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Amazon Screenplay-Writing Software Submits Work To Amazon Studios (thestack.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the feeding-the-machine dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Amazon has released new screenplay-writing software aimed to help connect new writing talent to its original content production company, Amazon Studios. Storywriter contains many of the autoformatting tools familiar to users of similar software such as Final Draft and Celtx, but no other screenwriting tool can claim to actually send unknown writers' output to potentially interested producers.

33 comments

  1. Could this be used for porn? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm kind of hoping this might lead to better plot lines in typical pornographic films. Historically the quality has been a little bit lacking. If we can make it easier to write screenplays and attract new and better talent, this could go a long way towards fixing this situation.

    1. Re:Could this be used for porn? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you watch porn for the plot?

    2. Re:Could this be used for porn? by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      Why not? I mean you kinda need something besides cocaine to do in between boners. Why not get turned on by the plot just before getting turned on by the content?

      Besides, I bet more women would watch more porn if there was a decent plot. Look at the popularity of soft porn like 50 shades of grey.

    3. Re:Could this be used for porn? by Cow+Jones · · Score: 1

      Here's some porn with plot for you.
      Would have been perfect with Morena Baccarin.

      --

      Ah, arrogance and stupidity, all in the same package. How efficient of you. -- Londo Mollari
    4. Re:Could this be used for porn? by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

      Some japanese "eroge", hentai games or whatever you want to call these actually have very good plots. Good enough to stand on their own without the porn.

    5. Re:Could this be used for porn? by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I was wondering where that was going and followed it through to the end. I came!

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  2. That's...odd by mhkohne · · Score: 2

    I simply can not imagine how big that slush pile is going to grow. Even if they run an automated grammar check or something and reject the out-and-out fails without human intervention, they are going to get so many submissions they aren't going to be able to keep up.

    I give it two weeks.

    --
    A thousand pounds of wood moving at 300 feet per minute. Don't get in the way.
    1. Re:That's...odd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They'll add the feature of paying to get ahead in the review line. The more you pay, the closer you get to the top until someone else pays even more.

  3. Amazon is for Cows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Amazon is a book store. Book stores sell books. Boooks book stores books! Booooooks! Boooooks! Boooks sell the book stores. YOU AMAZON STORES!!!

    1. Re:Amazon is for Cows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Whatever you're on, you need either a lot less or a lot more.

    2. Re: Amazon is for Cows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Was. Was a bookstore.

  4. Amazon is for cows. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are all cows. Cows say moo. MOOOO! MOOOO! Moo cows MOOOO! Moo say the cows. YOU FREE SHIPPING COWS!!

  5. Small print by Chris+Johnson · · Score: 4, Informative

    Amazon Studios will grow and evolve over time. As it does, we'll need to adapt the terms of this Agreement. Unless we otherwise note at the time of posting, changes to this Agreement will be effective immediately upon posting. You accept changes by using Amazon Studios after we have posted changes or, if we provide you a means of indicating your acceptance online, by clicking to confirm acceptance.

    In order to prevent legal claims that could be disruptive to Amazon Studios participants and impede the ability of Amazon scripts, movies, shows and videos to be developed and released, you agree to irrevocably and forever waive any legal claim you may have under any theory of law in any territory, including, without limitation, copyright infringement or breach of implied in fact contract (idea submission), that your rights were infringed due to any similarity between your Content and any other content that is or may become available on Amazon, unless there is substantial similarity of protectable expression under United States copyright law between your Content and the other content and the other content includes a verbatim copy of a material portion of your script or other written material, if your Content is a script or other written material, or a re-use of a material portion of footage from your movie, show or other video if your Content is a movie, show, or other video. Note that the Account Agreement includes additional waivers of claims related to Content that apply to the Amazon Parties, as defined in Section 11.4 below.

    9. Compensation. You will have no right to compensation in connection with the exploitation of rights you grant under this Agreement.

