When I talk to writers, artists and other creative people with ideas for a film, television show, or other production the first thing they often want to do is start talking to other people about it. Sometimes they only have an idea in mind, or more often they have some pitch materials, a treatment, a bible, some storyboards or an entire screenplay. But whatever it is, they want to get other people excited about their project so they can get their film or television show produced.
I call them "creative entrepreneurs." Their creative aspirations, ideas and materials are often the only assets they have. If they don't establish ownership of these assets they may never see their dreams become realities, or profit from them even if they are produced.
Creators often have little idea how important it is to establish ownership of their creations before venturing into the competitive and often-contentious U.S. entertainment industry. Some know enough to register their treatments and scripts with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) registry service. But generally only the ones who've been around long enough to have learned the hard way will have obtained U.S. copyright registrations.
Copyright registration is relatively easy and inexpensive, and offers considerable benefits to copyright owners, so there is every reason to do so. These benefits cannot be obtained by any other method (including the WGA registry service). Failure to obtain a timely copyright registration can result in significant consequences, potentially leaving the writer, artist or other creator without effective means to pursue theft, plagiarism and infringement.
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