It's pretty well-known, I think.

What am I supposed to do with my name? It doesn't actually end in an s, just an s sound. But if the Buffistas are saying s's for everyone except Moses and Jesus, and I'm evidently not them, I suppose it's s's for me. Liese's.

The issue with Jesus and Moses is that they already have a double s, so Jesus's makes a triple s. Liese's does look a little weird, but I'm pretty sure it's correct.

The first, and smartest thing you can do is investigate whether somebody...the writer's estate, a company, the publisher...owns the rights to the material still. Then you may have to negotiate for the rights and pay some money. That's if you want to be able to write it, send it off to a studio and hamper their ability to say "Neat idea. Yoink!"

Another option, if you don't want to buy the rights but still want to write it and potentially sell it to a studio, is to write the treatment and immediately register it with the WGA. Registering is cheap (around $25) and you don't have to be a member of the Writer's Guild. This is not the same as copyright or anything, but if you were to ship it to a studio and they tried to "yoink" it, you would at least have established "Dude, I wrote this a year ago" or whatever.

The (potential) advantage to this route is that you can write the treatment or the screenplay, shop it to a studio and let them wrangle with purchasing the rights to the original material. Once they've done that, you can start talking money.

As I understand it, you're not necessarily in violation of copyright, or at least not to an extent that anyone would care about, until you get paid. So it's a timing thing; if you write it without owning the rights and sell it before the rights are acquired, you're in trouble. If you write it without acquiring the rights, talk to a studio, they acquire the rights and then you sell it, you're probably okay.

Again, though, this is not expertise talking here. You may want to contact an entertainment attorney.

You may want to contact an entertainment attorney.

MM's got Sage advice here. Hollywood's gota billion of 'em. You might want to check on something like wwww.scriptsales.com. Also, registering your script (you can do it on-line now) can protect what's unique to you. In anaycase, write and register the script before you shop it, alse heartbreak will ensure.

Copywrite is a weird thing. For the most part, you are correct about the "dead fifty years" rule. That's true unless the writing's publisher, screenplay rights holder or family are cagey. H.P. lovecraft's work should have gone into public domain a short while ago, but his estate has managed to circumvent it. (Helped, in part, by the fact that they're very generous with granting permission.)

H.P. lovecraft's work should have gone into public domain a short while ago, but his estate has managed to circumvent it. (Helped, in part, by the fact that they're very generous with granting permission.)

Too generous in my opinion. Anybody else see the movie Dagon? Feh, with a double helping of ptui.

Too generous in my opinion. Anybody else see the movie Dagon? Feh, with a double helping of ptui.

It's SG, of course they're gonna grant permission. I missed it at the Film Fest, though the masses liked it. But, we were only there for the one P. worked on.

Thanks a lot for that MM.

The writer in question has been dead for a long time, and everyone and his dog has made adaptations. I've just fixated on the Novel That Everyone Forgot. I saw Michael Douglas as the villain while reading it and the whole thing just fell into place. All I need now is some time to write it, and, er, well, talent? Never even thought about screenplays before. I know how to format them..?

What's the book I should now go out and buy? The no-nonsense, insider-knowledge, been-to-hell-and-back-and-here-to-tell-the-tale seminal book on how to write a movie screenplay? I've read all kinds of cool William Goldman gossipy stuff but I want practicalities.

John, Look around www.scriptsales.com. You'll find everything you need.

One more version of my Berkeley application essay. My major issues here: some of the phrasing seems kind of awkward, but I can't figure out how to make it better. There are a few places where I use the same word (appreciate, enjoy) a few times within a paragraph, and I'd like to not do that. Contractions: do I use them? Or not? Any other comments/issues? (And don't worry, I won't be posting a million of these here. Once I've got this one down, I can just revise certain parts to use for other schools. Berkeley is my first choice school and the first application due, so I'm focusing on getting this one done well first.)

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The main reason that Berkeley is my first-choice school is the strong logic program and the option to concentrate in Foundations of Mathematics. I’ve take one course in the mathematical and logical foundations of computer science, and I plan to take a course in model checking next semester.

I participated in an REU at Cal Poly this summer, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to participate in research and writing. I have appreciated my liberal arts undergraduate education, but I found this summer that I really enjoy being able to focus all my academic energies on math.

I have been president of the Tulane branch of Women in Science since sophomore year. I’ve appreciated the support structure this organization created, and I’ve tried to arrange at least one program dealing with mathematics each year, so I would be very interested in being involved with the Noetherian Ring. I have also been a member of second- and third-place teams for the Louisiana Math Skirmish and the MAA Regional competition, and I placed in the intradepartmental Putnam competition in 2001.

I also have experience teaching. I have been a math tutor for undergraduate and high school students, I have volunteered as a math and computer teacher for elementary school programs, and I am currently working as a grader for a calculus class.

A few suggested edits:

The main reason that Berkeley is my first-choice school is the strong logic program and the option to concentrate in Foundations of Mathematics.

Berkeley is my first-choice school because of its strong logic program and the option to concentrate in Foundations of Mathematics.

I’ve take one course

I'm sure this is just a typo, but make sure it's corrected to "I've taken" before you mail the app.

I have appreciated my liberal arts undergraduate education

I value my liberal arts....

I’ve appreciated the support structure this organization created, and I’ve tried to arrange at least one program dealing with mathematics each year, so I would be very interested in being involved with the Noetherian Ring.

I’ve appreciated the support structure this organization created, and I’ve tried to arrange at least one program dealing with mathematics each year. If I am accepted at Berkeley, I plan to become involved in the Noetherian Ring.