Okay
I've been lurking at or posting on this board for over a year now, have spent many hours visiting other sites and have come to the conclusion that the level of paranoia amongst new screenwriters is astounding. This is aimed at no poster in particular, it's just an observation that has been reinforced by recent threads (the "I need a Pro..." one being an example).
We hide behind anonymous monikers, bemoaning the system that is Hollywood, bemoaning the exclusivity of the WGA and how hard it is to get read, how hard it is to get an agent and so on, then we cling to our scripts in terrified anticipation that if we let someone read the thing, they'll love it to death and steal the hell out of it.
Come on, guys, face facts. 99% of newbie scripts are never going to get bought, never going to get made. And that's not because the script isn't good, not because the writer is a no-talent hack, it's due to various factors (a major one of which IS the Hollywood system and the form of contact-nepotism that pervades the business).
And that 1% script? The one that is so awesome it knocks anyone who reads it flat? The one that launches a newbie from no-name-brand-land to 'overnight' sensation? Well that happens because the script got read. If no-one reads it, it never gets made. Simple as Pie (Ry-Ry).
One has more chance of finding a fingernail in a coke bottle (and launching oneself to wealth and prosperity on the back of an over-litigious society) than of someone successfully stealing one's completed script. If the script is so good that it's worth stealing, it'll be a helluva lot cheaper and quicker to purchase it from a newbie than to steal it. [Ideas, on the other hand, are much more easily stolen and that's why one should think seriously before posting loglines of high-concept ideas.]
Before I get lambasted, let me acknowledge that theft does occur (yes Kosk I know about Jingle all the Way - so does the court and the jury who awarded the damages) and because it does, we should all take necessary precautions such as registering the script, keeping a complete paper trail etc. But let's not be so paranoid that we question everyone's intent.
Life is about risk. Screenwriting more so. So if a pro offers to read your script, you clutch that life line like there's no tomorrow. You accept any reasonable condition (and what constitutes reasonable, I suppose, is dependent on the individual) and you take a chance. Because while there's an extremely remote chance that he might steal the idea, there's a better chance that if he thinks it's worth stealing, he'll think it's worth buying or lauding or supporting. And if that happens, this potential pilferer might be the first contact that one has in the Hollywood hierarchy, and that my friends, is gold.
I've been lurking at or posting on this board for over a year now, have spent many hours visiting other sites and have come to the conclusion that the level of paranoia amongst new screenwriters is astounding. This is aimed at no poster in particular, it's just an observation that has been reinforced by recent threads (the "I need a Pro..." one being an example).
We hide behind anonymous monikers, bemoaning the system that is Hollywood, bemoaning the exclusivity of the WGA and how hard it is to get read, how hard it is to get an agent and so on, then we cling to our scripts in terrified anticipation that if we let someone read the thing, they'll love it to death and steal the hell out of it.
Come on, guys, face facts. 99% of newbie scripts are never going to get bought, never going to get made. And that's not because the script isn't good, not because the writer is a no-talent hack, it's due to various factors (a major one of which IS the Hollywood system and the form of contact-nepotism that pervades the business).
And that 1% script? The one that is so awesome it knocks anyone who reads it flat? The one that launches a newbie from no-name-brand-land to 'overnight' sensation? Well that happens because the script got read. If no-one reads it, it never gets made. Simple as Pie (Ry-Ry).
One has more chance of finding a fingernail in a coke bottle (and launching oneself to wealth and prosperity on the back of an over-litigious society) than of someone successfully stealing one's completed script. If the script is so good that it's worth stealing, it'll be a helluva lot cheaper and quicker to purchase it from a newbie than to steal it. [Ideas, on the other hand, are much more easily stolen and that's why one should think seriously before posting loglines of high-concept ideas.]
Before I get lambasted, let me acknowledge that theft does occur (yes Kosk I know about Jingle all the Way - so does the court and the jury who awarded the damages) and because it does, we should all take necessary precautions such as registering the script, keeping a complete paper trail etc. But let's not be so paranoid that we question everyone's intent.
Life is about risk. Screenwriting more so. So if a pro offers to read your script, you clutch that life line like there's no tomorrow. You accept any reasonable condition (and what constitutes reasonable, I suppose, is dependent on the individual) and you take a chance. Because while there's an extremely remote chance that he might steal the idea, there's a better chance that if he thinks it's worth stealing, he'll think it's worth buying or lauding or supporting. And if that happens, this potential pilferer might be the first contact that one has in the Hollywood hierarchy, and that my friends, is gold.
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