Kiss Off?
When I was in High School one of my friends was obsessed with the rock group Kiss. Her favorite member of the group was Gene Simmons. Fast forward a number of years later at the theater I were I was working as a stage manager. A tall man with long black hair pulled back came through the theatre with a friend of mine who was currently in a show there. I was introduced to Gene Simmons who happened to be friends with my friend who in his youth had a band he played in which is how they met. Fast forward a number of years later and I am working at Del Rey. The publisher for the group has a meeting with Gene Simmons to talk about the possibility of several book projects. Gene hadn't changed much over the years since I had last seen him but I learned how good he is about promotion and seeing the potential for making money. He is a very shrewd businessman with a good eye for what works and what doesn't for the product he is promoting which is usually his band.
Right now there is on cable TV (A&E) a show called Gene Simmon's Family Jewels. It has been described as the Osbornes without the drinking and the drugs and you can understand what the father is saying. It is an interesting look at both the family life and the professional life of a rock and roller who has it together for the most part. I saw two episodes last night and really want to see the rest of the series. The direction is good as is the way the episodes are set up. You can tell that he loves his kids and his girlfriend with all his heart and soul. The second episode where he goes to give his son a chance to perform onstage with the son's band shows the mind of a promoter in high gear. His advise is funny but so true. I know it is edited from heck and back and Gene probably had finally say but it is still one of the better look into the life of celebrities. I will say that everything I have seen jibes with what I saw when I met the man.
Over on Sci-Fi is a rather fun show that I have no clue how it is doing in the ratings but I know I like it called Eureka. It is a fish out of water story with a town full of people who for the most part are too smart for their own good. It is a fine ensemble cast with some good actors like Joe Morton and Matt Fewer among others. The nice thing is that they have set it up so they could do just about any type of story that they want.
Although I am probably sticking my foot into something that best not be stuck in I feel the need to say something about fanfic vs. professional adaptations and novels based on the works of others as well as plagiarism. According to the rules of fair use one can use of a copyrighted work for publication without permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, parody or satire, scholarship, research, and teaching. Notice it does not cover works of fiction that are derived from other works of fiction.
The 300 word rule is, like Captain Barbosa said, more like guidelines. There is no law on in the law books that allow for this usage. It was an unwritten courtesy between publishers. If it gets to a court of law they look at the following before determining whether the copyright has been violated
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
( italic portion quoted from the article "Fair Use: Interpretations and Guidelines" by Lloyd L. Rich cc. 1996 for thePublishing Law Center )
Now this is for published works and we have seen it in play with a number of author scandals that have come to light recently. Fanfic is a whole other beast. If published work is a pure breed dog then fanfic is a feral cat. They are far removed from each other. The owners of the copyright to the work allow the cat to hang around as long as it does not disturb the dog. Once the dog is annoyed then all bets are off. There are published authors who started out writing fan fic. Some have made a living at writing professionally what they use to write for fun which is a nice situation to be in.
Once you have crossed over the line from fan to professional you really have to stop writing fanfic. It is now a bigger No-No to use other people's work and pass it off as your own. But some people apparently haven't learned this and call it tribute rather than plagiarism and site fair use which they have a very strange view of. Some get called on it and others manage to sneak it by their editors and the general public. But in the information age it is getting harder to get away with it especially since there are so many people out there who will call you on it if they even think you might have "copied" from someone else. Now comes the question do you hold a professional author responsible for they wrote years ago in their fanfic when they were working on their craft? If they don't continue their bad habits into their professional career I say no. If they haven't learned how to produce original work and it can be proven then they have crossed the line into plagiarism or at least bad form then they can be called on it. Of course you have the option if you don't like the author to not buy their book. Remember moral high horses can be a terrible place to have a fall from.
I am grateful for those authors who can move from fan to pro without the baggage.
Right now there is on cable TV (A&E) a show called Gene Simmon's Family Jewels. It has been described as the Osbornes without the drinking and the drugs and you can understand what the father is saying. It is an interesting look at both the family life and the professional life of a rock and roller who has it together for the most part. I saw two episodes last night and really want to see the rest of the series. The direction is good as is the way the episodes are set up. You can tell that he loves his kids and his girlfriend with all his heart and soul. The second episode where he goes to give his son a chance to perform onstage with the son's band shows the mind of a promoter in high gear. His advise is funny but so true. I know it is edited from heck and back and Gene probably had finally say but it is still one of the better look into the life of celebrities. I will say that everything I have seen jibes with what I saw when I met the man.
Over on Sci-Fi is a rather fun show that I have no clue how it is doing in the ratings but I know I like it called Eureka. It is a fish out of water story with a town full of people who for the most part are too smart for their own good. It is a fine ensemble cast with some good actors like Joe Morton and Matt Fewer among others. The nice thing is that they have set it up so they could do just about any type of story that they want.
Although I am probably sticking my foot into something that best not be stuck in I feel the need to say something about fanfic vs. professional adaptations and novels based on the works of others as well as plagiarism. According to the rules of fair use one can use of a copyrighted work for publication without permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, parody or satire, scholarship, research, and teaching. Notice it does not cover works of fiction that are derived from other works of fiction.
The 300 word rule is, like Captain Barbosa said, more like guidelines. There is no law on in the law books that allow for this usage. It was an unwritten courtesy between publishers. If it gets to a court of law they look at the following before determining whether the copyright has been violated
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
( italic portion quoted from the article "Fair Use: Interpretations and Guidelines" by Lloyd L. Rich cc. 1996 for thePublishing Law Center )
Now this is for published works and we have seen it in play with a number of author scandals that have come to light recently. Fanfic is a whole other beast. If published work is a pure breed dog then fanfic is a feral cat. They are far removed from each other. The owners of the copyright to the work allow the cat to hang around as long as it does not disturb the dog. Once the dog is annoyed then all bets are off. There are published authors who started out writing fan fic. Some have made a living at writing professionally what they use to write for fun which is a nice situation to be in.
Once you have crossed over the line from fan to professional you really have to stop writing fanfic. It is now a bigger No-No to use other people's work and pass it off as your own. But some people apparently haven't learned this and call it tribute rather than plagiarism and site fair use which they have a very strange view of. Some get called on it and others manage to sneak it by their editors and the general public. But in the information age it is getting harder to get away with it especially since there are so many people out there who will call you on it if they even think you might have "copied" from someone else. Now comes the question do you hold a professional author responsible for they wrote years ago in their fanfic when they were working on their craft? If they don't continue their bad habits into their professional career I say no. If they haven't learned how to produce original work and it can be proven then they have crossed the line into plagiarism or at least bad form then they can be called on it. Of course you have the option if you don't like the author to not buy their book. Remember moral high horses can be a terrible place to have a fall from.
I am grateful for those authors who can move from fan to pro without the baggage.