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Post by bluegreenturtle on Mar 30, 2005 11:58:07 GMT -5
All screenplays get registered (at least by anybody who is thinking about it) by the guild for a fee. They hold them in a vault and arbitrate in case of problem. You send it to them and there is a receipt that you get back and that date is the one used.
I'm pretty sure most professional musicians use a similar system (I'm a professional symphonic double bassist by night, as well) and ASCAP or BMI can take care of any registration issues for copyright.
Despite that, very few producing entities will read a submission unless it is submitted by a known agent, an entertainment lawyer, or there is a prior agreement between the submitter and the producing entity saying essentially "I know you, I won't sue you, you can read my stuff and you're not liable for any infringement."
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Mar 30, 2005 0:41:38 GMT -5
Hey Mordraken -
I've done some writing for both film and television, have a university degree in screenwriting and have worked in the industry on and off for a decade.
Ziptie's comments are on the mark.
Legal stuff aside - and it is a real consideration - you are walking into something that is a very different world than I think most people think.
What you have to understand - and most non writers don't - is that your ideas have no value to the writers of a series. Especially at this early point in the series production. This series has a highly scripted story and character arc - that is, very few of the episodes stand alone in the arc and they are part of something that "arcs" over at least a half dozen episodes at a time. If the scripts aren't written for another dozen shows already I would be surprised. Treatments are there for many more. And there are piles of ideas and treatments "on deck."
All that aside, the creators and writers of most series have literally hundreds of ideas of their own that they would like to incorporate into scripts but have to pare down and toss out. Going to outsiders for such ideas is not something that is done often (but sometimes, and I'll get to that in the next paragraph). Few writers lack for ideas - they lack for the time to write them in a completed form and they work on the fine points of execution. I have a file drawer full of full feature length outlines and treatments - they're all competent and would work fine. I can complete them, too - I have no problem finishing a script. The difficult part is elsewhere - in the selling, not the writing - which is beyond the scope of this post.
When I say your idea has no value, I really do mean exactly that. *However* your completed script - well polished and perfect in every aspect - could have some value and could be considered as a writing sample to the submitted party, assuming you can make the connections to get to somebody who is willing to read it. The few execeptions to the rule of accepting ideas from the outside have been *exclusively* for completed scripts.
So if you want to pursue this, do yourself a favor and take a few hours every day for 6 months before you go to your job and write a script based on your idea. Or just take a few months off. Make sure you totally understand the format that you are writing in (I mean the technical format of screenwriting, the format of the 60 minute drama, the format of science fiction, the format of the show itself) Then get it read by every person you know and consider their feedback. If you really think you have something then after revising, you might want to try to get in contact with somebody who can hook you up with an agent. Then a much longer road can begin.
But seriously, if you go up to somebody and say "I've got this great idea for your show" you are going to be the butt of a joke 5 minutes later. If you go up to them and hand them your very polished script and can pitch the story idea in 2 sentences or less, you may get at least something more than actually being made fun of, though that still might happen too.
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Mar 28, 2005 19:03:23 GMT -5
OOOOOPPS I see now that there was a large thread on this subject in the past. Apparently a lot of people picked up on it. Here's some excerpts I wrote down. Saul Tigh [was] originally Paul Tigh, but we had to change it for whatever legal nonsense they came up with. This seems to me like a waste of a great chance for symbolism...namely one of the most famous name changes in history - Saul the Persecutor who became Paul the Servant - somebody who never gave up his faith and also had a huge reversal in that faith. I thought this was a purposefully planned character name by Ron Moore et al and a bit of an inside message until I read this. Disappointing. I wonder how many other caught the coincidence.
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Jan 22, 2005 22:36:22 GMT -5
Hmmm, weird. I would think (as an american) that the US versions would surely be more edited rather than less since we have so many issues with "obscene" broadcasting, etc, especially these days. My impression was always that the UK was a bit more relaxed about it.
