What if they steal my story?

There are all the obvious answers to this question - and the few well-known rip-off stories. All in all, though, I have a far less protective take on all of this.

Don’t worry, nobody’s out to con you.

I understand the concern especially fresh writers have. You’re embarking on a new journey, eager to explore the alluring and treacherous film industry jungle. You’ve read countless stories of dreams come true and dreams gone bust, stories of El Dorado and stories of ugly beasts that will tear your hopes to shreds. And now you’ve written a script, you’re ready to jump in, anxious, excited - no wonder you want to protect yourself.

So you do the usual. You copyright, you register, you mail to yourself, etc. It all makes good sense and yes, I also registered my first bunch of spec scripts with the WGA. It gave me a sense of security as I marched into the film business world. But I’ve come to relax about it - in fact, I’m not worried about it at all these days. If I feel like sharing a script or talking about an idea - I do so, period.

As a beginning writer you’re biggest challenge isn’t that someone might steal your story, but that you are entirely unknown.

Why should Hollywood or any independent producer rip off your story if they can cheaply option or buy it? Trust me, those guys are not spending their business days trying to find ways of making their job even harder than it already is. If they see something they like, they’ll tell you so and won’t bother stealing it. For another thing - stealing a screenplay isn’t as easy as it sounds.

But let’s assume that there’s this evil-minded producer who just takes the essence of your story and has another writer create something new from it... well, let’s face it - that happens every day. Ideas are free. What makes your idea within your script so great(hopefully), is the way YOU have written it - that cannot be copied - it is your voice and producers are looking for original voices - and are more than willing to pay for those original voices. Like I said, I understand the concerns. And yet I would hope that writers learn to give up that fear.

By being fearful and keeping your scripts and ideas to yourself you end up not making tons of potentially highly useful connections. So stop worrying, do talk about your ideas, do share your scripts and from there, good things will come. You’ll be remembered as the writer with the great ideas. You’ll be thought of as the engaging dude. You’ll be mentioned as the bright mind. And even IF someone were to rip off an idea of yours - so what - you’ll have a thousand others - move on!

Fear can block you. Open up instead, get out there and engage!

PS1: Trust your gut - if you’re really absolutely certain that your idea is one in a gazillion, then by all means protect it before you talk about it. But seriously now, is your idea really that unique? Isn’t the uniqueness more often than not in what a writer’s done with an idea?

PS2: If you plan on collaborating with another writer - even if it’s a best friend - write an agreement that makes you equal partners. Both of you sign it - then you forget about it and get on with your screenwriting adventure.