Deleted Screenplay Fails To Make Money

mytrip writes to mention the confusing case of screenwriter Nicholas Boyd, who tried to strike it rich by suing SBC, and got more than he bargained for. When an SBC technician accidentally deleted the aspiring screenwriter's work, he brought a lawsuit against the company claiming that a million dollar deal was in the works. Reality disagrees somewhat with his assertions. From the article: "The jury apparently didn't believe the German witness' testimony that a $2.7 million deal was in the works. Jurors found that Boyd could recover out-of-pocket damages of only $60,000 and said that he was responsible for 55 percent of the fault resulting in the deletion of the screenplays ... Both SBC and Boyd appealed. The California state appeals court (second district) eliminated the punitive damages, upheld the compensatory damages--but said Boyd must pay for SBC's legal fees for the appeal, which could easily be in the range of his $27,000 compensatory damages award."

Comments

Backups

[lxadu99]

Hopefully this will serve as a wake up call to a few writers about backups. I used to work as a tech at a retail chain, and the number of people who didn't know what a backup was unbelievable.

Re:Backups

[alshithead]

It won't serve as a wakeup call to anyone. Anyone who isn't already backing up their work won't start until the same thing happens to them. He wrote the stuff, if he can't recreate three screenplays from memory then he's screwed. It's not like it was three huge, thoroughly researched sci-fi or historical fiction novels.

Re:Backups

[TubeSteak]

Yea, he shoulda backed it up, but in December of 2000, undelete programs were readily available on teh intarweb.

And if he was seriously looking at a million plus payday, he coulda shelled out the thousands of dollars for a commercial file recovery service.

/When I was younger and semi-savvy with computers, I didn't know about undelete programs & didn't backup shiat.

Re:Backups

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"It won't serve as a wakeup call to anyone. Anyone who isn't already backing up their work won't start until the same thing happens to them. He wrote the stuff, if he can't recreate three screenplays from memory then he's screwed. It's not like it was three huge, thoroughly researched sci-fi or historical fiction novels."

I'm impressed you guys actually think he didn't have a backup. If there was a million dollar deal in the works, surely he had sent the script to somebody to read and say "we might be interested".

Re:Backups

[Wavicle]

I'm impressed you guys actually think he didn't have a backup. If there was a million dollar deal in the works, surely he had sent the script to somebody to read and say "we might be interested".

I suspect the jury thought much as you do. They completely dismissed his attempt at compensation for the $2.4M deal that was supposedly in progress. The money they awarded him was for the time it took him to research and write the screenplays. And they found him mostly at fault for the permanent loss.

I strongly disagree with the jury however. I find him 95% at fault for not taking the computer THAT DAY to a service place and asking them to recover the files. The guy added over 4000 files AFTER the deletion. He was looking for a payout from the beginning. He knew he had no chance of selling them.

Re:Backups

[Anonymous Coward]

I do a fair amount of screenwriting myself and I use CVS to keep track of all my manuscripts.

Contractual proof?

[headkase]

Just goes to show that verbal contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on.

Re:Contractual proof?

[Ohreally_factor]

I don't think it would have been material to the case even if he did have a written deal memo, if there wasn't financing to back it up. It's easy for you and I to have a written contract between the two of us based on an imaginary screenplay of yours and imaginary funds that I hope to raise from investors. Even paper can be pretty worthless if there isn't anything backing it up.

Re:Contractual proof?

[1u3hr]

I don't think it would have been material to the case even if he did have a written deal memo, if there wasn't financing to back it up.

If he'd actually been anywhere to close to making a deal, the backers would have seen, and have hard copies, of the scripts. Who is going to commit almost a million dollars to a script from an unknown writer without seeing it, just based on a one paragraph outline?

Anyway, if any of the scripts ahd been bought, they'd have gone through many, many rewrites before cameras rolled, one more wouldn't have made much difference.

The First Rule

[shidarin'ou]

The First Rule of screenwriting is to back up everything on multiple formats, in multiple places.

As this idiot can now attest, you never know what will happen to one location, one computer or even one draft- especially when the stakes are between zero dollars and 2.7 million.

What would he have done had his apartment been destroyed by fire? Sue the complex for the same thing? What would he have done had a random computer virus deleted or overwrote the files, sued the virus protection company whose software he declined to keep up to date?

Nothing to see here but idiocy at work.

Re:The First Rule

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought the first rule of screenwriting was to not talk about screenwriting....

Re:The First Rule

[rjstanford]

I thought that the first rule of screenwriting was, "Never talk about screenwriting." Actually, empirical evidence suggests that the first rule of screenwriting is ... always talk about screenwriting. To everyone. All the time. Incessently. But that's beside the point (and probably mispelled).

Re:The First Rule

[DuChamp Fitz]

"...Ours is not an easy age
We're like tigers in a cage
What a town without pity can do..."

Re:The First Rule

[Pseudonym]

The First Rule of screenwriting is to back up everything on multiple formats, in multiple places.

Actually, the rule is "always cover your arse" (or "ass" if you're in the US), of which this is a corollary.

Similarly, why, do you suppose, did this "screenwriter" not lodge a hard copy (and possibly a CD) with his local writer's guild before entering into any negotiation whatsoever? Not only is it a useful offsite backup, it's proof that you had the story at a certain time, should the studio that you negotiate with decide to make a too-similar movie later. This omission alone suggests that this guy knew nothing at all about the business of screenwriting.

Re:The First Rule

[RebRachman]

The first rule of screenwriting is get it copyrighted, in which case he would have a copy at the US copyright office.

Re:The First Rule

[Pseudonym]

On the contrary, you don't need to lodge a copy at the copyright office to have copyright. On the other hand, it also could result in the story leaking, which is something that studios don't like.

The right thing to do is to register it with the writers guild.

German witness?

[SteeldrivingJon]

Was it by chance Uwe Boll?

Re:German witness?

[Elemenope]

Any moment in which he is giving testimony is one more moment in which he is not raping some poor defenseless franchise of its worth, dignity, and scruples. So, those moments? Worth their weight in gold. Heck, one moment testifying is one moment closer for him to oblivion. Assuming he's human.

Re:German witness?

[Bieeanda]

I think it's more likely that Boyd is one of Boll's distant relatives. "The color of tulip"? "Blood on This" and "Blood on That", bigger and better than Ben Hur? They've certainly got the same overinflated opinions of themselves. Boll was the first person that I thought of, when it was mentioned that a German investor was interested in the scripts, sight unseen.

Given that Germany is sewing up the tax loophole that Boll's investors were using, it's doubtful that Boyd would have got jack or shit anyway.

Re:German witness?

[Anonymous Coward]

In which case the SBC technician should be commended by all for putting a halt to another Uwe Boll atrocity.

Re:German witness?

[SteeldrivingJon]

"In which case the SBC technician should be commended by all for putting a halt to another Uwe Boll atrocity."

Let's not be hasty. I'd pay good money to watch "Uwe Boll's Burgertime" with Tara Reid as the intrepid chef.

No Brainer

[Ohreally_factor]

If there actually was a $2.7 million deal in the works, it would have been worth the money for an immediate forsenic recovery, or failing that, replacing the HD and setting it aside for later forsenic recovery. Notwithstanding SBC's negligence, this was really not much more than a frivolous nuisance suit.

The question is, was his lawyer working on contingency or by the hour? If the later, he's probably lost a fair amount.

Re:No Brainer

[im_thatoneguy]

It actually does say in the article that he did eventually get a forensic recovery of the data. But he didn't set aside the hard drive and the files were overwritten by Napster and other data.

