How to LEGALLY Copyright Your Screenplay
How to Copyright Your Screenplay in the USA: A Step-by-Step Guide
When Should I Copyright My Script?
As soon as I write a first draft, right?
What if somebody steals my screenplay idea? Don't I need to get it copyrighted?
Well, no.
It doesn't really work like that.
New screenwriters are always concerned about protecting their ideas. You might wonder what counts as being copyrighted, and when you need to copyright your script. Today I'm going to settle the debate once and for all how copyright works, and show you step-by step-how to copyright your screenplay with the US copyright office.
Note: I ain't no lawyer—I'm just a writer and director giving you advice as a writer for writers. If you want to get real legal advice and go deeper on this subject, then you have to talk to an actual entertainment lawyer.
Copyrighting Myths
Contrary to popular belief, registering your script with the WGA does not count legally as copyright.
Mailing yourself the script in an envelope that remains sealed—the so-called “Poor Man's copyright”—is also not a real thing.
Simply put, once you actually write something—once you create with your own words—then it is technically copyrighted in the general sense. You own it, and that also means that the fear that a lot of people have that somebody might come along and steal their idea is vastly overblown.
Here's the thing:
You can't actually copyright an idea; you can only copyright the execution of an idea.
That's why you have so many lookalike a movies out there. This is why two different studios made Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down at nearly the same time. They're basically the same idea, but they're executed differently. Those ideas are not copyrightable, but the screenplays based on those ideas are because they are specific.
The reason you legally copyright your script with the government is actually for something that they called “chain of title,” which is just the legal proof that you are the owner of the thing that you made. If you have chain-of-title, your copyright claim can hold up in court.
That's really what the copyright thing is for: On the off chance that the studio or the production company that has optioned or bought your script would need to go to court for it, they want to be able to say, “Yes, we actually have proof for it . Here's documentation.”
How to Copyright Your Script with the US Copyright Office
Since many of you want to copyright in the US, I’m now going to show you how to complete that process on the US Copyright Office’s website.
When your script is complete, export it as a PDF.
Have your credit card ready because you do have to pay money (the amount changes every so often) in order to do this.
Go to Register a Work of the Performing Arts on the Copyright.gov website. Don’t click Motion Pictures—that’s for copyrighting a completed movie. Since you're copyrighting a screenplay for a movie, it’s actually not a literary work or a motion picture but instead a Performing Arts Work.
If you are a new registerer, click there to register and go through that whole process to set up your name and email and password.
Once you've created your account, then you can sign in, and the first thing you're going to do is register work with a standard application.
In the “type of work” drop down, select “Work of the Performing Arts.”
Put in the title of your work title work being registered.
Also enter whether or not this work been published, its year of completion, any pre-registration number (if you have one). If not, leave it blank.
Fill in your full name and the name of whoever else co-wrote your script.
If this was a “work for hire”—meaning someone hired you to write it—then select “Yes.” Most likely you’re writing on spec, so in that case, select “No.”
Next, you’ll select the type of work you’re registering: “Other Text,” which covers screenplays.
Enter the name of the “Claimant.” This will be you unless you’re transferring ownership of the script to someone else.
“Limit your Claim” if the work contained is based on previously registered IP (intellectual property)—or even something in the public domain.
The Rights and Permissions section is optional. The Correspondent is the point-of-contact for this work.
“Mail Certificate” is for the address you want the proof of registration sent to. Special Handling is optional.
Certify that you’re the author or the actual copyright holder.
Double check all your information!
Click “Add to Cart.”
Enter payment information.
Upload your screenplay PDF and submit.
You’re all done!
You should get an email confirming that your script has been received and it's actually copyrighted with the government. It'll give you a reference code, too. Now you actually have proof that your screenplay is copyrighted!
You’ll likely want to do this with your screenplay before you put it out into the market. If you're still working on just drafts of it and you're having trusted friends read it, you probably don't need to do this yet.
Finally, once you do have the script “copyrighted” in the government sense, you don't want to put “copyrighted” and then the date on the title page of your screenplay. That makes you look like an amateur. Doubly so if you use “(c)” and not “©.” Either way, don’t do it.
Copyrighting is just one aspect of much larger world of the business of screenwriting. Of course need to be a creative storyteller who is really good at character and formatting, but that’s just one aspect of scriptwriting. In order to be a working screenwriter, you also have to be adept at the business world of Hollywood.
To learn about the “industry” part of Hollywood and take your career seriously, then go watch my on-demand Masterclass to learn the four ways that others have recently launched their screenwriting careers: