Let’s say you’ve got a great idea for a movie or TV show, but you’re scared that someone will steal your idea. This article will help you to understand how you can protect your ideas and stop them from being stolen.
It’s important to understand that a good idea can be worth millions of dollars. That’s why copyrighting and protecting your ideas are important—but nowhere near as difficult as you might imagine. In fact, protecting your ideas has never been easier. But first, let’s talk a little bit about ideas in Hollywood. Ideas are gold. Yet, at the same time, an idea is just a seed that is yet to bear fruit.
A lot of people worry that their ideas will be stolen when they pitch a movie or TV show, but the truth is—stealing ideas is very rare in Hollywood. Legit professionals in Hollywood will do whatever it takes to avoid stealing ideas at all costs. This is for a couple of simple reasons:
1) Stealing an idea is expensive. It will most likely cost the person who steals the idea their career as well as a lawsuit.
2) Stealing an idea and getting away with it is almost impossible nowadays.
It’s Easy To Protect Your Ideas
Did you know that the Hollywood movies The Terminator (1984) and The Island (2005) were both made from stolen ideas. And what happened when the people who came up with the original ideas found out? They sued the studios and filmmakers who made the movies and received millions of dollars in compensation.
Now I want to be clear about one thing here. It’s very simple and easy to copyright a specific expression of your idea (for example, a novel, screenplay, TV pilot, play, etc.) It is a little bit more difficult to protect an idea that is just a concept, logline, theme or title for a movie/TV show. As an example, let’s imagine the following scenario: You have just come up with the idea for a science fiction movie where aliens invade earth.
Now, this would be considered a core concept. You don’t own this idea. There are already lots of movies about aliens invading earth (Mars Attacks, Independence Day, Men In Black etc.) However, if you had an outline of your story that was very similar to Mars Attacks or Independence Day, then you would definitely have a case that someone stole your idea.
Protecting Your Movie/TV Idea
The good news is that it’s now easier than ever to protect your ideas, especially in the digital age. I remember speaking to a lot of creative people in Hollywood and they would always say, “I really want to tell you about my idea, but I don’t want anyone to steal it. Please sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) first.”
Please don’t do this!
This is an amateur move and it’s really not necessary, unless a producer or agent requests it first. The only things you have to do are the following:
1) Protect your idea by making a copy of everything on your computer. Everything on your computer is recorded and time/date-stamped. This means that if anything happens, it’s very easy to submit the files on your computer and these will stand up in a court of law in any legal dispute.
2) Register your idea, treatment or screenplay with the WGA or the US Copyright Office.
Get Your Idea Out There
The worst thing a person can do is to keep their ideas inside their head and not share it with the rest of the world. If you have a great idea then you need to get it out there. Holding onto your best ideas is like stuffing millions of dollars into your mattress and never spending it—it loses all its value.
The same is true for great ideas.
They’re no use just sitting inside your head—you need to get them out there. The best way to do that is to protect your ideas first, write them down, then pitch your ideas to producers and studios to try to turn your idea into reality. I always remember one man in his mid-fifties who pitched an idea to myself and my colleague a couple of years back. This guy had been holding onto his idea since his early twenties!
His idea was a comedy about a man who keeps making these terrible mistakes, the movie also shows his distant relatives making the same mistakes during the American Revolution and the caveman days. The movie ends when the man breaks the cycle in the twenty-first century where he finally finds happiness.
The amazing thing is that this man had held onto this idea for thirty years. I asked him why he suddenly decided to pitch this idea to us and he said this, which I’ll never forget: “I’ve had this idea swimming around my head all these years, I finally realized that if I didn’t do something with it, I would take this idea with me to my grave.”
In the end, this guy ended up selling his pitch to another producer for well over six figures. If you have the chance to get your idea out there, don’t worry about it being stolen. Protect yourself using the simple steps outlined above, then pitch your idea to everyone who can turn it into a movie or TV show.
*Liz Fairbanks has worked as a reader, development assistant, and talent agent in Los Angeles over the last seven years. Liz loves traveling, reading and yoga. Liz also works as a freelance consultant for Script Mailer (a company that connects screenwriters with agents and producers in Hollywood).