I want my work to be under my name. To avoid the court stuff.

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Go to court.

Poor Man copywrite- mail it to yourself but dont open it. not sure if that still stands in court these days though

starly, if you've written the lyrics or screenplay, you own the copyright already. If you live in the US or its territories, or if your country observes the rules either of the Universal Copyright Convention (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Copyright_Convention ) or the Berne Convention (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works ), your work is copyrighted from the moment it's saved to a fixed medium, whether it’s your hard drive, a notebook, or Sharpie on a paper napkin. You do not need to register your copyright to market your work to publishers or to seek an agent. If it is accepted, legitimate publishers, studios, etc.--the kind that pay you rather than the other way around--will register the copyright of the final version, after any edits or rewrites they require before publication. If you choose to copyright in the US anyway, get the information and forms needed at http://www.copyright.gov or by writing to Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue S.E., Washington, D.C. 20559-6000. You do not need to be a US citizen or resident. Copyright registration offers a few additional protections that some writers think are worth the extra money, for your lifetime plus 70 years. It costs $45 US. Be aware that for screenplays which you are not yet submitting to studios, production companies, or agents, you can get five years of protection from registering at the WGA. This is the way to go if you're sharing the work, seeking feedback, before a final version you intend to market. BTW, mailing a sealed envelope containing your manuscript to yourself, and leaving it sealed, or arranging any other sort of delivery, with or without witnesses, offers you no legal protection at all. There is no case law in the US in which any court, at any level, recognized this "poor man's copyright." Source: http://loc.gov, the Library of Congress, which issues copyright registrations. This is a complete myth which just won't die.

Copyrighting either is a waste of time and money. What you need to do is REGISTER your screenplay with the WGA (http://www.wgawregistry.org/webrss/). If your lyrics are included in the screenplay, then that of course will be included under the cover of registering. Otherwise, I am fairly positive that lyrics are something you just hang on to until they are copyrighted. Now...WHY SHOULDN'T YOU COPYRIGHT? This goes for everyone in the community here, but alas, it will continue to be asked over and over. If you as an individual copyright material that is created by you, but you intend to sell it....wait, let me say that one more time: YOU INTEND TO SELL IT... ...Did you catch it? SELL. Once you sell your material, the money you spent copyrighting is WASTED. Because you NO LONGER OWN your material. Whoever you sold it to does own your material, and therefore they will be the ones to seek a copyright. I use the analogy of a TV. If you sell a TV at a garage sale, you have NO RIGHT to go over to the person you sold it to, tell them how to watch it, what to watch on it, or where they should put it when they get home. Because you no longer own the TV!!! If you want to avoid "court stuff" then just educate yourself in what it means to sell intellectual property. Do what you can on the logical level to protect yourself, but also remember that ONLY YOU CAN SCREW YOURSELF. What I mean by that is, new writer's commonly feel that everyone out there is going to steal their great and wonderful idea, and they HAVE to protect their ideas. Yes, you have an obligation to make sure you are protected, but so long as YOU take the proper steps to ensure that whomever you show your work is reputable, a professional, and accredited, then you have nothing to worry about. Yes, Hollywood is full of snakes. But those snakes are more afraid of you then you are of them.