Registering a Screenplay


To register your screenplay, send AN UNBOUND COPY of the script, with a check or money order for twenty dollars (non-WGA members), to:

WGA - West
Registration Dept.
7000 West Third St.
Los Angeles 90048-4329
[see more detailed directions from the WGA website]

Questions? Call: Registration Dept. at 213.782.4540
(Other useful WGA numbers are:
Main Telephone: 213.782.4500
Credits: 213.782.4528
Journal: 213.782.4630
Publications: 213.782.4542
Membership: 213.782.4532)

Include your Social Security Number in a cover letter. They will send you a registration number. Put it in a safe place.

I register my scripts online at WGA-East: http://www.wgaeast.org/cgi-bin/script_registration . Not only is this more convenient, a password-protected ZIP file is sent to the WGA, which is much greater security than the loose script sent by the traditional method.

Canadian scripts can be registered at:

Writers Guild of Canada
35 McCaul St.
Third Floor
Toronto, Ontario Canada
M5T 1V7

You can register your script online with the U.S. Copyright Office at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/forms/ - use Short Form PA. Or by mail (fee is twenty dollars), sending manuscript to:

Copyright Office
Library of Congress
Washington DC 20559-6000


MODULE 11: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

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