Rchive

No creation is done in a vacuum. While writing, and especially screenwriting, may seem like the loneliest profession out there, there is a close-knit community offering advice, opinions, and inspiration at every turn. Being that one of the core values of Rchive is our secure sharing and collaborative feedback aspects, we’d like to educate our audience on some of the tools available for today’s screenwriters. Here are some great resources for screenwriters (not including Rchive, of course)!

ScriptChat

Scriptchat was created as to bring amateur and professional screenwriters together. Scriptchat serves to connect, provide advice, and educate about the industry. Through their once a week Twitter chats, practically everyone in the screenwriting trade can connect with established writers to learn and share experience.

Reddit.com/r/Screenwriting

Reddit is more than just a forum for cat videos and memes. The dedicated Screenwriting subreddit provides a place for new writers to engage with industry pros, share advice, and post news and shakeups in the screenwriting world. Looking for feedback? Post your script on r/screenwriting for a captive audience full of opinions. You can also find helpful news, pertinent articles and interesting takes from both inside and outside the industry.

Stage32.com

Stage 32 has made it their mission to provide a place for collaboration and education. Founded by a former aspiring actor and writer, the Stage 32 goal has been to provide a forum for entertainment industry creation by connecting aspiring screenwriters, directors, producers and actors with successful industry insiders. Upload a script, reel, one-pager, or resume and you’ll find someone who wants to work with you to accomplish both your goals. In addition to the networking side of the site, Stage 32 offers free and paid educational classes for every level of Hollywood creative.

The Writer’s Store

When writing a script, an author is oftentimes opening a window to his or her soul. However, that soul may be susceptible to overly expository dialogue, stale characters and so many spelling errors it’s impossible to comprehend. Therefore, the script reader may want to keep a few things in mind when providing feedback on a friend’s, colleague’s, or collaborator’s script.

1. Focus on what works

It may be the worst script you’ve ever read. The characters are cliched, the dialogue could have been written by a 4th-grader, and the plot is so full of lame twists, it’s like M Night Shyamalan’s shopping list. But in the fourth scene, there was an interaction that blew your mind. Make sure you tell the writer that. Tell him first, preferably. Use Rchive’s highlight tool to pinpoint where the writer went wrong… or right.

2. Don’t be too harsh

Along the same lines (hah!) it takes a pretty bold person to reveal what may be a pretty heartfelt and close-to-home script to another human being. Don’t make them regret it by being overly hard on their mistakes. We’ve all had that snide English professor hate all over our compositions in high school or college, so don’t be that guy just because you can. Use Rchive’s text highlight comment box to show what you liked or didn’t like in the script.

3. Spelling errors aren’t that big a deal… Until they are

We all make mistakes. Remember it’s the substance of the script you’re judging, not the grammar or spelling “choices” the author has made. A few typos here and there are hardly anything to write home about, or even mention. But if you can’t parse the meaning of entire passages, or pieces of dialogue without a dictionary, it’s time to say something. Rchive’s strikethrough tool can help pinpoint exactly where the spelling offense took place on the script.

4. When in doubt, mention it

A few pages ago, the really foul-mouthed raccoon’s name was Rex. On page 15, there’s another obscenity-spouting nocturnal rodent named Tex. He has a few lines and disappears, in Rex’s favor. This could potentially confuse future readers, and throw off executives in a pitch meeting. But at the same time, this could have been done on purpose. It’s better to point out a potential inconsistency like this early, in the feedback stage before it has the chance to throw any potential readers off.

5. Don’t be afraid to be honest

You’re halfway through the script and boom! The character you liked the most is killed. By a freak lawn mowing accident. Now, you don’t even feel like finishing the damn thing, because none of the other characters were even remotely likeable or relatable. Is this simply your problem, something not to bother the author about? Well, a lot of potential readers might feel the same way. Surely there’s a reason you had such a strong connection to that character/scene/dialogue. Let the writer know! Remember, you probably won’t be the only person to read the script, so if enough voices are heard, there may be some changes, hopefully for the better. So if something really bothers you in a screenplay, don’t be afraid to say something.

6. Use Rchive’s full suite of commenting tools

That’s what they’re there for! Rchive supplies you with highlights, strikethroughs, drawings, and 3 different types of comment boxes. And best of all, your comments are displayed in real-time, so the author knows who’s commenting and when. Everything is kept directly on top of the screenplay so you don’t have to flip through pages or search through emails for the right feedback. With Rchive’s commenting tools, giving feedback has never been easier! Now if only receiving it could be this easy…

One of the coolest features of Rchive’s e-reader is the ability to give feedback on scripts in real-time. Have you gotten a script you love? Hate? Is incomprehensible due to spelling errors? With Rchive’s annotations, you can show exactly where the writer went right, wrong, and/or lapsed into gibberish. All comments you leave show up directly within the script, not on a sidebar or outside of the document, so you can really pinpoint whatever you’d like.