Does this mean that the entertainment industry can say that it lost another $2.7m to napster?

Re:No Brainer

[stud9920]

You seem quite knowledgeable about forsenics...

Re:No Brainer

[prockcore]

If there actually was a $2.7 million deal in the works, it would have been worth the money for an immediate forsenic recovery,

If there actually was a $2.7 million deal in the works, his business partners would've had copies of the screenplay. The deal is always for the rights, never for the actual manuscript itself.

Re:No Brainer

[TheDreadSlashdotterD]

Does this mean that the entertainment industry can say that it lost another $2.7m to napster?

It means they saved money by not buying a crappy $2.7 million screenplay.

I call Bullshit

[im_thatoneguy]

Let me get this straight: a writer is closing in on a multimillion dollar deal with a production company to buy his screenplay. And I'm supposed to believe they signed on without ever receiving a copy!

When you submit a screenplay to an interested party, the first thing they usually do is start photocopying it. Dozens even hundreds of times depending on how far through the process the screenplay makes it. When someone buys a screenplay, they usually run it past dozens of individuals before it's even looked at by someone with decision making power.

Many of the modern screenplay formatting rules have come from the need to photocopy it with as little degradation as possible.

The good news is. It shouldn't take him more than a a day or two to rewrite it. Once you know your story and characters, and have worked on the screenplay in your head for a number of years it shouldn't take you more than a couple of days. Besides who buys a screenplay and doesn't do a rewrite?

God I have like 20 copies of several screenplays from college just lieing around in a box in my closet. I can't believe somebody would never print off, backup or email a copy of his screenplay over the course of time it took to write it.

Re:I call Bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

In Hollywood, yes.

In Germany? Remember who comes from there. Clearly scripts do not matter.

Re:I call Bullshit

[Ohreally_factor]

Actually, you don't submit a screenplay. You submit a one page treatment, or even in some cases, a two sentence concept. If the other party is interested, then they ask for a screenplay or contract with you to write it if it's not actually written yet. Alternately, if you're lucky enough to get a meeting, you pitch your ideas face to face with a decision maker.

When you just mail your screenplay directly, you're causing extra work for some person whose job is gatekeeper, i.e., they're paid to say no.

Many of the modern screenplay formatting rules have come from the need to photocopy it with as little degradation as possible.

Wrong. The formatting is based on the needs of production and the concept that one page of screenplay is approximately equal to one minute of screen time, give or take. Maybe you're thinking of the practice of printing revisions on different colored stocks of paper. Otherwise I have no idea what you're talking about.

Re:I call Bullshit

[jbreckman]

Typically, there are two ways of selling a screenplay.

You described way #1. You pitch an idea and they work out some sort of deal for your idea.

Way #2 is called writing it on "spec". That involves actually writing the full screenplay without having a deal in place, and then shopping it around to studios to see if anyone wants to buy it. Obviously this way is considerably more risky.

The difference is in the pay. Way #1 pays well, but not NEARLY as well as way #2 pays. There is a huge risk to studios in way #1, and in way #2, they KNOW what they are getting. Plus, if you can get two studios interested, you can get them into a bidding war. (I believe "The Long Kiss Goodnight" sold for about $4 million in this situation)

Bottom line: I can't imagine a situation where any studio would offer, or even mention $2 million without having script in hand.

Re:I call Bullshit

[voice_of_all_reason]

The good news is. It shouldn't take him more than a a day or two to rewrite it. Once you know your story and characters, and have worked on the screenplay in your head for a number of years it shouldn't take you more than a couple of days.

I only write short stories for the interweb, and even losing a day or two of work (much less a whole novel) would be devastating. All the careful wording that's the real beauty of any piece of writing would be lost -- it was tied to how you were at the moment you were writing and your concept of the overall story at that point in time (which changes every moment you write, and even after you're done).

He could redo it, maybe even come up with something better. But it would never be the same.

Re:I call Bullshit

[Ohreally_factor]

#2 virtually never happens. Seriously, I've worked in this town for 23 years. You have as good a chance of winning the lotto as you do of slipping your spec script over the transom and getting a deal.



The Long Kiss Goodnight was written by a veteran screenwriter, someone with a track record. Look at his credits: All the Lethal Weapon movies, The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero.

Bottom line: I can't imagine a situation where any studio would offer, or even mention $2 million without having script in hand.

Bottom line: I can easily imagine a situation where a producer options a script for a $1 with the contractual promise of some huge sum going to the writer from the net profits, without every laying eyes on the script. I'm sure this happens 50 times a day. (OK, probably an exaggeration, but I'm sure you've heard the jokes about screenwriters and the jokes about producers.)

There was no studio involved in the deal. It was a German producer. Want to be a producer? It's easy. Just say you are. Printing business cards is entirely optional. Want to be a German producer? Travel to Germany and say you're a producer.

Anyway, Boyd's story is implausible, but not for the reasons you cite. Come kick around L.A. for a few years and try and sell those scripts. It's a disgusting slimy business, but at least it's not the music business. We have that at least.

Re:I call Bullshit

[Khaed]

You don't even need the deal to be in place for this to be Bullshit.

I'm a writer, and I back my work up constantly. USB flash drive, CDs, print outs, and e-mailing it to myself. I occasionally e-mail drafts to friends for a proof read, as well. This is just basic, no money involved, writing to write stuff.

If you add money to the occasion, print outs and CDs in a safe deposit box somewhere. Multiple drafts, even.

If Tor offered me a $2.7M advance on a novel, I'd be backing that shit up at the end of every chapter. Period, end of story. Off site, hard copies in addition to discs.

Anyone with any data at all that is even remotely precious to them will want more than one copy.

Re:I call Bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

t's a disgusting slimy business, but at least it's not the music business. We have that at least.

So, the music industry is the scum of the earth, and the movie industry is the slime of the earth?

Re:I call Bullshit

[1u3hr]

I only write short stories for the interweb, and even losing a day or two of work (much less a whole novel) would be devastating....He could redo it, maybe even come up with something better. But it would never be the same.

Scripts are always rewritten, often dozens of times, by several writers, committees, the producers, the director, the actors. What ends up being shot can be unrecognisable from the original script. Hollywood is full of stories of sometimes great writers who were lured there and were paid huge amounts to do a script treatment; then more to rewrite a dozen times; then it was handed over to a hack who completely rewrote it; then the financing fell through and it was shelved. If redoing a day's work would devastate you, don't even think about Hollywood.

Re:I call Bullshit

[voice_of_all_reason]

If redoing a day's work would devastate you, don't even think about Hollywood.

Done and done. You have to separate work and pleasure. In my writing, all I have to please is myself.

Re:I call Bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

It shouldn't take him more than a a day or two to rewrite it. Once you know your story and characters, and have worked on the screenplay in your head for a number of years it shouldn't take you more than a couple of days.

[...]

God I have like 20 copies of several screenplays from college just lieing around in a box in my closet.

If you ever wondered why they're in a closet and not on the screen, that's why.

Re:I call Bullshit

[im_thatoneguy]

If you're to the point where people are even considering giving you a dime, you've probably already pitched and you've probably gotten to a point where some poor sap locked away in a darkened room with several hundred screenplays is being forced to read them through: all the way, write coverage and recommend or discourage any sort of attention to it.

These places exist, and I know an unfortunate soul who did this job for several years.

