Entertainment lawyer Nicole Page breaks down the basics for someone looking to break into the entertainment industry and identifies some of the most common legal mistakes to avoid.
Nicole weighs in on how ownership is determined for a particular idea, a situation that frequently comes up in Hollywood when multiple people are vying for the same idea to develop a project. “There’s this concept that’s been created called ‘idea theft.’ Under copyright law, you cannot protect an idea, an idea is supposed to be as free as the air and everyone can share them, and that’s supposed to help the creative process.”
But she said that over time this concept of “idea theft” developed, which tends to overlap with existing copyright infringement laws.
“I actually have a real problem with idea theft because I feel like there’s copyright law – which in order to be protected under copyright law – you have to do more than come up with an idea. You actually have to write a screenplay, or you have to at least write a proposal or a treatment, and then there are ways to protect it.”
One crucial piece of advice Nicole gives to aspiring writers is to ignore registering their scripts with the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA), and instead register them with the copyright office. “The key thing about registering with the copyright office is that if someone does infringe on your work – and you have a registration – you will not have to prove actual damages.”
Nicole points out the significance of this is that the burden of proof shifts from you to the court, which must determine actual damages – up to $250,000 per incident of infringement – or the case could be backed by the court, but ultimately settled out of court.
Watch the full episode for more tips for breaking into Hollywood, including what initial steps to take to secure financing for a project.
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