    I'm not sure WHAT they could possibly change to rape screenwriters harder, in this, but by God if they think of something, you've already agreed to it! :D

    And so another field of human endeavor is Uber-fied

    1. Re:Small print by ProzacPatient · · Score: 1

      I'm no lawyer but wouldn't this be considered an agreement of adhesion perhaps even to the point of being potentially unconscionable? I can't see how any rational person would agree to this.

    2. Re: Small print by Eugriped3z · · Score: 2

      Gosh, isn't a, "take it or leave it all," type contract exactly what all 'free software' agreements are all about? You can't tell me this is the first time you've noticed that something is amiss with the $ billions in revenue that accrues to large corporations like banks, wireless carriers, ISPs, and web based businesses that hawk 'their' user's metadata and/or real data because of the assumption that it becomes the property of the company providing the service? However, Courts often use the âoedoctrine of reasonable expectationsâ as a justification for invalidating parts or all of an adhesion contract: the weaker party will not be held to adhere to contract terms that are beyond what the weaker party would have reasonably expected from the contract, even if what he or she reasonably expected was outside the strict letter of agreement.

    3. Re:Small print by davester666 · · Score: 2

      But the person agreeing to it is a screenwriter....definitely not rational.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    4. Re:Small print by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In your submission, put in your own terms that favor you and that Amazon Studios "agrees to" by merely accepting your submission so as to create a battle of the forms. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

    5. Re:Small print by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What this is saying is that by submitting your idea to Amazon, you're acknowledging that Amazon may be receiving submissions with ideas similar to yours, and that because of this, you should not expect to be compensated for this.

      This reads similarly to the release forms that Hollywood studios and agencies require you to sign before they consider submissions, especially unsolicited ones.

    6. Re:Small print by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      Yes, this isn't all that unusual at all. It's pretty consistent with the unsolicited ideas submission policies of most major companies.

      With that said, if these terms scare you, and if you don't care about submitting to Amazon, but just want a web-based script writing platform, check out WebScripted TV. It's kind of preliminary (translation: I'm the only developer, only user, and only tester), and I had to work around dozens of really bad bugs and misbehavior in various browsers' HTML editing functionality (to such an extent that MSIE isn't even supported, because it was just too broken to be even halfway functional last time I tried), so don't expect God's greatest gift to his people, but it is free to use, and lets you save copies of your content locally for backup purposes (or at least I think I enabled that feature).

      And if you're an aspiring director, camera operator, etc., it offers the potential for creating groups of reviewers who can accept submissions from outside writers, collaboration on an online forum, peer editing, etc. Of course, I don't have the connections needed to actually get folks to start using it, but the potential is there.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    7. Re:Small print by KGIII · · Score: 1

      They, the real professionals, might review this site for ideas. They'll just change a few names around, make the setting sightly different, and call the idea their own. This is a stupid idea and they are stupid for enabling it. Nothing good will come of this except for a few key events that are short-lived. It will look like a success on paper (at best) and be in the news no more than three times as a success. If it's in the news beyond that then it will be for negatives such as the above mentioned copying of said ideas.

      Even if they don't copy the ideas, there will be something written that is so similar that someone will think it belongs to them, was their idea first, and will attempt to sue over it because they've a frail ego and will not be able to accept that someone else had the same idea already.

      Years and years ago, I needed to take a filler class in a language so I took a creative writing class. This was at the collegiate level and it was more difficult than I'd expected (for I am not a writer). One of the things that the professor taught us is that there are something like 21 basic plots and that's it - nobody's come up with more. You can twist 'em, you can manipulate them, and you can mix and match them but there are, all told, just something silly like 21 total basic plots. (I'm not even sure it was that many but it was a lot of years ago.)

      So, no... Nothing good will come of this. I'm sure there will be a few 'success' stories at first. I imagine that will be the end of it and it will fade into the dustbin of history. I'm inclined to believe so, at any rate. Good on them for trying and all but I just don't see this being as big a hit as they might be expecting. I anticipate a lot of unhappy people who think they're more clever and qualified than they really are. I also expect greed, manipulation, and outright abuse. To be frank, I don't think I'm expecting anything out of the ordinary.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    8. Re:Small print by lowkeyknight · · Score: 1

      They will Absolutely make something from this and give all credits and plaudits to that writer. My God! The PR boost and free media from all the articles and the talking heads on the "new Paradigm in film making post Amazon/Netflix" alone will make them staggering sums of money.

