Film Courage: How does a writer protect themselves from being taken advantage of?
Shane Stanley, Filmmaker/Author/Instructor: Again, I think the most important thing a writer can do is obviously they have to copyright their material and that includes the treatments, it includes the script, and you have to take notes of where projects go. I look back at some of the projects I had ripped off and if I had just taken better notes, just documented — who, what, when, where and why I could have stopped them from being taken or at least gotten to partake in its success or failure from a producer or a creator standpoint. I just think it’s too easy for people when we’re coming up we want so bad to have our work accepted, we want to make it so bad whether we’re an actor or a writer. The problem is if you’re…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).


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Related videos:
The Mistake I Made When Hollywood Stole My Screenplay — Shane Stanley
What If Producers Steal Your Screenplay? — Rachel K. Ofori
Screenwriters Shouldn’t Be Afraid Of Their Scripts Being Stolen — Mark Sanderson
Best Way To Protect A Screenplay Is With Copyright — Travis Seppala
Producers Who Try To Scam Filmmakers — Dui Jarrod
An Idea Is Worth Very Little In Hollywood by Gary W. Goldstein



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SCIFI HORROR SEQUEL ‘MANDAO RETURNS‘ NOW STREAMING ON AMAZON PRIME
This is the third feature from Writer/Director Scott Dunn and Producer Gina Gomez Dunn. They successfully raised funds for the sequel via Kickstarter and managed to complete production only 2 days before all film productions shut down due to the pandemic. Because of the lockdowns, Scott Dunn had to tackle post-production by himself (editing, color correction, effects, and sound) and release the flick in time for the holidays.