It is imperative that writers take appropriate steps to protect their creative writing. We all know about the cold cruel world out there, but this weariness needs to extend to cyberspace. Writers protect your work. If you upload it to the internet, make sure you upload it to reputable sites.
It has recently come to my attention that a fellow screenwriter had a “short script” stolen. This is what happened: the screenwriter uploaded the script to several sites. An unscrupulous person read the script “online”, downloaded it, and offered it ”for production” as his creation. He found someone to make his screenplay into a movie but, when the project was advertised online, the caper and theft was uncovered.
One of the places this screenplay was uploaded was at MoviePoet.com. Now this isn’t where the theft took place but, by being part of the MoviePoet.com community, this “theft” was thwarted. A fellow MPer saw the advertised project and brought it to everyone’s attention.
The writer contacted the director and was furnished a copy of the script. There was no doubt the script was stolen and the writer was able to prove he had written it. This short script will still be filmed BUT THE REAL WRITER will get all credit. I have read this script. It is excellent and I am glad it was resolved to the writer’s satisfaction.
I’m told investigation has resulted in discovering at least eight other scripts that were “stolen” by this no-good thief. The name of the thief is Oz Rudd but no one knows for sure if this is his real name. Apparently he is from Serbia but we can’t be sure about that either.
This time someone tried to steal a short screenplay. But it could have been a short story or a feature length script or a novel. In any case, WRITERS, TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF. Make sure you have dated records of your work. Some of the things you can do include: (1) registering it with the WGA, (2) copyrighting it with the federal government, (3) posting it on a (reputable) website.
Do something to protect yourself. Never forget that it’s a cold cruel world out there…
“Library Books at Police Headquarters”
Update to this post on 2/16/12
Stefan Simonovic is aka Oz Rudd
If you would like further information about this, please check with SimplyScripts.com, Stake Productions (http://www.facebook.com/pianotheshort), MoviePoet.com, and Stage32.com.


