If it gets lost, it gets lost.

Colin! I don’t know whether to be impressed or horrified. Both, I think. To me that’s akin to pushing your child out of the house in the mornings and saying ‘If it comes back, it comes back.’

Dee

I've lost more kids that way...

Colin M,

Your attitude is very sensible; however I am not sure about the material you would provide as 'proof'. I think it better to follow the tried and tested method of printed material, as Dee has stated.

I know this question of copyright worries some people but the bigger question is what one does about it if someone steals your work? Sure. you may find 'ideas', characters or even plots purloined by another person. The other evening on TV there was the programme 'Hustle' which was about con-men. On the following day there was a repeat of that lovely film 'The Sting'. So, so many plot similarities, including a fake killing at the end.

Use a Registration Service by all means or secure your work by any other method you choose. The chances of having your work 'stolen' are very remote. However think of the wonderful publicity value if it does happen!

It can be horrendously expensive to sue anyone on this copyright question. So, if it worries you then use the Post Office service... it's cheap and perfectly acceptable in Law.

Len

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I was not referring to your children but to the material you may include in the envelope.
Len

Hi Len, I think the writers of The Hustle probably see their work as an homage to The Sting, rather than an straight rip-off. The Sting was actually mentioned in that episode, and one of the characters was called Redford...

I suppose, reading everyone's view, that we can protect ourselves against plagiarism only up to limit. However, I was initially looking at this from a big agency's point of view. If, as they say, most of the unsolicited work they receive is very far from being publishable, then why not try and get some return on the investment they have made on spending the time to read it, by taking any good bits, and passing them on to existing clients.

Perhaps I should become an agent...

Al

If you become an agent, remind me not to send any of my stuff to you okay?

OORR...I can be your first client, I get published - become HUGE in the book industry - you get...10%..okay? - and then when I run dry you can pass over those submitted MSs to me...

Okay...I need to go have another shower now. I feel dirty just thinking about it.

Bottom line is...all you can do is hope for the best or end up being a very cynical human being unable to trust anyone. I've been down that road before and it's crap! Much nicer like this.

Nahed

Hi Nahed, I think you'll need to pay me at least 15%...

I agree that not trusting anyone is a sad road to go down. But as a fundamentally trusting person who has been, how shall we say, 'let down', rather too many times, I'm getting more and more careful about where I place my faith.

Enjoy your shower. I'm off to the movies.

Al

What are you watching?

I went to see Something's Gotta Give and I sat there thinking...this is the kind of stuff I write. I can write this! I have written this! Why won't these agents give me the time of day?...oh well!

Nahed

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Oh and enjoy the movie! I would've come along if you'd asked!

Hi Nahed, the movie was Along Came Polly: good cast, good premise, unbelievably bad script! We could all write a better screenplay than that. Think I might try. After all, judging by that film it can't take more than ten minutes!

Al,

I like Ben Stiller - I haven't seen it yet but I had the feeling that Along Came Polly is the younger sister of There's Something About Mary - you know, the kind of younger sister that always wants to do the same as and be like the older sister, but never quite managing it...

Would like to see him in Starsky and Hutch. Another no brainer movie...just stuff yourself silly with popcorn for two hours and vegetate.

Nahed

Nahed, I'm afraid along came Polly is just a succession of gross-out toilet jokes that deserve to be flushed away, and which really do put you off your popcorn.

My friend and I were so looking forward to just switching off our brains and having a laugh, but it didn't work for us. In fact, we couldn't figure out just who it was aimed at. Thirteen year old boys in Idaho might like the gross-out bits, but they wouldn't be interested in the relationship stuff (nerdy bloke meets kooky girl for mutual transformation). With such a good cast it really was a wasted opportunity. But if s*** like that gets made with such good actors, then there's hope for all of us aspiring screenwriters.

I really must go now. Have fun.

Al.

P.S thanks for the good wishes for my trip. If I do brake a leg, then at least I'll have no excuse not to stay still and write!

Dude, where's my own spellcheck?!? Break a leg, I think...

Ah, I see the pitchforks are out again against the big, bad, nasty agents. Dear oh dear, it's a good job I'm not sensitive about these things. Now of course, I can only talk about the agency I work for, or the practices of friends who work in other agencies, but I can tell you this:

I'm afraid I'm the most junior person in the office, and I'm the one who reads all the scripts we get sent. So yes, you're hitting the people on the bottom rung - but then I'm one of only two people who work here! (So you're not that far off the top!) Inevitably, there's no way that agents can spend their time going through the slush pile. They have to delegate the job to someone else, but I think most of them have the sense to employ people who know what they're looking for. No one wants to miss the next J.K. Rowling.

Maybe I'm just too young and innocent in the ways of the world, but I can't imagine anyone passing on ideas from the slush pile to their existing clients. It has never even occurred to me to do that, and I really don't think that agents spend their time plotting evil schemes.

The reason I don't believe it is because there's one thing you've all forgotten: nearly everything that arrives on my desk via the slush pile is DREADFUL[/B]. I mean unbelievably bad. There aren't enough good ideas in the slush pile for me to start handing them out to other authors. This website contains a lot of talent, as we all know, but it is not indicative of the usual slush pile standard. I get letters from people who are barely literate. I have scripts sent to me from Italy with a beautiful covering letter, but the book itself is still in Italian! I read scripts about the lives of pebbles; about the adventures of Space Knights on the planet Wildsex; about the civil servant career of an obscure relative of the author's. I get hand written scripts that are barely legible. The reason the majority of new writers on the slush pile never get published is not because agents are conspiring against the underdog, it's because they're simply not good enough.

Let me make it quite clear that I am not talking about writers on this website, or those of you who have had work rejected by agents in the past. I'm talking about the numerous scripts from people who don't seem to have opened a book or watched a film in their lives. And they make up the bulk of the pile. I agree with previous comments that we probably have the home computer to thank for it - Bill Gates has a lot to answer for!

So yes, I understand concern about copyright, but it's almost impossible to prove these days, and it does often happen that world events or current trends lead people to come up with similiar ideas by accident. As long as you're careful about who you show a full manuscript to, I wouldn't worry unduly. If anyone knows of a case of an agency stealing an idea for one of their clients, I'd love to hear it; you never know, it might make a great book......

Katie



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Uh-oh. Double whammy of messing up the bold typeface (it was only meant to be one word!) and posting this twice! Sorry about that; now the whole thing looks rather dark and cross! Ah well, I'm off to get my revenge on the computer. Now where did I put that sledgehammer?...