Editing Screenwriting (section)

===United States===
In the United States, while completed works are eligible for [[copyright]] protection, ideas and plots are not. Any document created after 1978 is automatically copyrighted, even without formal [[Register of Copyrights|registration]] or notice. However, the [[Library of Congress]] can formally register a screenplay. U.S. courts will not accept a lawsuit claiming copyright infringement until the plaintiff registers their copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office.<ref>{{Cite web |title=17 U.S. Code § 411 - Registration and civil infringement actions |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/411 |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=LII / Legal Information Institute |language=en}}</ref> This means that the plaintiff's efforts to address an infringement may be delayed during the registration process.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf |title=U.S. Copyright Office Circular 1 |access-date=2009-02-21 |archive-date=2012-10-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017215945/http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Moreover, in many infringement cases, the plaintiff may not be able to recover [[attorney fees]] or collect [[Statutory damages for copyright infringement|statutory damages]] unless the copyright was registered before the infringement occurred.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/412- |title=17 USC 412 |access-date=2017-06-03 |archive-date=2023-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229072518/https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/412 |url-status=live }}</ref> To establish proof that a screenwriter is the author of a screenplay (though not affecting the legal copyright status), the Writers Guild of America registers screenplays. Since this service is for record-keeping purposes and not legally required, various commercial and non-profit organizations also provide screenplay registration services. Additionally, protection for teleplays, formats, and screenplays can be registered with third-party vendors to offer immediate proof of authorship.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

There is a line of [[precedent]] in several states (including California and New York) that allows for "idea submission" claims, based on the notion that submission of a screenplay—or even a mere pitch for one—to a studio under very particular sets of factual circumstances could potentially give rise to an implied contract to pay for the ideas embedded in that screenplay, even if an alleged derivative work does not actually infringe the screenplay author's copyright.<ref name="Biederman">{{cite book|title=Law and Business of the Entertainment Industries|date=November 2006|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780275992057|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lawbusinessofent00dona/page/313 313–327]|author=Donald E. Biederman|edition=5th|author2=Edward P. Pierson|author3=Martin E. Silfen|author4=Janna Glasser|author5=Charles J. Biederman|author6=Kenneth J. Abdo|author7=Scott D. Sanders|url=https://archive.org/details/lawbusinessofent00dona/page/313}}</ref>  The unfortunate side effect of such precedents (which were supposed to protect screenwriters) is that it is now that much harder to break into screenwriting. Naturally, motion picture and television production firms responded by categorically declining to read ''all'' unsolicited screenplays from unknown writers;<ref name="Rosman">{{cite news|last1=Rosman|first1=Kathleen|title=The Death of the Slush Pile|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703414504575001271351446274|access-date=27 January 2015|work=Wall Street Journal|publisher=Dow Jones & Company|date=22 January 2010|archive-date=13 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313172347/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703414504575001271351446274|url-status=live}}</ref> accepting screenplays only through official channels like talent agents, managers, and attorneys; and forcing screenwriters to sign broad [[legal release]]s before their screenplays will be actually accepted, read, or considered.<ref name="Biederman" /> In turn, agents, managers, and attorneys have become extremely powerful [[gatekeeper]]s on behalf of the major film studios and media networks.<ref name="Rosman" /> One symptom of how hard it is to break into screenwriting as a result of such case law is that in 2008, [[Universal Pictures|Universal]] resisted construction of a bike path along the [[Los Angeles River]] next to [[Universal Studios Lot|its studio lot]] because it would worsen their existing problem with desperate amateur screenwriters throwing copies of their work over the studio wall.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hymon|first1=Steve|author2=Andrew Blankstein|title=Studio poses obstacle to riverfront bike path|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-bikelane27feb27-story.html|access-date=27 January 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=27 February 2008|archive-date=17 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017181111/http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-bikelane27feb27-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>