What’s the difference between copyrighting and registering a script?

Question by E: What’s the difference between copyrighting and registering a script?
I’m looking to protect a screenplay I’ve written and I’ve been told to either register it with the WGA or copyright it with the Library of Congress. I also heard that the writer should only register it while the production company it is eventually sold to takes care of the copyright. What’s the difference? Which does an agent/production company prefer?

Best answer:

Answer by magpieix A.L.M.N.
The WGA registration is long-recognized as a reliable way to prove when an script has been completed, and it shows producers, agents, studios etc. that you are serious about working within their system. Copyright registration with the Government is largely seen as a) the mark of an amateur, and b) that you are paranoid about being ripped up by an agent (which is not always unjustified, but think about it: if you submitted something to someone in a way that suggested that you thought they were going to steal it, do you think they’re going to look on it kindly?)

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