This Agreement is made on  by and between you ("Author") and Inside Information Group, Ltd. ("Publisher"), 6404 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 415, Los Angeles, CA 90028, which is the owner and publisher of Creative Screenwriting, CS Weekly, and of related web sites.

    Creative Screenwriting, CS Weekly, Screentalk Magazine, New York Screenwriter Magazine (also known as Screenwriter Magazine) and their several co-owned and related web sites are referred herein collectively as "The CS Publications."

THE AUTHOR AND  PUBLISHER AGREE THAT:

1. Title and Copyright Assignment For New Works

    (a) Author and Publisher intend this to be a contract for services and each considers the products and results of the services to be rendered by Author hereunder (the "Work") to be a work made for hire. Author acknowledges and agrees that the Work and all rights therein, including, without limitation, copyright, belongs to and shall be the sole and exclusive property of Publisher.

    (b) If for any reason the Work would not be considered a work made for hire under applicable law, Author does hereby sell, assign, and transfer to Publisher, its successors and assigns, the entire right, title and interest in and to the copyright in the Work and any registrations and copyright applications relating thereto and any renewals and extensions thereof, and in and to all works based upon, derived from, or incorporating the Work, and in an to all income, royalties, damages, claims and payments now or hereafter due or payable with respect thereto, and in and to all causes of action, either in law or in equity for past, present, or future infringement based on the copyrights, and in and to all rights corresponding to the foregoing throughout the world.

    © If the Work is one to which the provisions of 17 U.S.C. 106A apply, the Author hereby waives and appoints Publisher to assert on the Author's behalf the Author's moral rights or any equivalent rights regarding the form or extent of any alteration to the Work or the making of any derivative works based on the Work, including, without limitation, photographs, drawings or other visual reproductions or the Work, in any medium, for Publisher purposes.

    (d) Author agrees to execute all papers and to perform such other proper acts as Publisher may deem necessary to secure for Publisher the rights herein assigned.

Copyright Exception:  Excerpts From Author's Book

If the content is an excerpt from a published or to-be-published book, the Author (or the author's other publisher) retains copyrights, but authorizes Publisher to publish the article in the print magazine and in electronic copies of the magazine and of the article at Publisher's web sites.   Publisher agrees to identify and credit the source of the content in all such publications.

2. Grant of License To Author To Use Content For Which Publisher Is Securing Copyrights

This subsection 2 does not apply to excerpts from Author's book, for which author is not transferring copyrights to Publisher.

    A. Author is hereby granted rights to use and republish the Work:

    (1) No sooner than 60 days after the first publication date of the Creative Screenwriting Magazine issue in which the Work appears (or its first publication date on a CS  web site or in CS Weekly), Author may post a Work on an Internet web site which is solely a personal web site of Author and is identified as such, and which does not contain  works of others on the subject of scriptwriting, and which is not a company web site (including companies solely owned by Author); and/or

    (2) In photocopies or electronic copies for the purposes of providing samples of Author's work to prospective employers or partners, and/or

    (3) In the following manner(s) and for the following purpose(s), which may be further described in a separate written communication signed by both parties:

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    (4) Additional uses with publisher's written permission, any other use or in any other medium which Publisher, in Publisher's sole discretion, deems in advance of such use or publication to be both non-competing and not inconsistent with Publisher's business goals and purposes. 

    B.  Credit to Original Publishing Source.

    (1) Each re-publication or copy of the Work by Author at an Internet web site or distributed in HTML format must include, below the headline/title and byline and above the body of the text, these words and hyperlink: "Republished with permission from Creative Screenwriting," with the words "Creative Screenwriting" hyperlinked to http://www.creativescreenwriting.com.

    (2) Except as agreed upon (such as in the body of a book), each re-publication or copy of the Work other than on an Internet web site or in HTML format must include, below the headline and byline and above the body of the text, these words, "Republished with permission from Creative Screenwriting,  www.creativescreenwriting.com"

3. Delivery of the Work

    (a) The Author will deliver to the Publisher by assigned deadlines each completed Work in the medium mutually agreed upon in form and content satisfactory to the Publisher.