In addition to that, all your feedback is logged and tracked, so the document owner can see everything you’ve said about his or her screenplay. Let’s talk about the different ways to leave feedback on a screenplay with Rchive.

Highlighting

When you want to draw attention to a certain line, paragraph or passage, hit the highlight button on the bottom of the reader. From here you can choose a color, and then click and drag your cursor across the text you’d like to highlight.

2. Strikethroughs

In the same way, you can call attention to text you think is unnecessary or superfluous with Rchive’s strikethrough tool.

3. Drawing

Circle a passage, add an exclamation point, or throw in a happy face with the pencil, in 4 different shades.

4. Comment Boxes

There are 3 different types of comment boxes, each with their own specific function.

Point:

Comment on a non-text-specific part of a page.

Area:

Good for large-scale comments. Maybe an entire scene or dialogue needs to be changed or rewritten.

Text:

Allows the commenter to highlight certain text and comment on that text. Good for changing specific lines of dialogue or information.

You can always delete your comments while viewing the document. So if you think you made a mistake (or were a little too harsh) you can click on the comment you left and tap the delete button to get rid of it.

Remember to know your audience when leaving comments on a particular script. Now that we know how to comment on the Rchive e-reader, next week we’ll discuss comment etiquette.

Its Friday, so here is some light reading material. Just kidding, let’s take a look at some of the most infamous script leaks throughout history.

1. Citizen Kane

Its no secret that newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst tried his hardest to stop the production of Orson Welles’ masterpiece Citizen Kane. Due to Welles basing his rich, apathetic, somewhat despicable character largely on Hearst, the millionaire wanted nothing more than to see this film buried. The chance came when screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewizc, so enamored with his own work, sent it to his friend Charles Lederer, nephew of Marion Davies, who was Hearst’s mistress at the time. (Interestingly enough, Citizen Kane character Susan Alexander was loosely based on her.) Davies sent the script straight to Hearst who had his lawyers block the premier of the film at Radio City Music Hall, which led to its commercial failure. Fortunately, the film has since become known as one of, if not the greatest of all time. Take that, Hearst.

Lesson #1: If you think your script is so good that a tenuous relative of an infamous rival must see it, talk to your collaborator first.

2. Scream 2

In the early days of the Internet, it was easy to lose sensitive material. It still is, so use Rchive to share your script. But when a draft of Wes Craven’s sequel to the popular Scream film was distributed online, screenwriter Kevin Williamson hustled to change the script, incorporating the leaked ending as part of a red herring to fool in-the-know audiences.

Lesson #2: Don’t upload your script to whatever 1996′s version of Reddit was. Alta Vista, maybe?

3. The Avengers

A full year before the film’s release, an unidentified script thief began shopping around a finished Avengers script. “How much would you pay for The Avengers script?” read the subject line. It turns out that Samuel L. Jackson’s assistant had copied it from an email to print. Someone found the script in the printer, stole it, and attempted to furnish it throughout the Internet.  Fortunately, Marvel and Disney were able to track the thief down and stop this person from selling the script, precluding the need for rewrites.

Lesson #3: If you’re going to share your script, share it securely.

4. The Fifth Estate

Ironic that a film about leaks would suffer one of its own. The script for The Fifth Estate, Bill Condon’s take on the trials and tribulations of Julian Assange, was sent to Assange himself, who declared the film a “mass propaganda attack against WikiLeaks, the organization (and) the character of my staff.” Interestingly enough, the condemnation by Julian Assange only fueled the film’s marketing; it did fairly well for an indie dramatization of current events.

Lesson #4: If you’re going to leak a script, maybe don’t send it to the subject of the script. Or do, if you want to draw controversy.

5. Breaking Bad

This one is my favorite. Possibly the biggest Breaking Bad fan out there, or just a random carjacker nabbed the script for BB’s finale out of none other than Bryan Cranston’s car, during filming in New Mexico. Xavier Macafee was charged with attempted burglary for stealing a number of personal items, as well as the script to one of the last episodes of the hit AMC show. Hopefully he got “Better Call Saul” Goodman to represent him in Albuquerque court.

