Posted by aziraphael at dsl153.54.wincom.net on October 20, 2003 at 09:25:40:
In Reply to: Flowers, my dissertation screenplay posted by Will Turner, Karaoke King on October 20, 2003 at 06:40:14:
hey Will,
I do not for one second presume to speak for Mr. Smith, (or anyone else for that matter) but at the risk of sounding pedantic, I imagine that even if he wanted to, he's prevented from commenting on any script ideas, screenplays etc etc for legal reasons....
In fact just about everyone industry related can't comment - again cos of the problems with copyright, intellectual property, and conflicts of interest...
For example lets suggest that in a world of infinite possibility that there's an idea sitting on Mr. Smiths word processor right now that bears a striking & completely coincidental similarity to yours... Proof of initial concept etc is VERY shaky ground.
A further example might be - you put it away in a drawer and forget about it - and we all do but in 5 years time one of my screenplays finally gets made into a movie and you are horrified to discover that your scene is incorporated into it. I don't even remember where I got the idea (in fact id' forgotten all about this posting too...)however because it was placed in a public forum - your claim to it as sole progenitor is now weakened...
you end up with small "co-written by" and b*gger all else... Whereas I make millions with my remake of Ishtar (with a 'flowers' scene added)and win an Academy award for best bow-tie or something....
sound crazy? an acquaintance is currently locked in a horrible legal wrangle over an original idea that was made into a real movie, and from which he has received nothing... and despite being able to prove that it was his idea - his chances of making headway against a big corporation and its lawyers are very slim...
on that bright and cheery note.. adieu..
az