    (b) If the Author fails to deliver a Work on time, the Publisher will have the right, in Publisher's sole discretion, to one of these remedies:
        (1) to reject that particular Work and recover from the author any sums advanced for that individual Work, or
        (2) to terminate this agreement in its entirety and recover from the Author any sums advanced in connection with any or all undelivered Works, or,
        (3) to pay the lower price for that individual late Work only as specified for "Late Delivery of Work"  in Section 6 (B) below.

    If Publisher elects to terminate the agreement, upon such termination, the Author may  have the Work published elsewhere after any such advances have been repaid.

4. Quoted Material

    With the exception of short excerpts from others' works, which constitute fair use, the Work will contain no material from other copyrighted works without a written consent of the copyright holder. The Author will obtain such consents at his or her own expense after consultation with the Publisher and will file them with the Publisher at the time the Work is delivered. Any obligations associated with permissions will be the responsibility of the Author.

5. Author's Warranty

    The Author warrants that he or she is the sole owner of the Work and has full power and authority to make this agreement; that the Work does not infringe any copyright, violate any property rights, or contain any scandalous, libelous, or unlawful matter. The Author will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Publisher and/or its licensees against all claims, suits, costs, damages, and expenses that the Publisher and/or its licensees may sustain by reason of any scandalous, libelous, or unlawful matter contained or alleged to be contained in the Work or any infringement or violation by the Work of any copyright or property right; and until such claim or suit has been settled or withdrawn, the Publisher may withhold any sums due the Author under this agreement.

6. Consideration

    (A) Timely-Submitted Works.

    In consideration for delivery of the Work for timely-submitted Works in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, Publisher shall pay Author according to the pay rates  under the "Rates of Pay" paragraph "D" of this section.

    (A)(1)  Pay Rate Exception: Excerpts Or Adaptations From Author's Book

It is presumed that publishing an excerpt or article adapting content from a book is of promotional value to the Author and to the publisher of that book.  As such, the publicity and marketing value of publication of the content shall be full consideration and payment for publication of such excerpts or adaptations, and Publisher shall make no payment to Author or the book's publisher. 

    (B)  Late Delivery of Work.

    If Publisher elects to pay the "Late Delivery of Work" rate provided for under Section 3(b)(3) above, Publisher have the right and sole option to pay for a late Work a rate which is twenty percent (20%) lower than the corresponding rate for timely Works.   Any decision by Publisher to waive this paragraph for a particular assignment shall be at Publisher's sole discretion, and shall not constitute a basis for waiver of this right regarding a future late Work.

    (C)  Acceptance; Payment Deadlines And Terms.

Payment shall be dated and mailed as soon as possible, but is due within 30 days of the date of acceptance.  The date of acceptance is the date on which the final version (high-resolution PDF or other file format) is sent to the printer for printing.  If payment is not dated and mailed within 30 days of the date of acceptance, Publisher shall additionally pay Author interest of one percent (1%) per month or part thereof on the amount due.

    (D) Rates of Pay.

Rates of Pay for content other than columns published in Creative Screenwriting Magazine shall be as follows:

      (1)  Rate Of Pay For Writers With Prior Work Published In Creative Screenwriting And Certain Others With Credentials Determined by Publisher

• Question-and-answer interviews: 15 cents per word 
• Articles: 20 cents per word 

      (2)  Rate Of Pay For Writers Without Prior Work Published In Creative Screenwriting

The following rate of pay shall apply to work up to and including articles containing the 10,000th word published by Creative Screenwriting written by an Author new to Publisher:

• Question-and-answer interviews: 12.5 cents per word 
• Articles: 15 cents per word 

      (3) Rate Of Pay For CS Weekly

• Question-and-answer interviews: 7 cents per word 
• Articles: 7 cents per word 

      (4) "Reporter" Pay

Payment at a different rate of pay may be negotiated for an individual article or series of articles, on a one-time basis, for which Publisher, in Publisher's sole discretion, determines to require additional research.  Such payment does not constitute a "raise" and does not create any presumption that such higher rate will be paid for any future work, including work similar to or the same as the article or series for which such higher rate of pay is negotiated.

