Completed Screenplay! - Copyrighting Questions:

[Birdman]

Hello again!

Okay, so it's been five months and I've finally gotten this sucker down to 125 pages. That's it! Can't strip another frickin' page out of it. I am currently proofreading and checking for scene fluidity. Here are my questions:

(1) Let's say I have what I feel is an official "First Draft". I get it copyrighted. Soon after I have it copyrighted I see some errors or other issues that need fixing. Am I able to edit the copyrighted version or do I have to totally re-register a new version?

(2) If I don't get it copyrighted and I have "people" look at it (to proof or evaluate) there is a chance, however remote, that someone could rip it off. How does one get their scripts proofread by others and not get ripped off? I've seen in other threads where posters have stated that NDA's are worthless ...and their reasoning for thinking this way is very sound (directorik). What do you do?

(3) I am considering a companion novel to go with the screenplay. I know it's usually the other way around, but hey. ...Is there anything special I need to do with my screenplay registration with regard to me writing a follow-up novel?

Thanks in advance,
Birdman

P.S. Get your popcorn ready, folks! ...Coming to a theater near you!

 

[Birdman]

You can't know that. Who told you that you wouldn't match their levels? You don't match their levels today, because you didn't do what they did. Steven Spielberg started making films at his early teens. Sid Meier started creating imaginary worlds when he was a kid, long before he became a famous computer games creator. Eminem was making raps at a very early age, too.

Yes, there are talents given at birth, but they never stand on the same level.

IMAGERY: "Psychology - mental images collectively, especially those produced by the action of imagination."

If you're writing a screenplay, you see the imagery playing on a screen inside your head. You then translate that imagery into words and then type the words out in a pre-described format. You DO NOT think up exciting words, translate them into imagery and then type them out in a pre-described format.

it is a process: Imagery, ...then words, ...then format. Everything following "imagery" is a subservient event. And IMAGERY is what makes up your IMAGINation.

-Birdman

 

[Inarius]

I'm not sure that imagination is like a muscle. Outside of maybe taking lots of LSD I'm not sure there's any way to cultivate it. You have it or you don't.

Is this a natural gift from above? To some degree, creativity absolutely is a gift. Some of us are more creative than others. However – never let your own self-doubt hold you back. Don’t fret, creativity is something that can be honed and developed like any other skill. The question is “how?”

Quote from here:
developing-creativity-and-imagination/

Other links on how to develop imagination through exercises
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4

So if you were not born creative, or lost your creativity over the years, all is not lost for you.

If you're writing a screenplay, you see the imagery playing on a screen inside your head. You then translate that imagery into words and then type the words out in a pre-described format. You DO NOT think up exciting words, translate them into imagery and then type them out in a pre-described format.

Of course everything comes from images in your head. Words are just a tool to show them

 

[Birdman]

Inarius,

First you wrote:

P.S. How can a professional writer have less imagination than a non-writer? .

Then you wrote:

Of course everything comes from images in your head. Words are just a tool to show them

So if a "less imaginative " PROFESSIONAL writer went up against a NON-PROFESSIONAL writer with a vivid imagination ...the non-pro's screenplay would be better.

I think you are arguing that a professional writer can learn to "enhance" his imagination using exercises and therefore will surpass the non-professional writer over time. I disagree with that. It is FAR EASIER to learn script formatting than it is developing one's imagination. Furthermore, there are "gifted" people with imaginations that far surpass what a typical person could ever achieve doing "imagination exercises".

That's like saying "if anyone practiced hard enough, they could end up with a voice better than Barbara Streisand's. This may be tough to accept, but there are people BORN with gifts that normal people would never be able to match no matter how hard they try.

On the other hand, there are people who don't properly use the gifts they were born with and CAN be passed up by a less-gifted individual who has worked extremely hard to develop the skill in question.

-Birdman

 

[Inarius]

Birdman, People with low imagination DO NOT become professional writers. If someone is a professional writer, it means that:
1) - He worked hard to get where he is now. He wrote and wrote and wrote and improved his imagination.
2) - He is gifted at birth, just as you say. Gifted people get it easier, but they still have to work hard.

What I actually wanna say, is that every professional writer (not journalist or something like that), has in fact a good imagination

 

[maz]

Quote from here:
developing-creativity-and-imagination/

Other links on how to develop imagination through exercises
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4

So if you were not born creative, or lost your creativity over the years, all is not lost for you.

