“The quality of their work is impressive. And there is no greater protection
and exposure for a screenplay writer than publishing a script though M3 Publishing.”
– Stanley Mann
Oscar nominated screenplay writer
Full Service Publishing Solutions For Select Authors For Over 40 Years
“They took my screenplay and made it a masterpiece. Its presentation is so professional, and anybody can have access to my work anywhere in the world. Thank you guys!”
– Nicky Shane
Screenplay writer
If your work is taken without your permission and ends up on film or television then you become the victim of copyright infringement. But how do you protect yourself and your work, and as importantly, if your work is taken against your knowledge or permission, how do you stop the infringement and get credit and payment?
There are three steps, or tests that the courts of law will use in determining whether or not an author’s copyright has been infringed upon.
1. The author must be able to prove that he or she created the original work. And remember, only works can be protected, ideas can’t.
2. The Author must have registered and protected the work giving notice that the author claims ownership and has the intent to protect the work as their own. Note that in a court of law, the only legitimate registration recognized by the court is official registration through the U. S. Copyright Office and/or the Library of Congress. Although registration through industry organizations such as The Writers Guild of America is recommended and helpful, WGA registration alone is not evidence enough according to law to uphold copyright ownership.
3. The author must prove “Access”, and this is the most difficult test when it comes to copyright infringement cases. Proving access means that the author must show that the person who has stolen their work had reasonable access to the work. Traditionally most copyright infringement cases have been thrown out of court because the author can’t prove that the person who is using their idea had access to the work. The infringer can easily claim what is known as Independent Creative Coincidence. This means that they coincidentally came up with a substantially similar idea at the same time by coincidence. The problem is, that there are times when more than one author may coincidentally come up with similar ideas. Therefore being able to prove access is crucial to the protection of a copyrighted work.
So now, M3 Publishers is the first to provide the Screenwriter Protection Program. With this program, we publish your screenplay in book form, and immediately your published screenplay is copyrighted legally through the U.S. Copyright Office, and then distributed worldwide through the widest publishing distribution channels available. By making your work available to bookstores all over the world as well as online marketplaces including Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com, the most difficult test of access is easily met. In fact, by letting M3 Publishers publish your screenplay in book form and distribute it worldwide, you have more than satisfied all 3 tests to prove and protect against copyright infringement for the author.
The best part of the Screenwriter Protection Program is that it is very fast and reasonably priced. You send us your screenplay, we’ll design a cover for you and have your work published in just a few days. Your book will be available in bookstores all over the world and appear on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com and other Internet marketplace sites worldwide almost immediately. And we’ll even file your screenplay with the U.S. Copyright Office for you, and if you want registration with the WGA (Writers Guild of America) we do that as well.
Contact us for a quote today before your next pitch!
