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Comic Talk and General Discussion *
What if Hollywood "stole" your comic?
You guys would be surprised, I think, by the number of lawsuits that go on like this for pretty much each and every successful movie. Almost every single one. Sometimes they are justified and sometimes people are looking for money. I, myself, have been threatened by lawsuits before through Platinum. The most ridiculous being once when I received a unsolicited submission about two women on the run from the law from someone in March of 2007. In April of 2007, this same person threatened to sue me after seeing Grindhouse, certain that I had told Quentin Tarantino about his idea and we had stolen it. In a month. I politely explained to him that it takes longer than a month to make a movie, but he would have none of it and I still occasionally get emails from him, asking if Quentin and I are enjoying his money.
All that is to say that there are different sides to every story and, like someone said before, a lot of similar ideas out there. That's not to say you shouldn't defend yourself if someone does steal your idea, but consult a copyright lawyer and see if they think there is a case there first. Most of them are willing to work for a cut of the judgment if you have a good case.
The other thing I would do is protect yourself now as much as you can, just to be safe. Keep strict records about when and where you post your stuff. Take occasional screen caps of your work online. Keep doodles you make on your notebooks and date them. And, above all, do not send your unsolicited work to any publisher. There are appropriate channels there, mostly to protect you from getting your idea stolen.
I'm not a lawyer, so take this advice for what it is. Just thought I'd chime in a bit and try to help.
Actually that really is helpful advice. To hear the perspective of someone who works with the kind of company that usually ends up on the other side of these arguments ( Any larger media company really, not just Plat. ) is really interesting to me.
Does this mean that you'll be taking a larger part in the DD forums Dan? I know I wouldn't mind having a few folks from Platinum as full members of the community.
As for myself, I think if I saw Last Words turned into a blockbuster movie I'd have to call up the guy who wrote the screen play just to ask how he managed to turn a single panel gag strip into a coherent movie script.
asking if Quentin and I are enjoying his money.It must be nice for him to have that kind of confidence and esteem in his work to think someone would want to take it and make a movie (REALLY FAST lol).
As for me, I couldn't fathom anyone wanting to use something I made for anything. If I saw something that seemed like a rip-off, I would assume that I'm not as creative and original as I thought I was. I'd figure that if people in Hollywood are writing the same kind of stuff, there's no reason for me to. Feeling like an unoriginal hack, I would probably put my stories away and retire from creative ventures
I'd do the smart thing. First off, I'd alert everyone I could online. Every community from webcomics to general media, claiming to ask for advice and any help they may have. Next, I find a good lawyer who will work pro bono because he can see from the evidence it's a pretty open and shut case.
But, before I do that, I find a way to contact the people and make them an offer. 30% gross profit on whatever the liscence makes and I don't sue, plus $20 million up front to keep my mouth shut, which shall be under the guise of buying the rights.
Of course, that's only for someone big like Fox, Warner Bros. or Disney. For smaller companies I'd probably ask for less up front.
Lol, good luck with that offer. Writers are poor for a reason!
But anyway, my comic is completely un-copy-able. I'd struggle to come up with a plot myself, though I certainly will do so at some point.
There's a claim that Lion King is stolen and the evidence is quite strong. Some old show called Kimba the white lion.What? I remember having Kimba the shite lion on video as a child, and I remember it being nothing like the lion king.
http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm
There's a claim that Lion King is stolen and the evidence is quite strong. Some old show called Kimba the white lion.What? I remember having Kimba the shite lion on video as a child, and I remember it being nothing like the lion king.
http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm
I saw Kimba back in the Dark Ages before anime even had a name (early 1970s) When Lion King came out I had the strangest feeling of deja vu. It's true and certainly enough to do a lawsuit.
Fortunately Shakespeare is public domain as his ancestors could sue too, The Lion King is also based on a Shakepeare Play. But when it's public domain and so much a part of our culture just take what you want.
Face it every story on Drunkduck has some actionable inspiration from Shakespeare. ;)
Good artists copy, great artists steal.;)
Maybe I should've added this as well… Not only does Hollywood steal your comic, but they send you a "Cease and Desist" order for you to stop your comic as it infringes on their intellectual rights…. or something like that. I've always wondered if they could do that. The poor man's copyright could probably work against this since those are postmarked. I'm assuming of course that you can mail your stuff to yourself.
I'm assuming of course that you can mail your stuff to yourself.
I don't see why not. All the post office really gives a crap about is that it's got proper postage on it. You could probably just send it out without postage so it got "returned to sender" stamped on it since that has the date and time it was rejected for the mail delivery.
The poor man's copyright could probably work against this since those are postmarked. I'm assuming of course that you can mail your stuff to yourself.
yup! just mail it to yourself and don't open it, and mail another copy to a friend out of state/country and you're golden.
when i was the front man for a band, that is how we secured our copyrights (even had an appointed lawyer from MTV that told us to do things THAT WAY until we could afford our own copyrights for everything). i'm not entirely sure if you'd have to ship over state lines for a comic…..the way it worked for the band was for me to mail my lyrics to myself and not open it. and to sell a copy of our first CD to a friend of mine out of state for $1. mailing the lyrics to myself proved at what time i had written them. selling/mailing the CD was our burden of proof for the lyrics, the music, the composition, and the name of the band. this actually holds up in a court of law: in the mid 90s, elektra records sued the florida based independent band, hot water music, because they had the same name as a band on that label. the florida based hot water music had been around for a couple years prior to the elektra records' band by the same name and had sold cds across the US. since HWM had proof of their existence before the other band on the major label, they won the case.
the basic idea is that: you are creating a federally marked and dated document, proving your rights to the intellectual property, and a date to which it was created.
