I am a film student in college, with my main interest in screenwriting. I have recently been working on an idea that I feel very strongly about and have been putting a lot of thought into possibly trying to write and shoot it.

I have a couple friends and acquaintances that I am thinking about approaching to see if they would be interested in getting involved as they are into film themselves. By this I am talking about one has a bachelors in business and I think he would could be a decent producer (his parents are also pretty wealthy and have in the past given him money for things much stupider than putting into making an independent film. Another is a person who I have written a screenplay in the past with. A couple others are also into acting and have done some independent stuff themselves.

To see if they are actually interested, I will obviously have to explain the idea of the film (which by this point is pretty much ? complete). The problem is that I am worried that they may not feel interested, but I wouldn?t want them to then maybe decide to work on something similar or even tell the idea to someone else who might do that.

I know it?s hard to register or copyright an idea and I don?t want to waste the money going to a lawyer to get some non-disclosure document drawn up for them to sign, but is there any way that I can protect myself somewhat against the possibility of one of them taking my idea or telling to someone else?

I know I sound really paranoid, but I have put a huge amount of time and thought into this idea and am really excited about seeing if I can bring it too life, but I am going to need some help and don?t want to get screwed in the process.
Thanks for any input.