Just because it's on the internet doesn't make it true I clicked on the first of those two links, and the last, and they seem to say nothing beyond: spend some time being creative. Lots of people read, stare into space, dream etc, but it doesn't lead to them being any more imaginative. On the other hand, those tips are useful for people to make the most of their natural creativity; most people are not encouraged to be creative or imaginative in the ways that are good for artists. But, as Birdman suggests, some people have levels of natural creativity that far surpass others with no effort at all on their own part. It's actually infuriating

The third link is the only scientific one, but even that (if you read the full paper) seems to address little beyond stimulating imagination, and fostering a relaxed atmosphere towards creative thought. Both useful, but it's a big leap from that to the idea that imagination is a muscle that is being strengthened. At most, it's encouraging people to have confidence in their own imagination, whatever level it's at.

 

[maz]

Birdman, People with low imagination DO NOT become professional writers. If someone is a professional writer, it means that:
1) - He worked hard to get where he is now. He wrote and wrote and wrote and improved his imagination.
2) - He is gifted at birth, just as you say. Gifted people get it easier, but they still have to work hard.

What I actually wanna say, is that every professional writer (not journalist or something like that), has in fact a good imagination

But then you're just stating a tautology: people with imagination have imagination. And you're also moving the goalposts: you started off talking about professional writers as those who have honed the 'writing craft' and have superior 'self-expression', but now you are excluding all those who meet those criteria other than those who are already screenwriters.

 

[Inarius]

But then you're just stating a tautology: people with imagination have imagination. And you're also moving the goalposts: you started off talking about professional writers as those who have honed the 'writing craft' and have superior 'self-expression', but now you are excluding all those who meet those criteria other than those who are already screenwriters.

There are no contradictions here. Professional writers have good writing craft, good self-expression, AND they have a high imagination level.

If you disagree, can you give me examples of professional known writers that DON'T have good imagination?

 

[maz]

There are no contradictions here. Professional writers have good writing craft, good self-expression, AND they have a high imagination level.

If you disagree, can you give me examples of professional known writers that DON'T have good imagination?

Well... no, because they're not in the entertainment industry and thus aren't famous. If I say Roger whom I used to work with, that won't do either of us any good. Writing craft? Superb. Self-expression? Brilliant. Imagination? Missing in action

 

[Inarius]

Well... no, because they're not in the entertainment industry and thus aren't famous.

That's the point! He is not in the entertainment industry and isn't famous!

If that Roger decides one day to to go into the entertainment industry and become famous, he will have to work hard to improve his imagination. If he doesn't, they will maybe hire him to co-write or re-write screenplays, or write adaptations from novels to screenplay. But they won't let him conjure a story of his own, because it requires high imagination.

 

[maz]

It's quite simple: there are people who are very good writers - professional writers, indeed, who are paid handsomely for the years they have spent honing their writing craft and their superior self-expression, but who lack the imagination to succeed in something like screenwriting. Are they professional writers? Their paypackets say so. Are they able to be screenwriters? No.

Being a good writer and being a good screenwriter are two different things. Being a professional craftsman with the hard skills is not all it takes. Someone with no writing experience but a high level of natural creativity can be a better screenwriter than many professional writers who have been paid for their writing craft and self-expression for decades. And, as your tautology states, people with imagination have imagination.

Anyway, this thread is meant to be about Birdman's copyrighting issues, and we've probably derailed it enough Let's leave it at that.

 

[Birdman]

Hey! Derail it all ya want. I love this shit.

I will add that a romance novel writer (who has been paid for their craft) would probably have a harder time adapting their "style" to the extremely restrictive screenplay format. Equally, a pro screenwriter might end up with a rather choppy- sounding romance novel if he suddenly jumped into that arena.

-Birdman

 

[Inarius]

Ok, we really derailed and didn't get to a final conclusion. I agree to leave it this way.

Hey! Derail it all ya want. I love this shit.

That's the spirit!

As for novel writing, it is closer to screenwriting than any other storytelling style, but yes, still damn different. There're also the GDD documents, which are equivalent to screenplays in computer games, but they are less about storytelling and more about the game itself.

 

[maz]

I think the final conclusion was that we disagreed on semantics. We could go on stating our positions for hours, but there is more to life

Did you watch 'True Detective', Inarius? That's the closest I've seen to a novel written (not adapted) as a teleplay. Also a great series for all sorts of filmmaking reasons

 

[Inarius]

I think the final conclusion was that we disagreed on semantics. We could go on stating our positions for hours, but there is more to life

Did you watch 'True Detective', Inarius? That's the closest I've seen to a novel written (not adapted) as a teleplay. Also a great series for all sorts of filmmaking reasons

I barely have free time for watching movies, let alone TV series But yeah, I heard about that of course. I see it's got a 9.5/10 rank at IMDB, which is more than Prison Break series

 

[ahennessey]

Here's a funny aside to the discussion on feedback. I can't remember who it was, but he said:

"The very highest compliments a writer can get all begin the same way: 'Pay to the order of...'"