I'm actually kind of expecting this to happen with my webcomic.
It seems like every other day they're turning some ridiculous zombie idea into a movie (Pride and Prejudice zombies anyone?) So why not steal mine for Disney's next animated feature.
First I would be pissed, but in the words of Bill Pullman from Independence Day "I would not go quietly into the night!"
The worst part is, some hack would probably end up butchering it, then I'd be really depressed.
If someone does steal my idea, I hope they get Brad Bird (he did The Incredibles, The Iron Giant etc.) To direct. At least losing a pile of money and fame would sting a little less, knowing that my work was being handled by a master of his craft.
Well, you can't sue over an idea, only something that can be copyrighted. Something that is similar is pretty much too bad so sad for the creator. It has to be the same characters, same setting or same plot.
Example: Robin is copyrighted, but the idea of a boy sidekick is not.
If hollywood wants to do a whole "mind switch" or "consciousness exchange" movie, go for it. There have definitely been stories on the same vein in the past, especially from William Gibson and turning human consciousness into AI, etc. Dollhouse, which just came out, has many similarities to my comic. I enjoy it all the more.
Actually, I'm of the opinion it may make my comic more popular. Like the run of post-apocalyptic movies and shows bringing popularity to that particular sub-genre. If they stole my characters and plot, I would sue their asses into the ground.
If they stole mine, they'd get their asses sued off, and not by me. By George Lucas, Hideo Kojima, and whoever the hell made Wanted and probably the Wachoski Bros. A lawsuit from me wouldn't even be worth paying attention to.
I haven't gotten to it yet, but Wal-mart would DEFINITELY be pissed if they showed the doorgreeters as nazi-uniform wearing madmen with smiley face balaclavas and assault rifles.
However, if they did all that BUT got the licensing to do so, then I'd be up in arms cause they're making money legally in every aspect but me. So long as they had a strong cast and a high budget, I'd go see it regardless. I mean, I would be pissed and flattered.
If they sent me a cease and decist order, I'd only triple production just to make them bring it to court so I can have my trial one way or the other.
If Hollywood ripped off Due East, they'd mutilate it to make it anti-Christian and none of the women would weigh over 110 pounds…so they'd have to either use fat suits or rewrite it to leave out Book 4, and it would be completely unrecognizable. It would likely also have no heart or soul to it…so again, it would be unrecognizable.
I imagine at best, they'd make it about the divorce and falling in love again, and the daughters would be comic relief, getting in the way. By the end of the movie, Doug and Crystal would get married again, Sapphira and Lindsay would be a couple, and Brielle would end up on drugs. Nice Hollywood movie that doesn't resemble our comic at all.
Then after a moment of stunned silence, I think my wife and I would share a laugh and go back to co-writing and drawing the real thing. lol!
I'd be pretty pissed they didn't at least offer me a cut, or some sort of deal where I get money.
As much as I value creative integrity and all that, I also value having a decent apartment and not working as a pizza cook while earning minimum wage while dealing with all the attitudes and personalities that come with the minimum wage food industry.
If I'm writing something that's got good movie potential, I'm probably doing something right. And I'd like to do more of it by not having to struggle to make ends meet.
I'm not sure what the laws are for a lawsuit in the states, but my unlce is an inventor and he gave me the best advice for making proof of originality; when you get an idea write it down with a diagram and take a news paper heading with the date and mail it to your self, and when you recieve it, dont open it. When somone tries to say they came up with your idea, sue them and bring the letter to court. bam.
Hollywood DID steal my webcomic!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461770/
Just kidding. Watching it for its similarities was fun, though.
If they really did steal my comic, I'd probably somehow let it be known where the original source material was (through Wikipedia or something). Then, I'd enjoy the extra traffic the movie sent in my direction.
That's if the movie was GOOD. If they stole my comic and made an AWFUL movie, and it resulted in a lot of negative attention toward my comic, I'd probably just quit the comic and start something new.
I don't think it's that impossible that stproes created by different people can match.
In one of my own character's backstories there's a striking similarity to the backstory of a character from the Da Vinci Code. Even though there's a twist to my version I still didn't know until I actually read the Wikipedia article when I couldn't be arsed to read the entire book.
I didn't make that big of a deal about it. In fact, I'm making a reference to it when I get to that stage of the story.
But I was pretty pissed off with the character design likeness between another character from the same story and a character from "Dogs: Bullets & Carnage". He'd looked that way since 2005 but the change had to happen. Now I'm a bit worried he looks too unreal to relate to. But maybe if I pull it off it'll work. I dunno.
Even though it annoyed me, I'll be doing a sort of omake-type thing where both characters meet up and talk about how similar they are before flipping it around to how different they are (Backstories and the like). I actually did a drawing plan for a Halloween special picture in which my character dressed up as that character for Halloween after I found out.
Hell, might still do it. Maybe put a spray plaster over some raw wounds.
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