To access AWG's Script Registration service, please ensure your AWG membership is financial and you are logged in to My Account. Scripts can be registered via the blue button on the right.
If you receive a notice that you do not have permission to access the page, please update your membership to financial. If the problem persists, contact [email protected]. You can sign up for AWG membership or renew your membership HERE.
With more than 10,000 scripts given additional protection, it’s no surprise script registration is one of the most popular services we offer to writers at all career stages.
The Australian Writers' Guild’s Registration Service has been set up (in line with script registration services offered by Writers’ Guilds in the UK, USA and Canada) to assist AWG members in establishing the completion date and the identity of their literary property. It should be remembered that the aim of the registration is to prove priority of ownership, and that the priority of ownership cannot necessarily be proved if the material is sent to a reader or producer before it is received and registered by the Guild.
Registration does not confer any protection that you are not already entitled to under Australian law. It merely provides evidence of the author’s prior claim to authorship of the literary material and the date of its completion. Registration does not confer copyright. In Australia, copyright is owned by the author of an original work as soon as it is in material form (i.e. in writing). There is no need for an author to do anything further to protect their work, provided the author is an Australian resident and their work is “original” (in the sense of being the author(s) own composition).
The Australian Writers’ Guild will accept full scripts for registration, as well as material which is not in full script form, e.g. synopses, outlines, treatments and scenarios. Each property must be registered separately.
In the case of joint authorship, all parties must be members (Full or Associate) of the Guild, and all names must appear on the registration form.
One copy of the material which is to be registered shall be lodged with the Guild office, which shall seal the material in an envelope marked with all the relevant details (name and address of the author, title and format of the material, registration number and date of registration, and signature of the staff member acting as registrar). This envelope shall be kept in a safe place by the Guild. Material for registration may be either be mailed or delivered in person to the Guild office, together with the appropriate registration fee. After a registration number has been allocated, the author may then note on the title page of his/her work that it is registered with the Australian Writers’ Guild. The correct makings for the title page are shown below.
The registered copy of the material left on deposit cannot be returned to the author without defeating the purpose of registration because evidence should be available, if necessary, that the material has been in registration. However, if necessary, an author may have the registered copy returned to him/her at any time upon sufficient notice. A registered envelope will be surrendered only to the author upon presentation of the original registration receipt, proper identification and payment of the withdrawal fee. Where there are joint authors, written consent of all parties must be tendered. Registered manuscripts, or information pertaining thereto, shall be made available to no person other than the author(s) unless a court order has been obtained. Once a script has been withdrawn, the original registration is no longer valid and the material must be registered again.
Registration is valid for ten years. A registration may be renewed before the end of the ten year period by application to the Guild and payment of the then current renewal fee. In registering a property you authorise the Guild, unless the registration is renewed at the end of the ten year period, to destroy any unclaimed property without notice
Scripts may only be registered in the name of the author(s) and under no other name(s). Pseudonyms are not acceptable.
Registration fee….$27.50 including GST per property
Renewal fee…….. $27.50 including GST per property
Australia is a member of both international copyright conventions: the Berne Union and the Universal Copyright Convention. No formalities are required by the former, but under the latter it is necessary to display on your work the copyright symbol “©” your name and the year. Once the script is registered, the title page of all subsequent copies of that script should carry the registration number (see below). This is in effect a warning that you will not tolerate any infringement of your copyright.
The correct style of marking for the title page of your script is:
Copyright or “©” Jane Smith, 1994
Registered with the Australian Writers’ Guild
No: _________
Please note: Registration is available to current financial members of the Guild only.
If you are not a member join here.