How do you register a film or screenplay with the Copyright Office?

Copyright in a film or script exists once it is fixed, but registration lets you sue, preserves statutory damages and gives distributors a public record. Our production legal and clearance practice page shows where registration sits among the delivery documents. This page walks through the filing for a screenplay, a finished film and a trailer, using the Copyright Office's rules and its Compendium of practices.

How registration works for a film or script, step by step

1. Decide what you are registering. The screenplay, the finished film and a trailer are separate works. The Office treats a script as a fixation of text, not of a motion picture: screenplays and treatments "for future motion pictures do not constitute fixations of motion pictures" (Circular 45).
2. Decide whether it is published. A film is published when copies are distributed by sale, rental, lease or lending, or offered to distributors or broadcasters for further distribution or public performance. Showing it in a theater is not publication by itself, but offering a copy for exhibition at a festival "may be considered publication" (Circular 45).
3. Identify the author and the claimant. When a film is made for hire, the employer or commissioning party is the legal author (Compendium 808.11(B)). The claimant is the author or a person or company that has obtained all of the author's rights (37 CFR 202.3(a)(3)).
4. Pick the application. In the online system, choose "Motion Picture/AV Work" for a film or "Work of the Performing Arts" for a screenplay (Compendium 808.11(A) and 804.9(A)). The paper form for both is Form PA.
5. Describe the authorship. Check "entire motion picture" to claim the screenplay, production, direction, cinematography and editing together, or name only the parts your claimant owns (Compendium 808.11(C)).
6. Upload or mail the deposit and pay. The deposit rules are in the table below. The effective date of registration is the day the application, deposit and fee have all arrived in acceptable form (17 U.S.C. 410(d)).
7. Answer the examiner and receive the certificate. Examination takes months, not days; our page on copyright registration cost and processing time has the current averages and the $800 special handling option.

Who should file: the writer, the producer or the company?

Start with ownership, because the application must match the paper trail. The Compendium notes that "most motion pictures are created as a work made for hire," so the production company is usually the author and the claimant, and individual crew members are not named. That only works if the agreements actually make the contributions work made for hire, which our page on whether a production owns what writers and crew create explains.

A screenplay is often different. A writer who wrote on spec and still owns the script is its author and claimant. If two writers share credit for the text, both are named; a person who supplied only the story idea is not, because only contributors of copyrightable expression count (Compendium 804.9(B)).

When the company that owns the film also owns the screenplay, one application covers both under "entire motion picture." When different parties own them, the Office requires separate applications: the film application excludes the screenplay and claims "all other cinematographic material" (Compendium 808.2(C)). If the company bought the script, record the signed transfer; our page on recording a copyright assignment or license explains why that matters for priority.

The $45 Single Application cannot be used for works made for hire or works by more than one author (37 CFR 202.3(b)(2)), so a finished feature almost never fits.

What do you send as the deposit?

For any motion picture, published or not, the deposit is one complete copy plus "a separate description of its contents, such as a continuity, pressbook, or synopsis" (37 CFR 202.20(c)(2)(ii)). A copy is complete only if every visual and aural element is clean, undamaged and free of defects that would interfere with viewing. The Office's notice on deposit changes adds that unpublished works and works published only online need only electronic deposits.

For an unpublished film, the identifying material allowed instead of a full copy is either a recording of the entire soundtrack or one frame enlargement from each 10-minute segment, in both cases with a description giving the title, the nature and general content, the date of fixation, the running time and the credits (37 CFR 202.21(g)). If the Office cannot view your format, the description may be a final shooting script and must include the running time and all credits (202.21(h)).

A trailer is itself a series of related images shown in succession, which is how 17 U.S.C. 101 defines a motion picture, so it registers on its own. It is not a stand-in for the feature.

Is a script registry the same as copyright registration?

No. Only the Register of Copyrights registers a claim and issues a certificate (17 U.S.C. 410(a)). A private registry can help show that your script existed on a certain date, but it does not satisfy the rule that a U.S. work must be registered, or preregistered, before you sue (17 U.S.C. 411(a)). It also does nothing for statutory damages or attorney's fees, which depend on the Copyright Office's effective date under section 412.

If you are about to pitch, the federal registration is the record that counts. Our page on whether someone can steal your film or show idea covers what registration cannot protect, starting with the idea itself.

When should you register, and does it matter for the Library of Congress?