7. Revisions of the Work

    Publisher shall have the sole right to edit and revise the Work and to publish the Work with such revisions.

8. Term and Termination; Options/Contracts with Third Parties

    (a) This agreement shall remain in effect for five (5) years unless terminated earlier in accordance with this Section.

    (b) In the event that either party shall be in default of its material obligations under this agreement and shall fail to remedy such default within sixty (60) days after receipt of written notice thereof, this agreement shall terminate upon expiration of the sixty (60) day period.

    (c) Upon the expiration of the term of this agreement, the parties may agree to renew this agreement for an additional five (5) year term, upon the same terms and conditions as set forth herein, except that pay shall be at such different rates of pay as are in effect at that time.  Publisher's ownership of all rights in acquired Work, and the Author's Warranty in Section 4, shall survive expiration of this and subsequent agreements.

    Nothing contained in Section 8 shall affect any license or other grant of rights, options, or agreements made by the Publisher with third parties prior to the termination date or the rights of the Publisher in the income resulting from such agreements.

9. Confidentiality; No Disparagement

    (a) The performance of this agreement may require Publisher to share business plans, goals, and possibly trade secrets with Author.  All of Publisher's information about business plans, goals, schedules, products, customers, promotional and marketing plans, and all of Publisher's trade secrets and proprietary materials provided or revealed to Author, shall be treated in strictest confidence by Author, and shall not be shared with any third party without Publisher's written permission.   Any property of Publisher provided to Author for purposes of completing a Work under this agreement shall be used by Author only for such purposes as intended by Publisher and shall be returned to Publisher (or in the case of electronic files, Author's copy destroyed) at the end of its use for those purposes.

    (b) Publisher and Author agree not to disparage each other or each other's name or work to third parties.  Nothing in this paragraph may be construed as to prevent Publisher from evaluating Author's work for internal professional purposes, and from providing such evaluations in confidence to Publisher's successors or assignees of Publisher's rights.

10. Amendments

    This written agreement is the sole and entire agreement made between the Author and the Publisher concerning this Work, and any amendments to this agreement shall not be valid unless made in writing and signed by both parties.

11. Governing Law; Dispute Resolution; Construction, Binding Effect, and Assignment

    A. It is the intention of the parties to this Agreement that this Agreement and the performance under this Agreement, and all suits and special proceedings under this Agreement, be construed in accordance with and governed, to the exclusion of the law of any other forum, by the laws of the State of California, without regard to the jurisdiction in which any action or special proceeding may be instituted.  Any proceeding under this Agreement will be brought within the City of Los Angeles.

    B. In the event a dispute arises out of or in connection with this Agreement the parties will attempt to resolve the dispute through friendly consultation.

    C. If the dispute is not resolved within a reasonable period then any or all outstanding issues may be submitted to mediation in accordance with any statutory rules of mediation. If mediation is not successful in resolving the entire dispute or is unavailable, any outstanding issues will be submitted to final and binding arbitration in accordance with the laws of the State of California by the American Arbitration Association® (“AAA”) and in accordance with AAA Rules and Procedures to the extent that they do not conflict with or override California law.  The costs of the mediation and arbitration, including any AAA administration fee and arbitrator's fee, and costs for the use of facilities during the hearings, shall be borne equally by the parties.  Attorneys' fees may be awarded to the prevailing or most prevailing party at the discretion of the arbitrator. 

    This agreement shall be construed and interpreted according to the laws of the State of California and shall be binding upon the parties hereto, their heirs, successors, assigns, and personal representatives; and references to the Author and to the Publisher shall include their heirs, successors, assigns, and personal representatives.   Publisher shall have the unrestricted right to assign all of its rights under this agreement to a third party.

12.  Information To Publisher; Signatures of Parties

    This agreement contains spaces on the signature page, which Author agrees to fill out in full or correct for the purpose of payment, communication, accounting, and taxes.