rather than the rule. Actually, I borrowed (er, swiped) the core idea for the screenplay from a well-known book, except that I changed the time period, characters, motivations, locations, scope of the plot, and the resolution. That's quite legal. Otherwise every single "boy loves girl, but parents keep them apart" story would be an illegal ripoff of Romeo and Juliet.
I do appreciate the concern, though. I still don't know if it's worth showing anyone else yet--or at all. It's not even the complete first act, so there's probably not enough material for someone to judge it. Jury's still out...
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