Lesson #5: If you’re filming a show about violence, theft, and drug cartels in the place where the violence, theft and drug cartels are happening, lock your car doors.

Almost all of these leaks could have been prevented with Rchive, so when sharing your script with friends, collaborators, and others, share securely.

So you’ve sent your script off to your screenwriting professor, or maybe a friend, or that screenplay contest that charged you $50 to enter. Now, you just sit back and wait for the praise to come rolling in. Ok, maybe not blind praise necessarily, but those two edits that your script needs to get noticed by somebody big. Well, maybe more than a few edits. At least a comment or two... right? But a few days go by, and no one is saying anything. Sure, everyone’s busy, but this screenplay is your baby. Take a moment to read it, guys. You ask around, and get bland nods of approval, or “I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

Come on!

Rchive’s innovative solutions for the entertainment industry continue to pick up steam! We are securing screenplays for the entertainment industry and people are starting to take notice. The more people who catch on, the more screenplays we can protect and the more secure Hollywood will be. And that includes you: whether you’re a screenwriter, producer, director or script reader, Rchive has something to offer. So spread the word of copyright protection and tell your friends about Rchive. Not only will you be doing us a solid, you’ll be helping your friends, collaborators and fellow professionals create their work in a more secure space. Check out our news below and sign up today at www.rchive.co

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January 2014 - 5 men enter a room. On a table, there is one copy of an incredibly sensitive and potentially earth-shattering document for each man.  They meet, discuss the project, and depart, each man carrying his copy. The next day, the unthinkable happens. The document has been leaked to the world and the project must be aborted. One man is responsible, but who would do this and why?

No, this isn’t the plot to an “Americans”-esque spy show, or even a video game.  What happened that night happened to Quentin Tarantino, famed director and screenwriting’s poster child.  The script for his upcoming film, “The Hateful Eight” was leaked, despite having been shared with only four of his close friends and collaborators.  Within days, the Internet had access to the entire unfinished screenplay and the project was abandoned.

Since then, Tarantino has picked up the project and it will be released around Christmas of this year, a year after its proposed release date.

How did this happen?

For starters, Quentin Tarantino printed copies of his screenplay and handed them to these collaborators, one of whom gave his copy to his agent. The agent then circulated the document around Hollywood, where it ended up on a news website. This would not have happened had Tarantino shared his screenplay for “The Hateful Eight” on Rchive.

Rchive’s secure screenplay platform allows users to e-mail their screenplays directly to collaborators without the risk of the script being forwarded, stolen or leaked.  The e-mail link leading to the screenplay is only usable by the person it has been sent to and is voided in a forwarded e-mail. 

Comprehensive tracking features provide an audit trail for the screenplay’s creator: every instance of activity the script sees is notated and listed for the creator’s eyes only. When you upload your script to Rchive, you are always in control.

What’s the best part of Rchive? Well, its the protection we offer for your screenplays.  Its what the site is built around, our core philosophy, and our reason for being.  You can’t comfortably create a work, putting your ideas, plots and characters, pieces of your psyche and memories and experiences, without knowing that your work is secure.  If you’re concerned with someone stealing the fruits of your labor, you’ll never be settled enough to give yourself entirely to the creative process. That is why Rchive has built a copyright protection system tailor-made for screenplays and why we allow you to share your work on top of that foundation.

Sharing is an integral part of Rchive’s system.  With our secure platform, we allow you to e-mail your script to friends, collaborators, anyone whose feedback you can use.

This e-mail link can only be used by the person you’ve sent it to.  That person can never forward the link along to anyone else, and when you are finished with the collaboration process with that individual, you can revoke access and the e-mail link goes dead.

You can change the privacy settings on your screenplay’s Title Page, allowing the viewers you share your script with access to just the title page, the screenplay itself, or the ability to download it.

The Title Page holds as much info on your screenplay as you’d like: you can add a log line, a short summary, and even a space for any official recognition your screenplay may have received.  Also, any reviews that people leave on your screenplay will be visible on your title page.

Below that is another incredibly important component of Rchive’s secure screenplay platform.  The Activity Log holds a detailed audit trail of all the people who’ve viewed your screenplay, notes you’ve received and any other activity your screenplay has gone through since uploading it to Rchive.

This is where Rchive’s secure platform is realized.  Here, you can see how you maintain control of your script at all times, no matter how many times you’ve e-mailed the script link to share it.  

So rest assured, knowing that Rchive has your screenplay’s security covered.  Write freely, and share securely with Rchive.