Register before release if you can. Statutory damages and fees are generally unavailable for infringement that began before the effective date, unless a published work is registered within three months after first publication (17 U.S.C. 412). A registration made before or within five years after publication is prima facie evidence of validity in court (410(c)). Our page on what you can recover for copyright infringement explains why those remedies often decide whether a case is worth bringing.

You also cannot file suit on an application alone. The Supreme Court held in Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com (2019) that registration occurs, and suit may begin, "when the Copyright Office registers a copyright." A film still shooting cannot be registered as a finished work, which is why some productions use copyright preregistration for a film in production.

Separately, the owner of a film published in the United States must deposit copies for the Library of Congress within three months of publication (17 U.S.C. 407). Depositing a copy with a registration application satisfies that requirement at the same time (Circular 45), and works published solely online are exempt (37 CFR 202.19(c)(5)). Ignoring a written demand can bring a fine of up to $250 per work plus the retail price of the copies demanded, and a further $2,500 for willful or repeated refusal.

Book publishers face the same Library of Congress rule, covered on our page on book registration and mandatory deposit.

What changes the answer

• Festival offers and presales. Offering a copy for festival exhibition may be publication (Circular 45), and an offer made during production makes the film published once it is completed (Compendium 808.10(I)(3)). That starts the three-month window in section 412.
• Who owns the music. The soundtrack is an integral part of the film and is usually registered with it (Compendium 808.4(J)). A score or song owned by someone else is excluded and registered by its owner; our page on registering a song and its recording covers that filing.
• A script that must stay confidential. While a film is shooting and infringement is anticipated, the Office may accept a redacted screenplay revealing at least half the work, if the full script follows within ten business days after release (Compendium 804.8(C)).
• Older films. Works first published before 1978 follow renewal rules and Form RE (Circular 45). Our page on when old film footage is in the public domain explains why that history matters.
• The title. Titles and short phrases are not copyrightable (Circular 33), so registration does not lock up your film's name. Our page on whether you can trademark a title covers the series exception.

A worked example

Common mistakes

• Naming the director as author of a work made for hire film. It contradicts the agreements distributors review. Our post on getting a clean chain of title shows how those documents fit together.
• Claiming "entire motion picture" without owning the script. Separately owned material must be excluded, which is one of the chain of title problems that stall distribution deals.
• Using the $45 application for a company film. Works made for hire and multi-author works must use the Standard Application.
• Sending the film with no written description. The rules require a separate description for every motion picture deposit.
• Relying on a script registry. It is not a federal registration and does not let you file suit.
• Calling a published screenplay unpublished. Once the film is published, the script inside it is published too.

What to do this week

1. List each work to protect: script drafts, the film, trailers and any separately owned score.
2. Pull the writer, director and crew agreements and confirm who owns each work.
3. Decide whether each work is published, noting any festival offers or presales.
4. Register an unpublished screenplay now on the Single or Standard Application.
5. Prepare a written description of the film with title, running time and full credits.
6. Calendar the date three months after the planned release as your outside filing date.
7. If you are based in Georgia and a leak or copy already exists, see our Atlanta intellectual property and entertainment lawyer page for how to start.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to register each draft of my screenplay?

No. A registration covers the text you deposit, so material added in later drafts is not part of it. Many writers register the draft they are about to send out, and register again only after substantial rewrites.

Does registering the film also protect the poster and key art?

No. A poster is not part of the motion picture itself. Pictorial and graphic advertisements belong to the visual arts class (37 CFR 202.3(b)(1)(iii)), so key art is registered on its own application by whoever owns it.

Do I need a copyright notice on the film?

Notice is optional for works first published on or after March 1, 1989 (Circular 45). It is still worth including: if a proper notice appears on the published copies a defendant had access to, a court gives no weight to a claim of innocent infringement in reducing damages (17 U.S.C. 401(d)).

Can a registration help stop pirated discs at the border?

Yes. The Copyright Office notes that registration lets an owner record the work with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to guard against imports of infringing copies (Circular 1).

If I register the unpublished cut, do I register again after release?

No. Circular 1 says a work registered before publication does not have to be registered again once it is published, although you may register the published version too.

What if someone copies the film before my registration is done?

You can request special handling to speed examination when litigation is pending or expected. Once registered, you can sue for infringement that happened both before and after registration, though statutory damages depend on the timing rules above; our page on copyright lawsuits in Atlanta federal court explains what follows.

Zala IP Law advises independent producers, production companies and writers on registration, chain of title and the clearance work behind delivery, and Shreepal J. Zala practices federal intellectual property and entertainment law nationally. If you are preparing a script or film for registration or release, request a consultation or call 404-313-1701.