    9. Re:Small print by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I figure that's true for the first few which is why I included that.

      I'm sure there will be a few 'success' stories at first.

      Perhaps you missed it or I wasn't clear enough? Or do you think they're going to *keep* doing that after the first few and they've gained the PR boost from it? If so then, well, I don't think that's going to happen. They'll end up getting labor at next to nothing if not just outright stealing the ideas and changing them enough to ensure they don't violate any agreements. Their terms of service indicate that they've already concluded that many ideas are so similar that they need to include an indemnification clause to ensure that they can't be sued for similar works.

      I'd hope you're right but it does't look likely. I don't suppose you want to place a friendly wager on it? :D

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    10. Re: Small print by lowkeyknight · · Score: 1

      I think they'll roll out 2-3 a year to keep interest up. There is actually an interesting model for this type of work submission in the non marvel/DC comic book publishers, some do annual "talent competitions" for direct submissions for writers/artists and publish a handful of the best every year, several of which have got a career.

  6. Exactly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The amount of usable content will go from absurd to hilariously absurd.

    But the thing is, there's never really been much of a connection between "good screenplays" and "what gets made" (as we all unfortunately know).

    Getting a screenplay made into a film was, is and always will be about connections and determination.

    Which is why screenwriters do better in New York and LA, than Milwaukee. If it was as simple as sending it to someone by email and saying, "Hey, take a look at this", well... then we'd have an industry that actually cared about quality and didn't value connections above all else.

    But.. we don't have that industry...

  7. Awesome new works coming to Amazon Video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can't want for the new stuff to hit Amazon Video.

    I mean, with the existing stuff they have, in particular the Amazon original series, this can't get any worse.

    Right??

  8. anti small print by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.
    Ever hear of battle of the forms?

    In the last line of the screen play one could put something like: By receiving this screenplay and by not responding to this clause within 30 days, Amazon Studios hereby agrees to revoke the original software licence and agrees to pay for any and all attorneys fees used in connection to enforce the Writer's rights to any and all intellectual property associated with this submission. If Amazon Studios does respond to this clause in any form or fashion, then Amazon Studios agrees to alter the license and pay a fee of not less than $100,000 for any use of any intellectual property contained in this submission along with any and all damages and attorneys fees incurred to enforce these rights. In either case, attorneys fees for any enforcement actions shall be paid for by Amazon Studios even if such enforcement is NOT successful.

    It could be put it in all caps on the last page.

    Alternatively, one could put the new terms on a website and in all caps on the last page put that link with something like: Amazon Studios agrees to the terms and conditions available at https://link/.

    Will it work? If you try and be a nuisance and sue for no reason, then would a judge really try hard to help you? If however, Amazon Studios makes millions by blatantly stealing your ideas, characters, and concepts, would a judge give a little more thought to trying to help you?
    THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

    1. Re:anti small print by KGIII · · Score: 1

      No, they are not agreeing. It's an automated process. You, on the other hand, are agreeing to the terms. They can not be expected to read each and every submission to its conclusion nor can they be reasonably expected to respond to such. No judge, even if they steal your work, will give you any consideration for this. No lawyer will take it on contingency. No jury will award you damages or find in your favor.

      I am not a lawyer but this is legal advice: Do not listen to the parent poster without getting professional legal council.

      I've done quite a bit of work with lawyers, specifically with contract law, and have even done a great deal of my own research in some cases. I've also had some dealings with criminal courts, up to and including petitioning for standing - you can always ask, well - until you piss a judge off by bugging them too much, then they may tell you to stop and hold you in contempt if you don't. But, you can petition the court for most anything - even for them to let you take a deity to court. (They won't agree but you can ask.)

