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"Rob Parnell is the foremost writing guru in the world." Vin Smith, Midnight Bookworm.

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Writers - Look Out For Sharks!
RE: Assembled Message Pertinent. Concerning Ourselves

Be aware, there are people out there that will lie, cheat and steal to get hold of your copyright. You'd be amazed at the depths of deceit they will stoop to claim your concept, your story - your writing - as their own.

It's hard to believe in this - the 21st Century - when most everyone knows and respects the value and importance of intellectual property - that there are those that would use almost Dickensian modes of intimidation, trickery and manipulation of the facts to get their own way.

Imagine this scenario.

You wrote a book. It's been published.

You get together with a writing partner and start to develop the book idea into a movie. You contact writers, producers and funding bodies to help get your project off the ground.

A couple of producers bite - and you go see one. Little do you guess that before you've even walked in the door of the production office, your movie credits have been shared out amongst the people you are about to meet. (We could name them - but the legal system doesn't allow - it matters not, they know who they are.)

It makes no difference that you will spend the next two weeks writing a treatment for a movie - in record time, hoping to impress the film company - no, it was already too late. Your concept, your characters, your storylines and even your writing has already been purloined and credit given to someone you barely know, let alone have ever worked with.

Somehow, in some bizarre sleight of hand, this person you'd never met before, has been given ownership of your copyright, your concept, your writing, before you even shook his hand.

You may think this sounds unbelievable.

As they say, truth is stranger than fiction.

It gets worse. You write the screenplay. Everyone is amazed at your skill and speed. They tell you it's the best screenplay they've read in 25 years. It's going to be a blockbuster. Everyone's going to be rich and oh so happy.

But, hold on, say the producers - could you just sign this trifling piece of paper?

And during the negotiations you notice little things like:

1. You don't own the concept anymore. That the person you'd never met or worked with has suddenly claimed that he wrote your book - indeed, it was all his idea!

2. That you didn't actually write all of the screenplay - you just thought you did. But now that is being credited to someone else under the ruse of, well, it was so good, how could you possibly have written it!

3. That, in spite of every writer's agreement that writer's unions have been fighting for since the beginning of time, you have none of those rights. You're just a couple of suckers that walked in off the street and fell for some elaborate scam to get film funding money into the back pockets of the people you barely know.

It's a tragic shame really.

All they had to do was treat the writers with some respect and the movie would have been a lot of fun to make and most probably have made everyone rich.

Now, everyone involved will have to spend years in court, battling over the lies, the deceit and the betrayal.

Never mind, there's always hope.

You'll know better next time.

UPDATE: After a gruelling legal battle, we got the rights back to our story and we are now working with a Hollywood director to make the movie.

There you go - a happy ending!

Keep Writing!

rob@easywaytowrite.com
Your Success is My Concern
The Easy Way to Write

THIS WEEK'S WRITER'S QUOTE:

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Article: "You Wrote a Book, What Now?"
Writer's Quote by McAlexander

 

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"Rob Parnell is the foremost writing guru in the world." Vin Smith, Midnight Bookworm

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