If he was approaching any sort of studio or production company, some poor sap has had to of read it by now. And from the sounds of it that poor sap recommended somebody with some decision making power read it (2nd generation copy floating in the universe somewhere). Now the article makes it sound like nobody with money actually promised him anything, but if his claims are true and he had a 2.5 million dollar contract then they much have approached somebody with money (Add another 2 or 3 xeroxes). Even if it was just a holding company who wanted to option the screenplay in order to sell it to a production company (and then promised him a cut of gross) you're looking at probably at least 3 copies of the screenplay being made.

- I said many not all. The overall format of a screenplay yes is to equate in pages to minutes. Many of the formatting rules have been developed for ease and clarity of reading. Many of the rules have been developed just for the sake of consistancy. But try xeroxing a New Roman font and behold the pain. Courier fonts are nearly indistructable to xeroxing from my experience, even the crappies coppiers and scanners on earth will be legible.

Either way... the details are irrellevant. If any real deal was being worked out, there would be xeroxes of it everywhere. He would have made backups. He wouldn't have continued to use his computer after the deltion and he would probably have commited suicide in the interim.

He also sounds like a dumb enough individual to have just haphazardly risked sending excessively well binded copies to big names around the world. Probably their "home addresses". ;)

Re:I call Bullshit

[skribe]

but at least it's not the music business.

Yeah, in the music business you can at least try busking to pay for your cigarettes.

Re:I call Bullshit

[jbreckman]

Actually, according to IMDB he got $2 million for "The Long Kiss Goodnight" (which was the record at the time)

The point I was trying to make is that I think of it more like buying a finished work of art vs. commissioning a work of art.

And as far as "Spec scripts" never happening - that may be true for most people. But established writers with contacts do an ok job of it. My dad was at SNL and got a spec script to a few contacts through there. It was bought, and from that point on he worked for 20 years or so in the traditional sense.

I haven't asked him about this, but I remember at least a couple times when he was hired to "rewrite" a script that was bought on spec. (Where basically the studio liked the idea, and wanted to pursue it but thought the actual writing was horrible)

Selling on spec *does* happen. It's hard, but it happens. It helps if you already have contacts.

I didn't really read the article, I was just commenting to the Parent. It sounds very implausible for a whole bunch of reasons.

Re:I call Bullshit

[Ohreally_factor]

Courier has more to do with the days when scripts were typewritten, i.e., before word processing. I'm just saying.

Anyway, I've got a screenwriting style manual around somewhere from the 50s. Same conventions as now. Little has changed, other than the used of our modern labor saving devices. (Can you imagine the number of typists the studios hired before the copy machine?)

I'm not calling you a liar. There might be one or two examples you can give of which I'm unaware. If anything, this might save you from possible embarrassment from people whose opinion you care about (i.e., not slashdot). =)

As far as standard practice of reputable production companies vis-a-vis copies of a screenplay floating around out there, I agree. But this business is rife with non-reputable production companies, hustlers and con men. And then there are the sleazy types.

Re:I call Bullshit

[im_thatoneguy]

True-dat. Then again, in all honesty you could probably just as easily submit your screenplay in script formatting like a radio drama, right align everything, submit it in size 9 font and if it was a real winner, they wouldn't say no. Assuming you could convince someone to read it. :) George Llucas I know has a quite bizzare screenplay formatting, and I personally think it actually works pretty well. Annnnyyywayyyy.... so how's life... ;)

Clarification Required

[slashbob22]

If Aurora Media had offered a contract (pending funding) then they must have seen the screenplays. Even if they were hardcopy Boyd would not have lost his material, sure he may have had to retype it though. I don't see how he can claim that because this overzealous technician deleted everything that where were NO backups of it anywhere. Could someone explain this to me, is there a screenwriter's code I don't know about?

Re:Clarification Required

[tktk]

1. The first rule of screenwriting, is that you DO talk about your screenplay. Repeatedly.

2. The second rule of screenwriting, is that you DO talk about your screenplay. Repeatedly.

3. When the reader's eyes glaze over, you stop.

4. One script.

5. No backup. ...

Re:Clarification Required

[slashbob22]

Of course! But you are forgetting step 6:

6. Profit!

I suppose it is all about marketing an intangible. A studio will likely perform many rewrites after a contract is accepted anyways, so why bother. But still.. .. .. No Backups?

Re:Clarification Required

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't see how he can claim that because this overzealous technician deleted everything that where were NO backups of it anywhere. Could someone explain this to me, is there a screenwriter's code I don't know about?

Yes. It is, quite simply: "The excuse 'The dog ate my screenplay!' no longer works for grown-ups.'"

Obligatory Soviet Russia

[megaditto]

Best way to preserve your writings is to print out the hard copy.

And no, Manuscripts do not burn

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[qbwiz]

I thought you were supposed to upload your important stuff on ftp, and let the world mirror it.

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[Ohreally_factor]

Which you would need to do anyway to register it with the WGA. Oh, wait, my bad. You can now register your screenplay online in whatever file format you wish.

The fee for non-members is $20. The fee for members is $10. Registration lasts for 5 years, and then may be renewed. Protecting your copyrights and getting a back up thrown in!

Seems like a no brainer if you're a screenwriter.

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[miro f]

[blockquote]Which you would need to do anyway to register it with the WGA.

[...]

Seems like a no brainer if you're a screenwriter.[/blockquote]

I don't know if I'd want to register my screenplay with Windows Genuine Advantage. It might decide that my screenplay is not my own and delete it from their records...

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[miro f]

note to kiddies: preview your post before submitting...

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[Ohreally_factor]

It's OK. I still chuckled.

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[Anonymous Coward]

Only if you're not a wimp.

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[Schraegstrichpunkt]

People have to want to mirror it.

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[AgentFade2Black]

Wrong kind of WGA. This WGA is the Writer's Guild of America, for those of you afriad to follow the link.

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[evilgrug]

Yes, Ted, that was the joke.

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[AgentFade2Black]

...I'm not Ted. I don't know who you think I am, but I am not he.

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[tibike77]

"I wrote three screenplays I'm about to sell for 2.7 mil dollars but I COMPLETELY FORGOT WHAT I WROTE".

No, really, if he had such outstanding works, one would expect he'd be able to (almost completely) rewrite them in a matter of months.
I'd just call "caca-del-torro" on that one.

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[Silentnite]

Swing and a miss again.

Re:Obligatory Soviet Russia

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems like a no brainer if you're a screenwriter.

After seeing this weekends trailers for upcoming movies, Hollywood loves no brainers.

Come on... Transformers the movie? A scanners remake in annoy-o-vision? (Ok, I'll pay $12.00 to see Keanu's head explode!) and the worst of it, a movie from a really bad 80's tv show... Miami Vice?

I am completely convinced that hollywood does not want anything creative, simply rewrites of old tired crap that makes everyone shake their head.

Pirates of the Carribean II the revienge of the Elwyves was novel but far from origional, but it's far better than the drivel they are touting for this and next year.

Mearly proof that copyrights have caused people to stop being creative.

Court system stacked against the little guy

[br00tus]

Whether or not it was wise of him to sue, SBC screwed up and he is going to get nothing for it. You hear a lot about tort reform from politicians, but the tort reform always seems to strip the little guy of recourse to the courts, and does nothing about the people who really abuse the courts, the corporations. Although now that they're passing laws giving jail time for copying MP3's, it won't even be abusing civil courts soon, now it will be criminal courts.

I ran a website once which was "Web 2.0" before they had a name for it - like Myspace, Geocities, Ebay and whatnot, the public had a lot of input into site content, and if anyone complained about something illegal, I almost always removed it. Anyhow, I got flooded with legal letters, some of them quite ridiculous - Blizzard sent me a letter about some supposed DMCA violation - someone made a hack that let people play Starcraft on non-Battle.net servers. I couldn't afford a court case and those troubles though so I took it down. These are the people who really abuse the court system, the headlines of corporate newspapers always bemoan how it's a travesty the average Joe can sue a big corporation though.

