Sun, 2022-May-08 23:46 (BST)
My best guess is Yes: https://www.amazon.com/Mr.-Scripts/e/B09VSVB5VX
Many of the scripts are listed at $8.99. And most of them were published during the last week. This biz went up like a carny ride.
I don't know what you see on your screen, but I did check it out. All of these scripts are pilot episodes which are free to read online, so public domain. Also, they're free Kindles. I didn't see a list price anywhere. Another thing to keep in mind, the pilot episodes for each Kindle are from hugely successful shows that have already made a lot of money, which is why the pilot episodes are free to read online. For educational purposes. It's all legit as far as I can tell.
So, thanks for letting us know someone made the effort to create free Kindles of successful pilots that you can download all on one web page.
Scroll past the first dozen, and you'll see 70 or 80 scripts (many big-name movies) for $8.99. Mr. Scripts could not have gotten releases from all of them.
I scrolled down to the first one with a price, Joker.
Then googled.
https://d2bu9v0mnky9ur.cloudfront.net/academy2019/screenplay/joker/joker_new_final.pdf
Look, I'm not dismissing you. I'm just pointing out, there's already a free version of these scripts online. I have no idea who this Mr. Scripts is, but it really looks to me like somebody just collected everything already online and put it on Amazon. Who knows? Maybe it's some guy in Hollywood desperate to pay for a coffee at Starbucks. Anything could be the case. Have you tried contacting this Mr. Scripts?
No, I'm just trying to get Amazon to realize they're participating in a crime. ;-)
Certainly seems to be on shaky ground there.
Frankly, Amazon's marketplace and individual sellers has always been on shaky ground, since day one, about 30 years ago. There's no quality control, no one's in charge. Anyone can come along and publish anything they want. Any 6-year-old can scrape the internet for free content and upload a word doc.
To me, the only questionable part is charging any amount of money. Upload and offer as a free download? Legal. Could be morally objectionable, but good luck winning a moral argument. Listing a price? Possible law violation. But I'm not a lawyer, so I have no idea if permission to sell is okay or not, considering all scripts can be read online for free. Your guess is as good as mine.
Got to be illegal under the FIRST SALES DOCTRINE.
For example, if you buy a book or DVD, you can resell that specific item. However, you can’t make copies of the object and sell those. Whether it is a DVD, picture, or script.
The fact that it is available on the internet for free does not make it public domain. Public domain in its simplest form merely means something that can no longer be copyrighted. The JOKER script is certainly copyrighted. The fact that you can find it for free online does not change that. e.g., You can find my scripts online and they are copyrighted.
I'm assuming that the only reason legal action hasn't been taken is because it's peanuts money at this point in time and not worth the cease and desist efforts. If it gets significant, action will be taken.
I did a search online. There's no author name listed anywhere. I also found this site.
http://www.mrscripts.com/
I didn't make it clickable because it's not a secure website, so at your own risk.
I'm not sure Mr. Scripts is an actual person. More than that, no one seems to be running that website. No humans here. We could be arguing about a bot.
Crap. It automatically turned into a clickable link. Sorry about that.
I tried reporting Mr. Scripts to Amazon. No dice. So I posted a review, thinking that would get their attention - Amazon is notoriously protective about reviews. But they let it through:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3ELE4XJTTRJEP
Hm. I wonder what his secret identity is.
My guess is Charles Scripts.
According to Google, Wild West Domains is simply the Reseller arm of GoDaddy. And I doubt whether we will ever find out the identity of Mr. Scripts. Domain registrars make it really easy to become anonymous.
I don't really want to uncover his identity.
just my "jokes"