If You Have A Screenplay Worth Millions, Shouldn't You Back It Up?
from the courts-think-so dept
Here's a fun story for a Friday. It appears that a guy who had written three screenplays (creatively titled: "Color of Tulip," "Blood on Ice," and "Blood on Seven Hills") saved them all to his desktop and didn't bother backing them up. At one point, he had entered into negotiations to sell the screenplays for $2.7 million, but those talks never went anywhere. However, sometime after this, he signed up for DSL from SBC (now AT&T). When the technician came to his house to install the DSL, he tried to "help" by cleaning up the "unused" items on the guy's desktop -- which, of course, included the screenplays. Eventually, SBC paid for data recovery (and fired the technician), which seems fair. The data recovery process didn't fully work, since it wasn't done until quite some time after the files were deleted, by which point the data had been overwritten. However, the guy wanted more, claiming that the screenplays were worth the millions he never actually got in a signed deal. The courts, however, appear to disagree, with a jury noting that he was also at fault for not making a backup of such "valuable" files. While it's true that the tech never should have deleted the files, it's a bit of a stretch to believe that they're worth millions without any deal in place. The lack of a backup suggests that the guy didn't even value the content enough to do the most basic of backups.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Re: Aaron
No, the author just mentioned that some of the 4,134 files that overwrote the screenplays were Napster and RealPlayer files.
I can almost guarantee that the guy who 'talked' to the screenplay-writer about paying him $2.7 million only testfied because the guy promised him a cut of the settlement.
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Re: Re: Aaron
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Re:
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litigation USA
I worked in a small repair shop and we get them to sign a form absolving us of any liability in the event of data loss. Remember when you didn't need a lawyer to work in IT.
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1001 ways to make $$ on the net
I find a sleazy Hollywood type, enter into faux negotiations worth millions, delete some non-existant 'screenplays' from my machine and sue the last tech to touch it.
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HaHaHaHa
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Bright
Of course I use writely to write so Google does my back ups...
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It really is just a disaster waiting to happen and a nasty, nasty trick MS plays on its customers.
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Clean Up
Still the user should have backed them up, that's just common sense.
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Studio Have a Copy
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Studio Have a Copy? No
If he had given the studio a copy they wouldn't need to buy it. Hollywood does NOT operate on the honor system. When selling a script, you give the studio what's called a script treatment, a couple page summary of the characters & plot (studio execs don't have time to read scripts anyway).
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a stab at Music Piracy?
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First
Second, get a friggin clue buddy. Saving documents to your desktop, the guy probably had hundreds of icons on his desktop. I can't stand moronic people that don't LEARN how to use computers, they just are lazy and drop files on the desktop because they are too stubborn to figure out how to do things properly.
In any case, I agree that this case would have been tossed out. I mean if the guy got paid and then the files were deleted, and he had to return the money, there would be damages, but not before he sold the screenplays.
Finally, 2.7 million for 3 screen plays? The average Hollywood screen play for unknown or first time writers is around $100,000, and that is being generous. Who is this guy, Michael Crichton?
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Re: First
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...which says to me that they were not that important.
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duh
z
ps - if this post gets deleted accidently just drop a line - i have it backed up on 4 different drives
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Advice for the budding screenwriter...
For the benefit of those who don't know about the business of screenwriting, it's pretty clear that this guy knew nothing.
Here's what you're supposed to do. You write your screenplay (though you should probably even do this with a treatment), then you print out a copy and seal it in an envelope. You lodge this with the local Writer's Guild.
Then, and only then, can you start negotiating.
This serves multiple purposes, the most important of which is that if, after negotiations fail, you find the studio coming out with a similar film, you have proof that you had the story earlier.
If this "writer" had taken this basic precaution, he'd still have his screenplay today. Incidentally, AFAIK it costs no more to lodge a CD in the same envelope as your hard copy. A small price to pay for an off-site backup.
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Recycle Bin?
The more important question is why no backup?