Re:Court system stacked against the little guy

[kaufmanmoore]

If there's enought bullshit out there that there are at lease 6 judge shows on tv, something is wrong.

Re:Court system stacked against the little guy

[FLEB]

Perhaps, but this isn't the one to fight it on, by a long shot. In the case of "Idiot loses script, has no backups, looks for someone to blame." there isn't really much evidence that the corp's overpowering influence unfairly made (or was even needed to make) this case.

Re:Court system stacked against the little guy

[Lehk228]

i doubt SBC even screwed up, why would a DSL technician be deleting user files unless the guy saved his scripts in c/windows/drivers or something like that.

Re:Court system stacked against the little guy

[Kohath]

Whether or not it was wise of him to sue, SBC screwed up and he is going to get nothing for it.

Let me be the first to say it: Good.

He got awarded damages. He probably could have settled with SBC to begin with and been fairly compensated for the problem. But he decided to play the litigation lottery, hoping to turn his poor planning and subsequent misfortune into a huge jackpot. I'm glad he lost.

Every time one of these people wins, things get more expensive for everyone. Fewer products and services are available to purchase and fewer people are employed producing them. More time is spent complying with CYA rules and less is spent actually supplying value to customers. Somewhere a guy stays an extra hour at work filling out forms instead of going home and playing games with his kids. Somewhere else a working mom gets a 10% smaller annual bonus, even though she did a good job. All so one guy and his lawyers can get a huge payout for a simple mistake that was 55% his fault anyway. That doesn't sound like justice to me.

But it didn't happen this time. Good.

Re:Court system stacked against the little guy

[1u3hr]

i doubt SBC even screwed up, why would a DSL technician be deleting user files unless the guy saved his scripts in c/windows/drivers or something like that.

I have to wonder... There may have been a lot of orphaned files, broken downloads, cluttering up the desktop and he was just trying to tidy it up. Did the writer have a folder called "scripts", and the tech thought these were installer scripts, or something similar left over from a failed install, and helpfully cleaned them up? Though personally, I would have made a folder called "crap" and stuffed them all in there, out of sight rather than delete them (unless the writer later deleted the "crap"). Too bad we don't have the technician's testimony.

Re:Court system stacked against the little guy

[Lehk228]

this REEKS of extortion to me, call up claiming that the installers deleted a million dollars worht of files, demand a few hunder grand in compensation

no different than the wendy's finger-soup fraud (thought i stopped going to wendys as a result of cold food not fingers)

Re:Court system stacked against the little guy

[mboverload]

Agreed here. Don't delete stuff unless it's temporary internet history or you know you put it there. It's their problem if their computer is full of shit.

Don't fuck with a client's data.

Re:Court system stacked against the little guy

[epee1221]

i doubt SBC even screwed up, why would a DSL technician be deleting user files unless the guy saved his scripts in c/windows/drivers or something like that.
I have it on good authority that field techs are by no means 1337 h4x0rs. They only seem to know what the desktop looks like on their machines.
I also kinda doubt that the tech in question was following proper procedure.

And in Other News...

[humphrm]

Today, I did not clean the dust out of my power supply. Nor did I unplug my computer during an electrical storm. I'm livin' La Vida Loca!!!

Honestly, some guy doesn't run a back-up and it gets on Slashdot? Must be a really slow news day...

Re:And in Other News...

[Tablizer]

Today, I did not clean the dust out of my power supply. Nor did I unplug my computer during an electrical storm. I'm livin' La Vida Loca!!!

Me neither, and so far everything is just fi

Is there no common sense anymore?

[Mike Kelly]

Burgess Forensics said the reason was that 4,134 files were saved to the hard drive after the screenplays were deleted--overwriting the unused space that could have otherwise been recovered. (Additions included Napster and RealPlayer and their related media files.)

If he dropped a hard-copy on the sidewalk and could only find a few pages when he came back the next day, isn't that his own fault? He should have unplugged the computer and taken it to an expert immediately! I guess he was having too much fun with his new broadband to notice that his "multi-million dollar" script was missing. /sarcasm

Re:Is there no common sense anymore?

[qzulla]

And pron. Don't forget the pron.

qz

The fucktard got what he deserved

[Anonymous Coward]

Now hopefully SBC will garnish every penny of his wages untill her either pays them off or he fucking dies from starvation. He made his god-damned bed so he should be forced to sleep in it, permanently.

He can still come out ahead!

[alshithead]

This would make a great screenplay as a legal thriller. Maybe instead of the local DSL install guy it's another jealous writer who broke in and deleted his work. That would spice it up. Nah...still sucks so I guess he's screwed.

Get lots of $$$ quick ;)

[megaditto]

If you also lose your screenplay, you can still make tons of $$$:

Keep pressing key '4' while holding down Shift

______________
Just couldn't resist ;(

And why exactly did his lawyer even bother

[Mycroft_514]

to follow thru with the suite? Maybe he can sue his lawyer next for incompetent representation.

Yawn

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only one who is wondering what this story is doing on Slashdot?

all he had to do

[circletimessquare]

was do a simple file restore immediately after the fact

but he kept using the computer, installing new programs, writing over the deleted files

even assuming complete computer idiocy, i'm certain someone amongst even a small circle of friends would have known this rather well-known issue, and he certainly would have been fuming about this to them

Re:all he had to do

[grub]

RE: your sig I'm making a Low Budget HDV Filipino Horror Movie in NY [griefmovie.com]

Rumour has it that if you trash the only copy of your screenplay you can sue your ISP for millions!

Just remember everyone...

[Anonymous Coward]

I get dibs on the movie and official novelization ;-)

Re:I'll keep track of my own data, thank you.

[FLEB]

You did... y'know... read the article, right? A little bit?

The only thing this story has to do with network computing is the fact that (one of) the incompetents involved happened to be connecting a network to a computer.

Dishonest?

[OverflowingBitBucket]

So he had scripts that might be worth $2.7m. And he kept the only copies of it on a laptop. And no printouts. Because a writer wouldn't want to print out his work in progress from time to time to proofread it. And no set of prior versions to revert to. What about the person offering $2.7m. Did they have at least part of a copy? That's a lot of money for something sight unseen. So he gives the laptop containing the one and only copy of a script potentially worth $2.7m to a techie? And when the techie says the files aren't needed and tries to delete the files, the writer doesn't immediately rip the damn thing out of his hands?

What's this guy do for fun, leave his sole copy of a million-dollar script sitting on the roof of his car when he gets it repaired and sues the mechanics if they lose it? Seriously.

I don't know about you, but the second someone suggests something I have is worth $2.7m, I go home, I get about 20 CDs, I burn copies of them and the backups. I buy a cheap safe and store some in there. I buy a lockbox, drop three copies in it, and store it at a trusted friends place. I conceal extra copies around my house or office in case I'm targeted. I print out what I have, and prior versions as proof that I developed the script should its ownership ever come into doubt. Some of those printouts go offsite.

Methinks the writer may have been just a teency, teency bit dishonest here. Maybe SBC and AT&T should have been hit for the costs of data recovery, but not much more. The vast majority of the fault was due to the writer.

Re:Dishonest?

