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Can I Comment I Made Change Final Draft?

By September 18, 2011 Posted in Copyright

So I was at the Creative Screenwriting magazine Screenwriting Expo this weekend to do my annual speech on Legal Issues for Screenwriters (which went great, by the way, thanks for asking), and I ran into Zack Gutin, who is Director of Studio Relations for Final Draft.  I’ve met Zack a few times over the years and he’s a super nice guy, and we got to talking about Final Draft.  Although Final Draft is a great program for screenwriting, one thing that has always bothered me about the program is this: For many years the program included a button to allow users to instantly register their script with the WGA Script Registry (which readers of this blog know I hate).  However, there was no corresponding button to allow registration with the Copyright Office (which is so much more important than WGA Registration).  In fact, I believe that the fact that Final Draft only includes a link to the WGA, is the reason so many screenwriters mistakenly believe that it preferable, or more important than registration with the Copyright Office.

So I mentioned this to Zack, and explained to him why registration with the Copyright Office is so important, and asked him why Final Draft couldn’t include a link to the Copyright Office in their next upgrade.  Zack agreed that adding a link to the Copyright Office would be simple and told me that he would bring it up to the development people when he got back to the office on Monday.  So, let’s see what happens.  But if the next version of Final Draft includes a link to the Copyright Office (as it should), you’ll know why.

Hey, Movie Magic Screenwriter, I’m talking to you too.

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