Can I protect a movie plot with an Ashcan Copy or Film Treatment?

jack

New member
I read about 'Ashcan Copies', which are comic books or graphic novels that are published solely for the purpose of protecting intellectual property rights, and never intended to be mass published and distributed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashcan_copy

I suppose another method could be writing a film 'treatment'?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_treatment

Would I be able to use either of these as an easy, cheap way to protect the basic outline of a movie storyboard/plot that I have thought up?
I know about the Writer's Guild and being able to submit them documents for storage and time capsuled safe keeping, but is that really a guarantee that I would have legal ownership of the key ideas of a movie plot?

Can you please suggest how I can contact an attorney who specializes in intellectual property rights for movies? I tried google searching but I have no idea whether these people are credible or knowledgeable.

Thanks
 
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