[zoogies]

I'm sure when the tech guy came to set up his DSL, he wasn't thinking, "Oh man, I got to make sure my files are secure." I can't imagine that anyone would have this thought first and foremost every living second. In fact, given that he was getting a DSL connection set up, he was probably - just a guess - thinking about high-speed internet, web browsing, or any of a myriad of internet-related computer functions that did not pertain at all to his scripts. Of course, in hindsight, we can easily say, "Oh, he should've seen that coming. He should've prepared." But this was a tech guy from a big, established company coming in to give him the glory of high-speed internet on his laptop. We the general public, thanks to this article, know his laptop as "The Machine on Which Three Valuable Screenplays were stored." But you know what? That's probably a fraction of his "My Documents" folder, and, as is suggested by the article, he uses the laptop heavily for other purposes as well, such as RealPlayer. When he hands over his laptop to the technician, I bet he's not thinking, "Oh, shoot. That laptop is the Guardian, nay, the Very Embodiment of my precious life's work." When the tech guy says, "Hey, there are some useless files here you don't need, I'll just delete them, okay?" I bet he's not thinking, "That dirty bastard, he's after my screenplays!" I would probably just defer to the judgment of a qualified technician who knows what he's doing - which is how I would regard the tech guy until there's reason not to. So give this guy a break; you can probably point out everything that could have been done differently in hindsight and I'm sure he can, too. Although I'm a little disturbed at this technician's actions. I'm assuming that his screenplays were either *.docs or at least some file format other than *.dll, *.exe, *.bat, *.sys, and so on. Given that they were titled "Color of Tulip," "Blood on Ice," and "Blood on Seven Hills," I'd assume that the filename is somehow related. And given that they were his creative works, I'd assume they were somewhere in "My Documents" or stashed away in some folder marked "Screenplays" or "Writings." The point is, it should've been CRYSTAL CLEAR that they were personal files. Just what did the technician think they were? An outdated driver install? Also, generally, when you delete something it goes off to the Recycle Bin. It doesn't disappear. Did the technician empty the Recycle Bin, too? That sounds practically diabolical, like he's some competitor studio's hireling on a hideous, evil agenda. Anyway, I guess what we can all learn from this is don't trust technicians with your data, and never let them handle your computer unobserved. Although probably most /.ers already knew that, or don't ever need technicians.

Re:Dishonest?

[zoogies]

Guh. I'm sorry. Forgot to make his post "Plain Old Text" and all my paragraphs got mushed together. >_> Here it is again, I guess:

--

I'm sure when the tech guy came to set up his DSL, he wasn't thinking, "Oh man, I got to make sure my files are secure." I can't imagine that anyone would have this thought first and foremost every living second. In fact, given that he was getting a DSL connection set up, he was probably - just a guess - thinking about high-speed internet, web browsing, or any of a myriad of internet-related computer functions that did not pertain at all to his scripts.

Of course, in hindsight, we can easily say, "Oh, he should've seen that coming. He should've prepared." But this was a tech guy from a big, established company coming in to give him the glory of high-speed internet on his laptop. We the general public, thanks to this article, know his laptop as "The Machine on Which Three Valuable Screenplays were stored." But you know what? That's probably a fraction of his "My Documents" folder, and, as is suggested by the article, he uses the laptop heavily for other purposes as well, such as RealPlayer. When he hands over his laptop to the technician, I bet he's not thinking, "Oh, shoot. That laptop is the Guardian, nay, the Very Embodiment of my precious life's work." When the tech guy says, "Hey, there are some useless files here you don't need, I'll just delete them, okay?" I bet he's not thinking, "That dirty bastard, he's after my screenplays!"

I would probably just defer to the judgment of a qualified technician who knows what he's doing - which is how I would regard the tech guy until there's reason not to. So give this guy a break; you can probably point out everything that could have been done differently in hindsight and I'm sure he can, too.

Although I'm a little disturbed at this technician's actions. I'm assuming that his screenplays were either *.docs or at least some file format other than *.dll, *.exe, *.bat, *.sys, and so on. Given that they were titled "Color of Tulip," "Blood on Ice," and "Blood on Seven Hills," I'd assume that the filename is somehow related. And given that they were his creative works, I'd assume they were somewhere in "My Documents" or stashed away in some folder marked "Screenplays" or "Writings." The point is, it should've been CRYSTAL CLEAR that they were personal files. Just what did the technician think they were? An outdated driver install? Also, generally, when you delete something it goes off to the Recycle Bin. It doesn't disappear. Did the technician empty the Recycle Bin, too? That sounds practically diabolical, like he's some competitor studio's hireling on a hideous, evil agenda.

Anyway, I guess what we can all learn from this is don't trust technicians with your data, and never let them handle your computer unobserved. Although probably most /.ers already knew that, or don't ever need technicians.

--

sorry! o.o

Re:Dishonest?

[OverflowingBitBucket]

I'm sure when the tech guy came to set up his DSL, he wasn't thinking, "Oh man, I got to make sure my files are secure." I can't imagine that anyone would have this thought first and foremost every living second.

A previously unpaid writer who (basis of lawsuit) thinks that he may be coming into $2.7m soon due to his writing probably does have the scripts foremost in his mind. Unless of course he was distracted at that very moment wondering where the best place would be to procure some good coke and hookers. This isn't a matter of hindsight or forbidden techie knowledge. Hindsight is when you lose a couple of weeks work due to a destructive virus that you forgot to back up. Techie knowledge is knowing about regular backups and that computers can be unreliable. Having one copy of a (potentially) incredibly valuable script in a single location and mysteriously having no recent printouts to OCR or any backups of any sort (hard or soft) anywhere isn't just something you attribute to lacking hindsight or tech knowledge. That's just plain gross negligence or stupidity on his part. The point of my post is that he certainly wasn't acting consistently with someone who seriously believed that he was about to come into a healthy chunk of change.

Oh, and your comment on deleting from the recycle bin (assuming Windows) necessarily being malicious seems flawed. There may have been insufficient space on the drive and so the techie could have (stupidly) permanently deleted the file to make space.

The techie, assuming the charges are true, was a twit. And don't trust techies with valuable data- even if they are good they need to know that something is valuable and to protect it. That's as far as I can agree with you, I'm afraid. The rest, not so.

Re:Dishonest?

[houghi]

You forget one thing. Mail it in a sealed envelope to yourself by registered letter. Do NOT open that letter. That way you have an official record of the date. If people try to steal your idea, you have a way of prooving that YOU were the first one.

In case of a lawsuit, you get one or more notaries to open and testify what you have. It is the cheapest way to have a very enforcable copyright (that can still be copyleft).

If the other party realy stole your idea, then it would be very hard for them to come up with a date that pre-dates your posting date.

As anything you write is automaticaly copyrighted, there is no need to register it anywhere and loose money. You can still register it once you get the money. There is just no real need to do this.

Re:Dishonest?

[zippthorne]

It's pretty clear from the article that the files were stored on the desktop, not "my documents." presumably for easier access. I'm pretty sure it takes a more than zero amount of tech knowledge to realize that you can put stuff there instead of the default location. I realize it's often the default location for downloaded files, but that wouldn't go in the writer's favor..

Clearly the techie thought he was doing the guy a favor by cleaning up his desktop. Heck, I do this for my friends and family when they ask me to fix their computers up. Of course, I just move stuff into a folder, since I don't know how valuable it really is to them, but I can see how a nitwit could delete things without realizing they're not garbage. Especially if the dimbulb in question was used to a network environment where the size of the user's desktop profile affects the login time.

OTOH, suppose the technician read the scripts and figgured that the favor he'd do the world by destroying them was well worth losing his job over...

Re:Dishonest?

[Anonymous Coward]

And given that they were his creative works, I'd assume they were somewhere in "My Documents" or stashed away in some folder marked "Screenplays" or "Writings."

