A good resource for Copyright information?

[Anthus]

Okay, I have checked all the major players one should hit up when looking for information, but not only have I found conflicting information, but some shit just seems outright incorrect. I have debating about posting this here, since most people are like "Hey dumbass, why don't you fucking search on the internet?" but I have. Anyway, I just want a good site that explain the protocol for getting a "book" or other writing published, and to NOT have it raped by film makers. Not saying this would ever happen to me, but I am wondering how it works. As I currently understand it, you generally sell the rights, or "license" your work to a publisher so they can print it. Now, they own the rights to it, and can then sell it to studios. So like, is there a legal way around this? It is very hard to find anything solid on it, anywhere.

tl;dr: How do you keep the rights to your work if you have something published so it can't be raped by those unoriginal Hollywood fucks?

Oh, and one more thing. I'm not saying I'm the best writer ever and anything I publish would automatically be on the top list of every film maker, I am just wondering how this works. Just in general, with anything, I would like to keep the rights to anything I produce.

Thank you, and don't be a cynical dick about it either :p

[Aliem]

I'm pretty sure a studio has to buy the rights to make the film from the author. If an author doesn't want a film made based on his or her work, all the author has to do is turn down the load of cash being offered. That's why The Catcher in the Rye was never made into film, Salinger refused to sell the rights.

[Anthus]

Hmm. That's what I thought, but I've heard stuff, probably incorrect about "derivative works" which apparently means a story or concept can be transferred to another medium without securing the authors permission. :shrug:


EDIT: But what about Stuff like Watchmen? Allan Moore definitely did not want his comics made into movies. Anthony Burgess hated the fact the A Clockwork Orange was made into a movie. He said the story was taken in the wrong direction, and it made him go as far to say he wishes he didn't write the book. Needless to say, neither author was thrilled about their work being made into a movie, and they could not stop it.

I can understand with comic books, I guess, since the publisher owns part of it, but I wish there was a line which could be pointed to :/

[AtmaWeapon]

A lawyer is a good source. Even if there's a very well-maintained guide for laymen online, if it contains any errors you are in trouble. If a lawyer gives you advice that is wrong, you have some recourse.

I am not a lawyer, but my wife is an aspiring author and has spent a lot of time in discussion with some successful published authors. Here's what I've gleaned.

When you write a work, it is instantly copyrighted. You can sell these rights to others for various reasons; this is what the modern-day publishing industry revolves around.

You can self-publish and retain all rights. This means you have to find a way to print the books and pay for it all up-front. Bookstores won't carry it unless you convince them it will sell; you have to visit them and convince them to give you shelf space. If you want advertisement, you pay for it. If you want signings, you call the bookstores, make arrangements, and pay for travel. But when Hollywood comes knocking, you can try to negotiate full creative control by hiring a really good lawyer. Self-publishing is difficult if you don't have thousands of dollars of liquid capital.

Publishing handles a lot of this for you. The publisher pays for printing, talks to bookstores, advertises, makes cover art, edits, sets up reviews, arranges and pays for signings, and gives you a loan in the form of an advance. You get to write your book with money in your pocket, and don't have to worry about all the other things. Publishers take different degrees of ownership of rights to your works. You might negotiate a contract that doesn't make rights transferable; that means if Hollywood wants options they'll have to go through you. Or you might decide to let them have free reign. I've heard that in general, the more rights you reserve for yourself, the less money and help you get from a publisher. (Unless you're already a superstar author. Stephen King likely doesn't have to spend much time in negotiation.)

It works similarly with Hollywood. Books aren't written for the screen, and will always require some editing to work. If you want to retain full creative control, be prepared to have a much harder time landing a phat contract. If the studio doesn't think your work is marketable as-is, they're going to pass. Unless you're James Cameron or have similar proof that you can produce a marketable screenplay on your own they're going to get really nervous about giving you full control. Nervous execs pay less money or simply don't take deals.

Maybe you care more about the integrity of your work than profit. If that's the case, you'll probably have a much harder time going through publishers until you have proved your books sell themselves. Look at it this way: publishers and movie studios are investors. They analyze your work, decide how much money it will make, and offer you compensation for writing. If they balance the equation wrong, they can lose millions of dollars and decades of man-effort. Everything you do that makes them feel unsafe makes them see red numbers on the balance sheet.

[Anthus]

Nervous execs pay less money or simply don't take deals.


This is true. This is why most movies suck. They "play it safe" and try to appeal to a wide audience. This is one reason I love Kickass so much. It says "Fuck you, we're doing this our way, and people will love it". It was privately funded. A lot of Hollywood studios wanted to get rid of Hit-Girl, and she is one of the best things, IMO.


Maybe you care more about the integrity of your work than profit. If that's the case, you'll probably have a much harder time going through publishers until you have proved your books sell themselves.

Yeah, that's true too. You can't really blame them for not wanting to risk millions. Most of us can't truly even imagine how much money that is :s.


A lawyer is a good source. Even if there's a very well-maintained guide for laymen online, if it contains any errors you are in trouble. If a lawyer gives you advice that is wrong, you have some recourse.

I've considered talking to a lawyer before. Thank you for you reply. It kind of confirms some things I thought. I was pretty sure, for the most part that when you go to a publisher, the details are negotiated upon, and the less money they can make off of it, A) The better the book better be, and B) The less money they'll make.

I care more about the integrity of my work. I like to think I'm not unreasonably pretentious about it either. I mean, everyone knows you gotta give some to get some. My main concern was more or less the protocol someone has to go through to obtain rights, but yeah.

As for "self publishing" I would think any one who does that in today's day and age would probably use some sort of e-book format to reduce, or get rid of paper, and printing costs. Of course, then, you got to worry about piracy, and all that. Oh, and everything you write is copyrighted from that second, but it is generally a good idea to get it copyrighted on paper so it won't turn into a he-said-she-said.

Thanks for the reply.