copyright So a major studio admitted to stealing my script...

[directorik]

Hi ,
You remind me about one story I read long long ago, a writer wrote script and send it to agent who sold it to big studio and told the writer you didn’t clarify that your want to sell it!!! That writer made them payed him a lot with simple trick. He went to his friend and told him you own my script copyrights coz you wrote it not me and my name is your pen name, so go and sue them. The studio told him we got your email. The writer friend told them I don’t send any email and how the fucck trust any email. Finally they payed the writer friend 34 millions.

I, too, thought this was fictitious.

Several years ago I did deep-dive research into the subject of scripts being
stolen by producers. The goal was an investigative documentary. I never heard
about this $34 million pay out.

Who was the writer? What studio paid out $34 million dollars? Did they make
the movie?

 

[Ben_Adams]

You can at least make few millions $
But you have to leave 50% for the lawyer. you can easly make a deal with them, get me more than 10 millions from that studio and you will get 50%, more Settlement more 50% your lawyer will get. But be smart, but bridle in your lawyer mouth, so he can’t go that studio and make settlement behind your back and get some millions to fail the case. Make your agreement with the lawyer simple give me the money and got 50% and no settlement with the studio before you show me the settlement papers.

 

[adejuwonder]

That stinks man.

 

[Alien X]

hmmmm

 

[robert-timsah]

Both. I made a reddit post but it was removed. They stole the concept and changed the name of the app (bid for crimes) but the concept is directly stolen. Which in itself was bad, but when I hear verbatim dialogue that's when I knew it was mine

Only in the screenwriting world can a writer's script be stolen, and still have it spun as the writer's fault. I, for one, feel your pain and feel you should put up a billboard exposing them. Furthermore, who's the hack writer who claimed your work? This shit pisses me off.

 

[Lucky Hardwood]

I know I am seriously late to the party here. I feel your pain. My writing partner and I had a series stolen from us. Not the entire series mind you, but the key concepts, characters, and situations. It turns out a production company was already working on a series by the same name (it happens). My partner and I were filling in the outline and beats in a public place (Barnes & Noble). I know (now) that was a big mistake. Long story short, someone overheard us and lifted our ideas. We know this is when and where it happened because my partner date and time stamps all of our notes, and the specific stuff they stole came from that particular session. A friend who did makeup on the show told us the production company had already shot two episodes and scrapped them all of a sudden with a Page 1 rewrite shortly after out writing session. We had/have absolutely ZERO legal case in this matter because there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place. It was our mistake to discuss potentially sensitive material in public. Lesson learned. As was stated here before, it was a mixed bag. On the one hand, our show was strong enough to replace one already being shot (and run 4 seasons). On the other, we got absolutely nothing out of it except a very painful lesson. On a side note, our idea wouldn't have gotten bought/made if it hadn't been stolen because the original concept of the other show was close enough that nobody would have touched it because it would look like we copied them. I may have ranted about this on here at the time.

 

[Spike]

I kind of agree with the smart people here. You have the script, I assume drafts, dated emails, probably, to people you sent it to, etc.--enough to prove it pre-dated the show. If it was the "concept" that was taken, well, plots are plots, stories are stories, very few of which, I imagine, are unique. But if actual dialogue was plagiarized, scenes and sequences duplicated. . .I cant believe that what happened is legal.

People who know more than I do seem to think there may be nothing to be done besides learn a lesson. But I would still maybe think about interviewing more lawyers.

Just my uneducated 2 cents.