No.
If indeed there were such creative works - I think the only thing creative about them may be the imaginary $2 million pricetag - any writer who has ever written anything more important than a ./ posting would HAVE a HARDCOPY.

If he/she had even a prospective sale, there would be a copy IN A BANK VAULT.

Period.
End of discussion.

The only creativity here is a new way to abuse the legal system.

Screenplays don't make that much money

[zymano]

Screenplay for Panicroom with Jodie Foster was bought for $5 million but the writer had really good credibility.(i read somewhere) Very rare that this happen. Hardly any ever get a million.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0462895/

He's working on Indiana Jones 4 by the way.

This guy doesn't even have any history of writing.

Nothing adds up

[Zadaz]

It seems like the correct outcome has been reached in this case (Fired the guy who deleted his stuff and paid for data recovery.)

Everything about this guys sounds like a money grubbing loser. He had previously never made a penny on his screenplays (Or, apparently from any writing at all, ever.) and yet he claims that the lost screenplays were for "far better" movies than "Gladiator," "Schindler's List" and "Ben Hur."

Now comes the amount... $2.7 million dollars? It's been a while since I've been a professional writer, but $2.7 mil is a stupidly outrageous amount for unknown writer with unproven properties and a small movie company. Even being generous and accounting that it's for three screen plays, $900,000 per screenplay is still stupid money.

Also they didn't delete the guys brain. Screenplays don't really have that much text in them. They are usually around a hundred pages with a couple hundred words a page. If the writer is familiar with the characters, plot, etc, they should be able to rewrite a whole screenplay in under a week. At least good enough for a first draft. (And if I was interested enough to pay $900K for a screenplay, I'd happily wait a week or three for a screenplay.)

Thirdly, Who the hell is Aurora Media. I can't find any information on these guys. Seems nowadays if you have the ability to produce movie scripts you pay millions of dollars for, your company should have -one- hit on Google.

Seems that if there was actually $2.7 million worth of interest by Aurora Media then either:
1) There should be a printed contract somewhere.
2) (As many people pointed out) They should have a copy of the screenplays somewhere.
3) They should be the ones suing SBC (Or perhaps the schmo.)

Re:Nothing adds up

[zoogies]

Obviously, when you pitch your work, you pitch it like it's the best thing there's ever been. You can't complain about him there - that's like a startup software complaining saying, "Buy our product, but admittedly we've only just got on the scene and are completely unproven." No. It usually is, as it should be, more like, "Buy our product! We rock! In fact, we rock more than [other products]!" As for Aurora Media, according to the article, apparently they "An American Werewolf in Paris." And while it's true they didn't delete the guy's brain, surely you, as a former professional writer, should know how painful it is to rewrite something from scratch. A hundred pages with a couple hundred words a page translates to at least ten thousand words - no small amount to reproduce, regardless of how familiar you are with the plot and characters. I'm not saying that the screenwriter is right here, I'm not saying that he's necessarily talented, justified in this lawsuit, or anything of the kind...just that you have to be able to understand why he would sue. He was probably mad as hell, beating his head against the wall. Again, it doesn't make it any more justifiable, only understandable. I believe the article said there WAS $2.7 million worth of interest by Aurora Media; but it was "far from a done deal." So while I agree that the correct outcome has been reached, we shouldn't dismiss the guy as an idiot or loser or wave him off with a "they didn't delete his brain." Especially when we, admittedly, know so very little about him, and are drawing wild conclusions about his character and ability from essentially nothing.

Re:Nothing adds up

[woohoodonuts]

If the writer is familiar with the characters, plot, etc, they should be able to rewrite a whole screenplay in under a week.


You obviously have never written a screenplay. Second, third, fourth draft. Whatever. 1 week is absurdly fast for any major piece of creative writing.

Re:Nothing adds up

[Schraegstrichpunkt]

we shouldn't dismiss the guy ... when we, admittedly, know so very little about him, and are drawing wild conclusions about his character and ability from essentially nothing.

You must be new here.

"Costs"

[whoever57]

"Costs" may just mean filing fees and the like, not attorney's fees.

Re:"Costs"

[Anonymous Coward]

"Costs" may just mean filing fees and the like, not attorney's fees.

TFA specifically said "pay for SBC's legal fees for the appeal". Legal fees most certainly do include attorney's fees.

Re:"Costs"

[whoever57]

TFA specifically said "pay for SBC's legal fees for the appeal".

TFA may have also misunderstood. If you read further down in the article it has the text of the ruling, which reads: "The punitive damages are reversed. In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed. (SBC) shall recover its costs on appeal."

Omg.. Im screwed. not

[TechGranny]

Techgranny doesn't know about backups and stuff. TechGranny needs to learn. :)

Seriously though, even though he should have had backups, its impossible to say something would make money for sure. Lots of "sure bets" lose money.

Also, the accidental deletion did not delete his brain did it? I mean its not like his premise characters and story were deleted along with the data.

I call BS. Peace.

Typical American Dream

[jt2377]

blame someone else for your own fault and strike a deal with the Devil(lawyer) in hope to scam million .

1910?

[Tablizer]

I am curious. What did they do in the 1910's when there were no usable copy machines? How did a novelist back up a manuscript?

Re:1910?

[Anonymous Coward]

How did a novelist back up a manuscript?

You hired someone to type it.

Re:1910?

[robogun]

The most common technologies were Mimeograph or carbon paper.

Re:1910?

[AJWM]

Ah, the innocence of youth.

Ever hear of carbon paper? (Hint, the "CC" field in email is a legacy abbreviation for "carbon copy".) Carbon paper was a sheet of very thin paper coated with a slightly waxy, dark (carbon) material on one side that when placed (carbon side down) on a sheet of paper and pressed, would leave a mark where the pressure was. Now, place a regular sheet of paper on top of that, roll the whole sandwich into the platen (roller) of a typewriter (remember those?) and type away. As the letters (on little hammers - until Selectrics and daisy wheels came along) slam into the ribbon, leaving their mark on the top sheet, the pressure also carries through the carbon paper to leave a duplicate impression on the 2nd layer of paper beneath. Voila, a carbon copy.

Someone with a really heavy hand on a manual, or a good electric typewriter, could easily make two and perhaps three (about the limit, and needing thin paper) carbon copies at a time with a sufficiently thick sandwich of paper and carbon paper.

There also existed -- well, maybe not in 1910 but certainly before the invention of the xerograph -- photocopiers. They used photosensitive paper and developing fluid. That was the big plus of the Xerox -- it was dry (hence the name).

Re:1910?

[HappyEngineer]

Monks?

Re:1910?

[Tablizer]

Carbon paper pretty much rules out whiteout.

Re:1910?

[TheMacZealot]

...He wrote extra copies by hand, and was damn careful with them.

Re:I'll keep track of my own data, thank you.

[ScrewMaster]

Oh, I know ... but the fact is that the guy stored the only copy of an important document on a server maintained by someone else, in this case, SBC. SBC disposed of his important document. By placing his trust in the reliability of SBC's equipment and personnel, he got burned. And Network Computing is, by definition, all about trusting some entity other than yourself to store and retrieve your data and process it for you. That's fine, if that's your thing. Me, I'm not so trusting.

i've already backed up my screenplay

[circletimessquare]

i've already backed up my screenplay on the intarweb using a patented methodology i call "astroturf steganography":

1. i broke my screenplay up into paragraph fragments

2. i used a script to comment spam these fragments into random blogs with a unique identifying string, namely "I'm making a Low Budget HDV Filipino Horror Movie in NY [griefmovie.com]"

3. when i want to recover, i simply do a google search on "I'm making a Low Budget HDV Filipino Horror Movie in NY [griefmovie.com]"

voila: instant backup ;-)

oops... i've just given my script away for free to anyone who reads this comment

dang

well, maybe i can sue you under DRM for breaching my cryptographic techniques to access copyrighted material

for reading this comment, you owe me $3,500

awesome!

