I have a great idea I want to send to Steven Spielberg - I know he
takes an interest in this sort of thing. I'm actually writing a book
about this, but I think he may be interested in making a movie about
the idea.
My questions are
1)If I was to call DreamWorks studios, is there anything I can do to
ensure the idea is not taken away & used without giving me anything in
return ?
2) Any tips on making this venture succeed ? (ie who to call)

Hello dogsbollocks,

I understand that you would like to send your book to Dreamworks
studios and sell them to rights to make a screenplay.

Here is the telephone number and address for Dreamworks Studios:

DreamWorks SKG 
1000 Flower Street, Glendale, CA 91201
Telephone: (818)733-7000
Website: http://www.dreamworks.com
Source: http://www.dreamworksfansite.com/company/

I think that you will have great difficulty getting your book to
Steven Spielberg directly, and that it would be best to phone the
number given in this answer to find out how to mail your idea to them
for review. I highly doubt that Dreamworks Studios would attempt to
use your work without compensating you, because you could then easily
sue them in court if you could prove they stole your idea. One way of
protecting yourself would be to mail a few sealed copies of the script
to yourself (when the post office stamps the date) you can basically
prove that you wrote it yourself at the specific time. Even better
security would be to get it published first, and then sell the rights
to a studio.

If your book is going to be published, there is no way any studio
would attempt to "rip off" the idea. Usually studios who want to make
a movie out of a book will race each other for obtaining the rights to
the book in question. I see no problem with sending your book to
DreamWorks, but they might only accept the screenplay form, (you can
find out by phoning them directly).

There are various companies that can help you get your idea ready and
give you tips on how to sell it as well:
One company is http://www.onthepage.tv/

I do believe that you will find the second post in this forum
informative:
http://pub18.ezboard.com/fscriptsecretsmajorproducersandstudios.showMessage?topicID=6.topic

This suggests that you want to actually look for a producer instead of
a studio at this point. Another thing I suggest is that you be more
open and willing to work with other studios as well. As great as
Dreamworks Studios might be, I am sure that they have often turned
away great ideas and scripts.

This forum appears to have many industry insiders answering questions
for people such as yourself: http://pub18.ezboard.com/bscriptsecrets I
found numerous posts under the "Selling Your Script" that you will
probably find interesting.

If you need any clarifications regarding this answer, please let me
know and I will do my best to further assist you.

tisme-ga


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Request for Answer Clarification by dogsbollocks-ga on 18 Feb 2003 05:02 PST

Thanks Tisme,

One clarification please - the book is not yet published, and so if I
was to call Dreamworks it would be with an idea only.

For example – you may have heard the story about a woman living inside
the Statue of Liberty. Apparently a film studio took it up, netting
the “creator” $50,000.

My question is how to protect this idea, especially if it is passed on
verbally.

---

Clarification of Answer by tisme-ga on 18 Feb 2003 06:30 PST

Hello dobsbollocks,

I do not recommend that you pass the idea on to anyone in verbal form.
As hard as it may be, you have a better chance maintaining the idea if
you publish the book first.

The only other thing would be to find a co-writer good at writing
scripts and the two of your could come up with a script and then try
to sell it to Dreamworks.

You could send an idea in written form to the company after talking to
them on the phone, but chances are they will only accept actual
scripts.

All the best,

tisme-ga

Hi!

You may want to look at this site so you could protect your work.

http://www2.nypl.org/smallbiz/business/trademark/trprint.htm

Thanks!

Your idea will be more marketable if you develop it into a screenplay
(or at least the outline for a screenplay) and acquire an agent; few
movie studios accept unsolicited manuscripts.

"Because the industry is deluged with so many bad screenplays, most
producers and most executives return unsolicited manuscripts unopened,
so as not to waste time and to avoid possible lawsuits from writers
claiming their screenplays were plagiarized," Litwak writes in "Reel
Power."

http://www.wga.org/agentinfo.html