      Anyhow, judges don't take kindly to legal weasel words regardless of what you see on television, read in books, or see in the movies. It doesn't work like that and you'll piss the judge off. On top of that, your submission, via an automated process, would not even remotely indicate that they approved of the contract and such would not be legally binding in any way, shape, or form. You mentioned it several times in the thread (the same verbiage was used each time) so I feel compelled to tell you to not do this and I feel obligated to make sure nobody is daft enough to believe you.

      What I can recommend is that you uphold your end of the social contract. What's that? Such a severe topic for such a trivial post? Yes, yes indeed.

      See, we as citizens are obligated to make sure that we have the government we're due. One of the easiest routes to access and change the government is the court. The court is an important place. You, as a citizen, need to watch the courts and observe their actions - which means knowing a little bit about the law and ensuring that the court has upheld the law - even for people who are likely guilty of crimes you find reprehensible. (You can always petition for standing or to speak as a friend of the court - it doesn't always work.) So, it's fairly obvious that you've not done this. What you should do, as well as everyone else, is take a few days a year our of your busy schedule and use that time to observe the courts. They're usually open to the public. They have access to a law library, it's free, and you can generally even ask a nice lawyer for a little help and they'll give it to you if you have a quick question and a wise question.

      Such is your end of the social bargain. You want a government that does what it is meant to do? You need to take the time to observe the government and make sure that it is doing the job you let it do. This lapse in social duty is probably the greatest cause of the governmental degradations we have. You rely on media or someone else to do the job. It does take some sacrifice to accomplish this, one needs to make the time for it, but it is your job to do so. An inattentive populous is a politician's dream. Do your job.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  9. And by writing it with this online tool... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are bound by their ToS https://storywriter.amazon.com/conditions-of-use which states:
    This is an agreement between you and Amazon Digital Services Inc. (with its affiliates, "Amazon", "we" or "us") regarding your use of the Amazon Storywriter software (together with any updates and enhancements to it, and accompanying documentation, the "Application") that we make available to you on your connected device (each, a "Device"). Before using the Application, please read this Application License and Notices, all rules and policies related to the Application (including any specific rules, usage restrictions and other conditions or procedures that we post or update on or through the Application or on Amazon.com), the Amazon.com Privacy Notice located at www.amazon.com/privacy and the Amazon.com Conditions of Use located at www.amazon.com/conditionsofuse posted on Amazon.com (collectively, this "Agreement"). If you install or use the Application, you will be bound by this Agreement.

    and www.amazon.com/conditionsofuse contains:

    If you do post content or submit material, and unless we indicate otherwise, you grant Amazon a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, perform, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media. You grant Amazon and sublicensees the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such content, if they choose. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you post; that the content is accurate; that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify Amazon for all claims resulting from content you supply. Amazon has the right but not the obligation to monitor and edit or remove any activity or content. Amazon takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content posted by you or any third party.

    So by creating words on this app, which saves them to amazon's servers (even before you "submit" to amazon's review if ever) you have already granted amazon a irrevocable and sub-licenseable grant to your screenplay.

    1. Re:And by writing it with this online tool... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes exactly, so use the same dirty trick and include extra terms in your submission that favor you, which they are bound by unless they object. http://www.thecontractsguy.net/2012/03/01/battle-of-the-forms-explained-using-a-few-short-words/ THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

    2. Re:And by writing it with this online tool... by lowkeyknight · · Score: 1

      Seems to me the "If you do post content or submit material" means that you are wrong.

  10. The goal of Amazon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just in case someone wonders, here are the goals of amazon in all areas in which they do business:

    1. Make end customers pay. (traditional)

    2. Make content producers pay. (new)

    3. Create a monopoly. (illegal)

  11. Just like almost everything I write by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As a dabbler in screen writing (and also extremely basic HTML) I'll stick to Notepad.exe if I'm going to use Windows.

  12. Talented software?! by doccus · · Score: 1

    The title *could* have been written more clearly, you know.. I read it as the *software itself* submitted a screenplay to Amazon. So that's where A.I. develops literary talents? Frankly, it could be an improvement// I suppose.