hi, like i mentioned before i might be able to swing a deal for a feature and at presently im working on the scripting. there is a film which is one of my favs and i was thinking of paying an homage through dialogue..
is that plagiarism? im not quite sure and i dont want to plagiarise so....
ideas anyone?
its not about stealing an idea, its just not something i can talk about in detail but an example would be say
i open the show with a narration of sorts where the narrator says Call me XYZ which is an homage to Call me Ishmael (which i am free to use since its in the public domain)
but then later i want to use an instance where a character says to another "what we have here, is a failure to communicate, some people you just canr reach" which is a line from Cool Hand Luke i think.
?
thanks for the input and links Harvey & Phacker.
You're a business man Skiz, an entraupeneur, don't you think it would be to your own good to do this research yourself? :)
Anywho, I may not have my own business but here goes take this from a 17 year old Econ and P.O.B degree holder, it is best to send a letter to the author or creator requesting permission to use the desired work, if it is the work is a patent or has immunity to sovereign rights or in some way is a registered trade mark, then you're gonna have a long wait on your hands.
But hey, you're a business man way beyond my league, if anyone can figure this out, it's you:)
P.S- Be creative:D
He who seeks the truth, must first empty his heart of a false pursuit.
Diemeras Dark Angel
Do you want to use actual audio from the other film, or are you just planning on working a line of dialog from it into your dialog, to be said by one of your characters?
If it's the former, you'll need to secure rights. If it's the latter, you're pretty much in the clear. This kind of "homage" happens all the time, and it's also the basis of parody, which is protected speech.
I'd agree with this. All in all, it probably isn't a bad idea to get an entertainment lawyer involved with your project before you go to far down a road like a feature. The big studios have really been playing some mean hardball with copyright infringement and I'd hate to hear you loose your feature over one line of dialogue (hey, if they're going after high school kids for downloading a song or two, they're likely to be pretty harsh with a future competitor).
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i dont want to copy audio, the V.O. artists will say the lines. ive seen a lot of this happen in a lot of films so im not sure if you need permission, i mean whole films seem to be based on 'homage' basis :)
DDM - this is research, its the first place i ask my questions.. seriously i dont mind you throwing your .000002 cents but if you cant help, shut up :)
When in doubt, check with a entertainment lawyer. They should be able to answer the question for free. If the answer is YES you do need to secure permission, then that is where they'll likely start charge fees to go through the process.
"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)
This might shead some light on the matter: (source: Mark Litwak's Entertainment Law Resources )
Question: I am writing a book and within the book I would like to include a monologue from a major motion picture. How would I go about getting an "okay" from the motion picture company to do that? Who would I contact?
Answer: The studio that released the major motion picture most likely owns the copyright to it. Sometimes, however, a production company might retain the copyright and simply arrange for distribution by contract. At any rate, you should start by contacting the legal department at the studio that has released the picture to find out who owns the rights to the script. You cannot use a monologue from a major motion picture on another work without violating the copyright of the motion picture. There are a couple of exceptions. If the copyright for the motion picture has expired, then you can use the dialogue, or if you are using just a very short portion of the monologue, it might fall within the fair use doctrine.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
If it's more than one line, you might have a problem.
If it's just one line and it's in the form of parody, that should certainly be covered under Fair Use.
[i]You should probably read the entire page at the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use[/i]
I agree with Harvey. If it's a throwaway one liner, then it'll be fine to use it. Maybe you can compose that sequence with an alt shot, so that you could swap it in if disaster strikes? I think all will be good though.
Best of luck with the new venture,
K
i think ill script it both ways and fire a letter to the studio as well. if it dosent work i still get the same impact, it was just an homage thing anyway, if they dont want to be honored screw em ;)
can you imagine what a nightmare those Scary movie franchise must have been for clearance :eek:
But that's exactly the point, SL. The "Scary Movie" guys probably didn't need to get any clearance because what they're doing is parody, which is protected speech.
If they had to get approval for everything they parodied, "nightmare" isn't the word to describe the process - "impossible" is.
aha. but how do you establish what parody is?
A parody is a work that ridicules another, usually well-known work, by imitating it in a comic way. Judges understand that by its nature, parody demands some taking from the original work being parodied. Unlike other forms of fair use, a fairly extensive use of the original work is permitted in a parody in order to "conjure up" the original.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
Let's not go there, okay, my advice is worth more than 000002 cents, I was bored and no one was interested in replying, so I just wanted to help you out, although, I did that on purpose:) :)
He who seeks the truth, must first empty his heart of a false pursuit.
Diemeras Dark Angel
At the link I gave above, there is a chapter on Fair Use and parody. Review that for answers to your "parody" question, Skinny.
What matters here is not the dictionary definition of parody, but the court's definition of parody, which can be found by reviewing some cases. Reviewing court decisions on a few lawsuits brought against parodies might give you a good idea of where the threshold lies. Also look for similar instances, of what you want to do, in contemporary movies and cartoons.
You might want to just tell us exactly what it is you want to do so we can make better accessments. Use different lines and characters if you're afraid we'll steal your idea.
According to what I can tell, SL posted around 9:30 pm. Your first response post was around 4:30 am, with mine coming less than 2 hours later. That hardly seems like no one was "interested"; sounds more like they were doing other things rather than web-surfing (eating, watching prime time TV, sleeping...)
Sheesh...
Personally, I'd say "What we have here is failure to communicate" would be fine, but if you go beyond that into the monolog, you're "stealing" someone's writing.