Scott Myers tackles the question of story theft in Hollywood from non established writers. Any discussion on this subject has to begin with this point: Story ideas are the lifeblood of Hollywood. Every movie, every TV series has at its very foundation a story concept. It stands to reason that if everything flows from the story idea, Read MoreRead More
At what point legally does an idea go from something that any creative can use to being a piece of protectable intellectual property? Granted, there are some ideas that aren’t created by anyone. They already exist– have to exist to be true to the genre. (This is called “scènes-à-faire” and we’ll go into this in Read MoreRead More
The January 2013 Portland/Creative Mornings features Andy Baio, writer and coder who loves making things most famous for Kind of Bloop, an 8bit remix Miles Davis’ best known album. The global theme for this month was “Reuse,” and Andy spoke about remix culture: “Cut, copy, paste. The ability to reuse and remix is so deeply Read MoreRead More
Everything you want to know about Copyright and other legal issues, but were too scared to ask. There is a boatload of bad information, myths, factoids, and half-truths about Copyright and other photo related legal issues, like model releases, floating around. Photographer Jack Reznicki and lawyer Ed Greenberg will both demystify and illuminate in their Read MoreRead More
Julie Grey answers a common question about plagiarism that make writers paranoid about their ideas. If you are particularly worried that your concept is so original that it needs to be protected post haste, you can go ahead and register your script with the WGA when you have a complete first draft. If you want Read MoreRead More
Celine Palavioux presents 5 pointers for getting permission to use recorded music in your film. And I’m not talking about a bad score or a cheesy tune. No, I’m talking about music rights. You only need one unclear copyright and you can say goodbye to your distribution deal or being shown at film festivals. No one Read MoreRead More
The Bitter Script Reader explains why you’re wasting your time if you decide to break into the business by writing a script featuring characters you don’t own, like SUPERMAN or the TRANSFORMERS.Read More
Copyright can be a scary word for the uninitiated. But it’s not that confusing to grasp the fundamentals of the laws that help protect creative professionals and their work. As a creative professional, your work is often governed by copyright law. It’s not exactly a topic that most of your clients will be familiar with, Read MoreRead More
Asylum Studios is known for making films with titles that can easily be confused with big blockbusters. There’s no question what they’re trying to do… but now Warner Bros. is taking legal action. That question is at the center of an escalating legal spat between producers of the upcoming big-budgetThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and a Read MoreRead More
How do MP3s relate to Magic Spells and what does this have to do with the ethics of sharing pop culture? Follow the line of logic linking them to the concept of value and shared resources in this video from PBS Idea Channel.Read More
Jean-Charles Renaud was asked by a major newspaper if he would grant permission to print some of his photos with appropriate photo credit. When the credit was left off the paper, Mr Renaud stood up for what’s right.Read More
A solid case for fair use bows to the pressures of the internet.Read More