Re:i've already backed up my screenplay

[Anonymous Coward]

for reading this comment, you owe me $3,500
awesome!

Shit. Not AGAIN!

Re:i've already backed up my screenplay

[WWWWolf]

when i want to recover, i simply do a google search

...and when you get no results, you remember that Googlebot browses as an anonymous coward, and doesn't see the signatures. Oops... =)

Have fun "using" the Slashdot "search", then =)

Re:I'll keep track of my own data, thank you.

[novastar123]

actually, per the article:
In December 2000, a technician named James Kassenborg showed up, allegedly said that certain icons and files were not needed--and deleted all of Boyd's scripts and related projects when installing the connection.
All the "screenplays" were on Boyd's personal computer, not on SBC's server.
The stupid thing was letting a SBC "technician" anywhere near his computer if those "screenplays" were really worth the ammount they said they were.

how can you not have a backup?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to ask, isn't it just about impossible to not have a back-up these days considering it's been sent to someone? I mean, wouldn't he had to have actively deleted the copy that was on his computer?

home pc, not server

[finalrain]

And this is why Fleb asked if you read the article. The files were not on a "server maintained by someone else." They were on the screenwriter's home PC.

I, personally, would really like to know why the technician was deleting files (even if it's just an icon to AOL, it's the client's computer ... maybe they want AOL broadband?) if the specific files weren't malware. It wasn't the tech's job to clean up the writer's computer. It was his job to get the DSL working.

Also, it sounds like the technician told the writer that the writer didn't need the files. Why didn't the writer say "hold on a minute, that random folder is where I store my important files!"?

There's a lot of fishiness going on in both directions.

In other news..

[Anonymous Coward]

The script for Duke Nukem Forever was reported missing.

Re:In other news..

[dynamo52]

I'm sorry, I've got it.

I hope it's sill legible with all these blood stains all over it. Please don't sue me.

Cut the guy some slack...

[rmckeethen]

So Boyd wasn't a computer expert when this saga started. Big deal. Most of the people I know fall into that category, and yet they still manage to get along and accomplish things in life. As I see it, ignorance in the ways of computing isn't criminal; it's profitable, at least it is for me. Over the past decade, I've made a respectable living because a large percentage of the public still sees computers as mysterious little boxes that just do things. From what I read in the article, Boyd's biggest blunder was that he didn't have a backup of his work. If I had a $100 for every time I've seen that scenario play out, even in a multi-million dollar business, I could quit working and retire right now.

According to the facts in the article, SBC was negligent in deleting Boyd's files. However, I'm dubious about the implied poor quality of Boyd's work, and the allegation that Boyd just wanted to 'strike it rich' by suing SBC. Without seeing an example of Boyd's writing, there just isn't enough information available in the story to draw any kind of conclusion. For all I know, Boyd could be the next Hollywood genius... or he could be a complete and total hack. Again, there's just no way to know without seeing his screenplays.

Years ago, I spent some months working with the 'creative' types Hollywood likes to hire, enough to know that egos in the film business tend to be inflated, and the people who control the money operate in very strange and mysterious ways. It wouldn't shock me to hear that one of these guys started pulling million dollar figures out of his rear end based only on a conversation or a concept sketch. One thing I'm certain of is that if I'd written three screenplays, and then some Hollywood character had even *hinted* that these screenplays might be worth millions, I'd be frothing at the mouth if a technician installing a DSL screwed up and deleted my files. My screenplays might be crap and I might be deluding myself about their value, but who among us can just shrug their shoulders and say, "Oh well," when they see years of effort, and a chance at a couple of million dollars profit, go spinning down the drain?

I know it's hard for the technorati crowd on slashdot to appreciate anything that isn't directly related to coding in bits and bytes, but consider this -- someone has to write the screenplays for the movies we like to watch. Boyd may not be the next Lucas or Spielberg, but even those two must have had a point in their careers where they couldn't write worth a damn and they hadn't sold anything yet. Offered the choice of laughing at Boyd's misfortune, or giving him the benefit of the doubt, I'll choose the later option for one simple reason -- it's what I hope people will do for me when I do something stupid in public.

Re:I'll keep track of my own data, thank you.

[dynamo52]

You did... y'know... read the article, right? A little bit?

The document was stored on his own PC, not an SBC server. That does not make him not an idiot but you aren't coming off all that bright right now either.

This reminds me...

[The MAZZTer]

...of the story about the guy who found a incredible way to compress his files to nothing: he deleted them.

When he needed one, he would undelete the file he needed.

This worked fine until his hard drive started filling more and wrote over deleted files.

I bet this guy did something similar, thought his Recycle Bin was a place to store his files.

This Should Never Have Gone To Court

[MacDaffy]

I've been writing screenplays for over ten years now and haven't lost one (although I probably should).

My screeenwriting software backs up the last ten revisions in a folder. It has a designated "Save A Copy" button for off-loading to an external device of some sort. I burn each major revision (finished first act, finished second act, first draft, and subsequent drafts) to optical media. Since I use a Mac, I back up my Users folder once a quarter. Then, just to be on the safe side, I occasionally save a draft to the Documents folder of my .Mac account.

Anyone who doesn't have more than one copy of his screenplay is an idiot.

Re:This Should Never Have Gone To Court

[WuphonsReach]

My rule (and I'm not a screenwriter): Important data should be stored on at least 4 spindles / tapes / discs in at least two geographically distant locations.

That means 2-3 external drives that get rotated and moved offsite to secure locations. Along with optical media archives (which is what optical media excels at) for long-term storage.

PGP/GPG + webmail makes for a handy ad-hoc backup system as well. Encrypt the document, mail it to your GMail account. Heck, mail it to any packrat friends.

Million-Dollar Lawsuits

[apflwr3]

I don't think this guy had much of a leg to stand on, and I'm not defending the merits of his case, but before

When someone sues for an exhorbitant amount they do so on the advice of a lawyer who knows full well that most cases are settled before they get to court (or before a verdict is reached) and that the settlement will be a fraction of the original claim. Even when the case goes to trial and the court rules in the plantiff's favor more likely than not the award will be whittled down. And then of course there are the legal fees, which are as much as half of the award. So it's pretty much obligatory that you have to sue for many times the actual amount that is realistic or fair to expect.

Again... This is a pretty ridiculous case so it's not a good example (the guy's just looking to win the lottery) but realize that a claim of damages that sounds outrageous is a necessary tactic to end up with an award that comes close to actual damages.

Easy tort system fix

[Anonymous Coward]

The easy tort system fix is to tax PUNITIVE damages at a rate of 90-99%.
Leave COMPENSATORY damages alone.

It really shouldn't be a litigation lottery. It should be a system to put you back in the same shape you were in prior to the injury, with a little bit of punishment for egregious behaviour.

If you leave COMPENSATORY damages alone, you get restored to your un-injured position (or as much restoration as you can get in the real world). If you prevent PUNITIVE damages from going to the victim/lawyer you take out the incentive to view your injury as a means to get rich. The company still gets punished, but the no one gets rich because of it. Plus of you tax things, the punishment goes to help the entire community not 1 or 2 individuals.