If there is one thing creatives across the world are worried about, it is plagiarism. At the same time, entertainment industry professionals are eager to get their work seen by the right people. In the pursuit of the latter, there’s risk of one’s screenplay getting into the wrong hands and being misappropriated or stolen. While plagiarism is a major concern for not-yet-adapted screenplays, for those that are optioned, there’s the perpetual worry of script leaks and disputes in chain of title.

How do you ensure that you meet the dual objectives of giving your screenplay the maximum possible visibility and ensuring that the screenplay does not fall into the wrong hands? Sure, you may have registered your screenplay with the WGA or the United States Copyright Office, but that’s no guarantee that no one will try to steal your plot, ideas, or the screenplay itself. Therefore, when you begin sharing your screenplay, you need to ensure that you choose a platform which offers secure sharing features that include enough checks and balances to ascertain that your screenplay is safe.

No longer is the reach of your screenplay limited by your ability to physically deliver it to agents or producers. The digital age has made sharing (and unfortunately, stealing) easier, thus calling for even more care in choosing a sharing platform that ensures that only the intended parties receive access to your screenplay.

​​At Rchive, security and protection of your work is not merely a feature, but part of our core philosophy. At every stage in development, equal emphasis is placed on security and ability to share your work with potential option buyers. Secure sharing features, as well as best practices in coding have been built into Rchive from the ground up. For example, when you upload your screenplay, it is always private, unless you explicitly change the visibility yourself. Then, there’s a complete audit trail of who has viewed your screenplay and for how long, etc. Some other security features built into Rchive include:

Selectively grant access to other users (agents, producers) to download and view​ (default setting prevents download​)​

Check who has accessed and read your screenplay for how long

Prevent printing of screenplays

Ability to remove screenplay at any time (but leave it accessible only to you)

Ability to hide your screenplay from search results (screenplay will be visible to only those specifically invited)

You maintain complete log of activity on all screenplays

Any and all screenplay activity is stored on Rchive’s secure server, always as protected as the screenplay itself.  Every time someone views or downloads your screenplay (downloads can happen only if you explicitly allow it), as well as at what time and from which IP address is logged and stored forever, should you ever need to access it.

You’ve lain awake nights thinking about your plot, your characters, your dialogue.  You’ve written, rewritten, excised page after page.  The word ‘delete’ has worn away from the key, you’ve tapped it so many times. Now, you’re finally ready to send it out for notes, some feedback from a friend. You attach it to an e-mail and hit send.

But how do you know that your friend is reading it? How do you know that he didn’t just file it away in some dark corner of his MacBook, never to be seen again? Or that he didn’t send it along to five other people in his writing class, people who might see some dialogue you wrote and want to ‘appropriate’ it into their scripts?

The simple answer, for those who’ve been sharing their work on Gmail, DropBox, or any other site is: you don’t.

We were tired of the uncertainty in sharing screenplays, not to mention the costs and inconvenience of copyrighting a script through the traditional methods (US Copyright Office, WGA), so we created a site where you could secure your work while still allowing it to be seen; not just by those who would offer feedback, but with the people who need to see it so the production process can start.

Share your work on Rchive, and see what we can do for you.  Remember, its completely free, and always will be for writers. Here are some of the things you can do on the site:

If you’re still not convinced, e-mail me personally at  [email protected].  I can walk you through the site and explain its benefits.  If you’re in Los Angeles, I’ll even bring you a coffee.

Some people might think that it’s cool not to care. If you’re usually nonchalant, casual, and go with the flow, that would seem to mean that you’re generally agreeable and likeable. You might even think that not caring will put you in a position where you won’t ruffle any feathers or make enemies. Not caring could seem like it’s beneficial for a writer. However, caring can be an integral part of being a great writer, as you need to care about others, your work, and in general.

            From a young age, most of us are taught to care about others. We’re taught to share, to apologize, and to do nice things because that is what decent people do. It’s also what good writers learn to do. If you care about others, you’re learning about empathy. Empathizing with people and learning about what makes them happy will help you write interesting and true characters. Through channeling real empathy, you’ll be able to make your audience happy (or sad or anything at all) which is what writers want to do.

            In addition to caring about others, you need to care about your work. If you don’t care about your work, no one else will. There is so much great writing out there and it’s hard to set yourself apart. The only way you’ll have a chance is by caring about your work and pouring your heart and soul into every word. By taking your work seriously and writing about the things you care about, you’ll create interesting stories with heart that will rise above other work of similar quality.