Posted by Arturo Bandini at 66-168-209-20.charterga.net on August 05, 2003 at 18:40:54:
In Reply to: Re: Scripts only get circulated if they are releas posted by Era on August 05, 2003 at 18:26:03:
Despite my conspiratorial nature, I'm doubting this.
Hollywood is a very litigous town. A producer won't even look at a unsolicited script. I've even read that a producer will have two execs sit in on a meeting just to hear a pitch, so that there are witnesses of what was said. If a writer other than B&M had written GWH, they'd all be in court.
But, you say, the writer signed a contract saying that he'd get his rent paid if he signed over all rights to the movie. Well, once the faux "writers" were winning Academy awards, the real writer would open their mouth pretty damn fast. Or maybe the writer is getting his full percentage of the movie's worth, and just assigning credit to B&M. Again, s/he'd eventually tell someone, word would get out, and from what I understand that wouldn't sit well with the Writer's Guild, which pretty much exist to make sure that the right writer gets credit for their work.
Still, I think you just laid out an idea for a short story. Go work on it -- it might even sell :)