Also, either eliminate or cap the amount a lawyer can get in CONTINGENT FEES. The lawyer should be able to make enough to incentivize them to take cases based on moral correctness (so the truly poor aren't left out in the cold), but not so much that the lawyer gets rich.

Also CLASS ACTIONS need to overhauled. Maybe we send them all to a special circuit. That way the judges aren't incentives for OKing any BS settlement just to get the case off their dockets.

Re:Easy tort system fix

[bobthesloth]

This is really interesting stuff. I've never understood why punitive damages go to the plaintiff.

Re:Why would I cut an obvious idiot slack?

[shidarin'ou]

As someone who works in Hollywood and with screenwriters, and counts many of them as friends, I can tell you that this guy was an idiot, and he's probably not a real screenwriter (IE, he just moved to Hollywood and is just starting out).

Every screenwriter I know- even the most tech backwards ones- are so incredibly anal about backups that it drives me mad. You'd think there'd be a reasonable limit on the amount of CDs or floppies they mail to their friends for safekeeping- some even out of the state incase of a statewide disaster.

The techbackwards ones- rather than burn to CD or floppy or zip or upload to file servers actually print out copies and mail the copies out, or leave them in old places at places they used to work at or go to school. Know that no one ever goes behind the orange box in the storeroom? PERFECT PLACE FOR A SCREENPLACE ARCHIVE!

So, these were probably his first screenplays, and he hasn't learned how to write screenplays yet (apparently), it wouldn't even surprise me if they were Word documents- from the facts we know about I can easily make the reasonable assumption that his work is shit, because no one makes even a D movie screenplay their first time around, and no wannabe screenwriter is in Hollywood for more than 3 weeks without becoming obsessed with backups.

And one more thing, if there was a bright center of money control in the universe known as Hollywood- the real creative people are on the planet furthest from- so simply by you have "money" and "creative" within two sentences of each other I can also deduce that you were likely no where near the real creative people.

No backups? Gak.

[Dzimas]

I shouldn't be surprised that this turnip didn't bother to back up his multimillion dollar screenplay. It seems that most people believe hard disks are infalliable, and those tiny spinning platters never suffer catastrophic failure. The guy should have opened a gmail account and emailed drafts to himself. It costs nothing, takes moments, and gives you a mindlessly simple way of archiving every edition of your work.

Class action suits are a very different case

[mrraven]

I see your point about big payoffs to individuals, but class action suits are a whole other ball of wax. A class action suit in undertaken when many people have been screwed by a corporation most of whom either couldn't afford a lawyer as an individual, or the lawyer would cost more than the individual payout. Class action suits ARE a form of justice to make sure corporations can't just get away with screwing people with defective products, and leave the individual customer just holding the bag with no compensation possible. Since corporations have such enormous power in our society sometimes collective action is necessary against them to insure they don't use their tremendous resources to screw the little guy.

Re:Class action suits are a very different case

[Anonymous Coward]

In THEORY that is the way they work.

Unfortunatly, in the real world lawyers (looking for a payday) sue a company with a token plaintiff who my or may not have known about an issue before the suit occured. The lawyers then settle with the company for a tirival mount of benfeit to the customer and a big payday for the lawyer. Often customers merely get coupons for $X off another product from the company. The usual example of this was the Ford/GM (?) truck case wit the exploding gas tank. No recall or cash on the barrell head, but instead a coupon off their next Ford/GM truck purchase and a few million for the lawyers.

So, class actions really are NOT working the way they are designed to.

Why, oh why...

[fahrbot-bot]

couldn't it have been the screenplay for Ultraviolet that got deleted?

Don't get me wrong, I love Milla Jovovich (see The Fifth Element), but man Ultraviolet was weak.

And for the uncountable consecutive time........

[i_want_you_to_throw_]

Karma has proven it's infallibility.

I don't buy this...

[bxtl57]

My virtual life savings is a novel I've been working on for **years**. I have that sucker backed up on two thumb drive, two MP3 players, and an armada of floppies lurking around my house. And so would any other writer who even *thought* he had a property that was truly marketable...

I'll take it...

[adamofgreyskull]

I'd like to offer you $2.7m for the movie rights to that story.

Re:1910? Photostat

[Secrity]

http://www.officemuseum.com/copy_machines.htm

In the 1800's letter copying presses that could make (poor) copies of letters or other documents was commonly available.

Photographic document copiers, trademarked "Photostat" and "Rectigraph", were available in the 1910's.

M$ class action beneficiaries in California

[mrraven]

Tell that to the people in California who got refund checks from Micro$oft being a convicted monopolist. Yes I know you are a shill apologist for corporations, but sometimes you people need to face the facts:

"Microsoft resolves class-action suit
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: January 10, 2003, 8:55 PM PST

update Microsoft said late Friday that it has settled a California class-action lawsuit for up to $1.1 billion, a move that would end the largest suit of the kind against the giant software company.

The settlement, which arose from claims that Microsoft unlawfully wielded its Windows monopoly to overcharge consumers for the operating system, allows individuals and businesses in California who bought Microsoft products during a five-year period to apply for vouchers with values of $5 to $29. The vouchers can be used to buy most hardware or software products from any manufacturer."

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-980269.html

He should not get a dime

[DarkOx]

I can't get over the face that he got even one red sent. This complete and utter BS.

I don't know about you but when I have multi-million dollar digital assets I sure would not take the time to run a copy off to floppy or CD nope no way not with my busy schedule. This guy probably had jack or less then that.

New Folder(1)

[Anonymous Coward]

I once had a customer throw a fit in our shop because I emptied his recycle bin. He also had his data organized on his desktop in New Folder, New Folder(1), New Folder(2) and so on...

Has no one heard of Data recovery??

[Anonymous Coward]

So the tech deleted the file. I am assuming anyone stupid enough not to back up a "2.7 million" dollar script is running winXP. I believe the program is call GetDataBack for NTFS. Would take all of 2 hours depending on HDD size to get everything back off the HDD. This is even if the HDD was formated and the OS reinstalled. Hell I have even retreived 90% of a HDD from a drive that was formated, the OS reinstalled and the disk then crashed.

Actually the company is Avrora Media

[bruce_the_loon]

The writer of the article buggered up.

According to IMDB, An American Werewolf in Paris had Avrora Media involved, not Aurora Media.

www.avroramedia.com

And one other thing..

[MrLint]

Mebbe ppl will stop letting ISP visiting morons from touching their computers.

PS I wonder if he had stored his screenplay in temp.

Class action suits = by definition frivolous

[Anonymous Coward]

Class action lawsuits are by definition frivolous. What else when you call it when the vast majority of those supposedly filing the suit NEVER ACTUALLY FILED? Most, if not all, are not even aware of it. A good case of this is the Wal-Mart sexual harassment lawsuit which really involves 6 women. The lying attorneys claim they represent hundreds of thousands, and have brought these women into the lawsuit without their consent. Frivolous lawsuits are bad enough; having a lying attorney file one on your behalf without your consent is even worse. Class action lawsuits are not a form of justice. When someone participates without their consent, it is outright injustice.

The statement "A class action suit in undertaken when many people have been screwed by a corporation" is entirely incorrect, since the typical number of ACTUAL plaintiffs in such a suit is really small. You can't really count people who did not actually willingly and actively seek to participate in a suit as plaintiffs: they never 'plained about it in the first place. The only grey area concerns those ambulance-chasing adverts you see where crooked attorneys do the "did you use VIOXX? Let us know, we can help you get rich!!!". They're trolling for participants by dangling promises of riches in front of people's eyes: hoping to get as many people as possble who actually have no complaint.