On Plagiarism

In conversations amongst aspirant screenwriters and those close to them, the question of whether the Hollywood skeezebags seems to be a constant topic - but it's come up more than once in the last week, so I'm stating my views here.

 

Let's say you're scared to share you work.  Great!  Don't!  If all bad writers kept their work to themselves, people wouldn't dread reading scripts.

 

Look.  How many writers really believe that other people's stuff - especially undiscovered stuff - is better than theirs?  If I read something in a script that pertains to one of my own projects, nine times out of ten, my response is going to be "I can do that better."  To prove I was right, I do it.  Plagiarism is never an issue.

 

Nobody's going to steal someone else's dialogue, description, or basic story structure and context.  If they do, they don't have the drive to become a good writer anyway.  They're not competition. 

 

If someone steals a whole script, WGA and copyright protection make the situation pretty cut and dry.

 

Of course, I've heard stories about some high-profile exceptions.  Whatever.  Generally, the work those guys do doesn't interest me.  It's a safe bet the work I do doesn't interest them, either.

 

Good ideas are supposed to get out there and affect how other people do things.  If someone takes an idea of yours to a new level, learn from them.  If someone copies you without bringing something new and unique to the mix, then they aren't ready to move forward.  They're still catching up.

 

Lastly, if you're that afraid that someone will make more of your idea than you can, your script isn't ready to be read by ANYONE.  Know why you're feeling insecure?  It's not because the script thief is out to get you, friendo.

 

You see the potential in your idea.  Good for you.  Put it on the page, and THEN ask me to read it.  Keep writing, and when the script is as good as you can possibly make it, get some notes from your internal community and write some more.  When you feel the script is stronger than the idea behind it, theft is no longer a concern.

 

As a rule, it's fair to say that the more afraid someone is of having their script (or idea) stolen, the less ready that script is for production.  Instead of using that fear to annoy the folks you're trying to get help from, try using it as a barometer of how much more writing you have to do.