Hasn't this guy ever heard of floppy, cd, dvd, external hard drive, Acronis True Image, Ghost, USB drive, Zip Drive, tape backup, offsite backup, etc?
BMR
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Umm
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Umm
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Screenplay worth millions
In the case of intellectual property, such as written memoirs, manuscripts, screenplays, etc. it is difficult to assign a value, and in most cases the property cannot be recovered nor replaced with new materials.
I suppose it is possible to purchase insurance for protecting intellectual property, but the difficulty of assigning a value is still unresolved.
My grandmother wrote an auto-biography and I have the original manuscript. It was never published, and yet is totally irreplaceable. It cannot be re-created should be accidently damaged.
Suppose someone came into my home, and damaged this "priceless" manuscript. Perhaps, I had it in my kitchen where I was reading it, and the repairman accidently spilled water on the manuscript rendering it unusable. Is the repairman liable for damages? How much?
Am I liable for handling the manuscript carelessly by leaving it in my kitchen? Did I cause the repairman to accidently spill water? Could I forsee that someone could spill water in my kitchen onto my "priceless" manuscript?
Should I take reasonable steps to safeguard my manuscript from accidental damage?
I am sure everyone has "priceless" possessions, that are not protected from damage. Yet when someone accidently damages my stuff in my home, I would expect them to compensate me for my loss.
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True writers don't trust computers to store script
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Backups are hard... Print button is easy.
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Should have used this...
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They'll do it every time (with apologies to Jimmy
Washington Post, 12/22/05
Student Finds a Stolen Thesis by Thinking Like a Thief
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Seems to me...
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2 Words - US DataVault
I learned the hard way last year and lost everything and started backing up everything with US DataVault offsite.
Sure enough, my son got on my computer and erased all of my documents last week. All I can say is, thank God I had that service.
And no, I'm not an employee, I just like the service :-)
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1 Word
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Two old an Relevant Sayings...
The first 3 rules of computers.
1: Backup
2: BACKUP
3: See rules 1 and 2
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When I, or anyone working in my department is on someones comnputer you delete nothing without asking. Although my understanding on the way unions work with screenwriting there shouldnt be anyway that another copy of his workn shoulnt exist, and the lawsuit is riduculous. (Not to mention any data revovery software could bring these files back) the AT&T was still an idiot.
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rick morris
If you invite someone into your home then I would say, yes, the damage they cause is your responsibility.
You're the same guy who trips on someone else's property and blames them for it. In any case, is anything ever your fault or do you constantly pass blame?
Take some responsibility. You write passionately about it "being your stuff in your house." They're also "your guests" and it's "your responsibility to ensure that your valuable belongings are secured when your guests are about."
You define the value of that manuscript by your actions you take with it. If you leave it out while company is around, you also agree to take the risks associated with that. The same with hired help. In the case of the movers you mention, you are paying them to "safely move" the items, and thus compensation for damage can be expected. In the case of you leaving out your precious memiors when the electrician comes over, then you may as well tell me that your delicate stained glass floors are damaged when you asked a squad of tap dancing elephants over to watch TV with you. The manuscript and the electrician have nothing to do with each other, and if you left it in his way then be a man about the consequences.
In the case of this article, the whole thing was likely a scam. The worth of digital files is often under debate - and in this case, the judge was right.
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No Backup?
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the fact
It was a plot by this guy to earn some unearned money.
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oh man
Now, the people linked from the following page ... on the other hand, wrote and produced a real entertaining movie with their own screenplay ! :) .. available for free over the net ->
http://starbase.globalpc.net/~xmx/starwreck.php
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backup backup
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Should be using
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online backup for students
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I have a crap full of files, mainly music and movies burnt in DVDS and CDS in about two spindles worth.
I have a feeling that I would need 2 8GB USB keys and one external hard drive to back up all of my stuff. As precaution back up the external hard drive.
I hear the new external toaster hard drive dock stations are adequate
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