Or that the US versions would allow more violence and the UK versions more sex.
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Jan 6, 2005 13:04:47 GMT -5
The Pan Galactic/Pan Am stamp is probably a slight homage to 2001.
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Jan 2, 2005 21:23:44 GMT -5
I think it was pretty clear that Six's killing of the baby was a mercy killing - the most humane trait possible.
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Jan 5, 2005 12:44:50 GMT -5
Hmmm, I feel sort of bad about this but I didn't really care for the episode. I have liked all the others except the Hatch episode, which I thought was dull. Maybe it was just my mood when I watched it. It seemed like the writing was simplistic and the stories that I thought were so mysterious and interesting before now seem flailing and predictable. I dunno - we'll see what the next few episodes hold. My favorite thread is definately Baltar but even his schtick is wearing a little thin.
It may be that I just watched an entire season of Alias which is affecting my judgement.
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Jan 27, 2005 20:54:13 GMT -5
wow. I looked at that.
Not that this means anything in terms of my ability to judge good ideas, but I do understand the industry - I do have a film degree (in screenwriting) and have worked in the film and television industry since 1996. I am just prefacing my comment with that - understand that I don't believe that means a lot to anybody.
1) The guy has terrible writing skills.
2) He clearly has NO concept of what television is looking for or the way the industry works.
I recently submitted submitted a spec to a currently running show (actually one filming in vancouver) via one of the actors who is a friend. He said, as he took it "you do understand what you're trying to do is essentially impossible" and I said yes. And he's right, I just had banged out the script and thought I would give it a shot. Getting a spec, as an unknown, accepted on a running show is probably one of the hardest things possible in the television industry. Starting a new series (which this guys is trying to do) without major backing is much much harder. It happens, but the odds are about a million to one, and that's if you know what you're doing and have good contacts. The person that is in the link that you posted has ZERO chance of ever seeing anything produced. Looking at his "pitches" I can only surmise that he might be retarded.
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Jan 27, 2005 17:59:21 GMT -5
so really, what's the deal with this guy. Just insane, or is he some sort of sci-fi channel employee who got fired, or jilted lover of a universal executive or what? Cause even somebody who's just plain old crackers, I can't see spending this much time being like this unless there was some perceived reason (even if it's just in their own wacky heads.)
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Jan 25, 2005 17:49:09 GMT -5
I found it hard to take W.H. Macy as a lead for an entire feature. I think he's a fine actor, it just seemed to me like he really isn't the sort that can carry a film as a lead. On the languatron stuff, I just searched and found his board and read a little. I am totally baffled as to why somebody would do this - it just seems so pointless, no matter how you feel. I have to say the first image that came to mind to me was somebody who was very lonely and every night just went home and masterbated until they were raw.
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Jan 25, 2005 17:24:24 GMT -5
I found it disappointing and outright bad in some ways. Tastes differ though - I'm sure some people might like it.
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Jan 21, 2005 16:41:35 GMT -5
I know...I'm sort of teasing. Bollocks is one of those english terms that we americans don't use at all - I only learned it because I went to University in the UK.
Also it's a weird term in that usage because it doesn't seem likely that calling something a dog's testicles would be complimentary.
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Jan 21, 2005 15:52:49 GMT -5
is that good or bad?
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Jan 2, 2005 21:36:32 GMT -5
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Post by bluegreenturtle on Dec 29, 2004 12:24:20 GMT -5
1.) Universal made it's own problems for itself by making the decision to not have a broadcast at the same time. 2.) It's easy to sit in the UK getting the new episodes and hold your position. 3.) Nobody needs a boyscout running around "telling" on everybody who does anything they don't approve of. 4.) The sorts of numbers that are downloading the show aren't going to affect the mass ratings when a show goes on a prime time slot in the US. 5.) When people commit acts like copyright infringement in public, they take their own risks. Do it long enough and there are usually consequences.
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