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What David Montgomery Has Learned About Fanfic

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David Montgomery has posted an interesting essay on his blog about what he’s learned about fanfic from the debate that has raged here the last few days:

1) Most FanFic is a violation of the copyrights of the original creators. (The main exception to this is works in the public domain, which are free for all.)

2) This violation doesn’t really amount to much and is probably not actionable in most cases.

2a) Most writers of FanFic are unaware (or don’t care) that they are violating copyrights.

2b) They aren’t making any money off it anyway.

3) There is no essential difference between writing FanFic involving Huckleberry Finn or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, other than the copyright concerns.

4) Writing FanFic is a diverting hobby for some people.

5) Writing FanFic might be of some use to its creator as a learning tool, but the writer would be a lot better off creating his/her own works, if they can.

6) Presumably FanFic is fun for some peple to read, although hardly anyone seems to be making this point. (I get the impression that FanFic has many writers, but few readers.)

7) Most FanFic is crap (Sturgeon’s Law in action), but some of it’s pretty good.

8) The sexually-oriented FanFic (slash, mpreg, etc.) is downright creepy — and there’s quite a bit of it out there.

9) One will never convince FanFic writers that they’d be better off pursuing works of their own — and they’ll get mad if you try.

And, perhaps, most importantly…

10) FanFic is not a serious thing, nor an important one, so there’s no point in treating it as such. It’s fun for those who practice it, largely harmless, probably pointless, and the discussion of it has occupied too much of my time the past couple days.

I think I’ve learned a few of the same things. I may follow his lead and post my own list in the next day or two…

Lawrence Sanders

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I went to the anniversary party at The Mystery Bookstore today, and a few of us authors started talking about ghostwriters. One of the interesting issues that came up is the story of Lawrence Sanders and Vincent Lardo.

You may recall, some years ago a reader sued a publisher after discovering the “McNally” book he bought by Sanders was actually written by Vincent Lardo after Sanders’ death. The reader, as I recall, won the case and the publisher had to give refunds to anyone who bought a book. From that point forward, all the “MCNally” books had to be credited to Vincent Lardo.

Now here’s the fascinating twist. The publisher is going to be reissuing the early Sanders “McNally” novels… and it turns out the ALL the McNally novels, even when Sanders as alive, were actually written by Lardo. In other words, they were ghostwritten from the start! So now, under the terms of the lawsuit, the early McNally novels now have to say “By Vincent Lardo writing as Lawrence Sanders.”

So the whole lawsuit was a pointless and more than a little bit ironic.

Tod Goldberg on Fanfic

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As you may have noticed, the fanfic debate is raging here once again… so I thought I’d post some excerpts from my brother Tod Goldberg’s article on the subject, which appears as one of his weekly columns in the Las Vegas Mercury.

Among his many other wise and witty comments, he had this to say:

For those of you not in the know, fan fiction is when people not involved in the actual creation of a show, book, movie or a celebrity’s actual life create stories about them. It is one of the greatest and most wildly entertaining forms of copyright infringement this side of Kazaa. So, to say I was excited to read the fanfic about this particular star would be a vast understatement. I gravitated to the one where the star gets involved in a prison riot. It came with a helpful dictionary of terms used in the story, including "turn out," "shank" and "keep it real." Our hero was almost gang-raped by some convicts, but, alas, escaped with his anal hymen intact.

I clicked through the rest of the stories and killed a plate of leftover ham in the process. The stories were uniformly…uh…well…bad. All of them were written by women, which I found somewhat surprising, but then I thought about the correlation between Teen Beat and Tiger Beat and fan clubs in general and it seemed to make some sense.

Now I was all fired up to read more fan fiction about bad actors, minor celebrities and long-forgotten TV shows and movies. Forgoing the usual and known–anything involving Spock, Buffy and Elvis, basically–I fired up the Google and got searching. I started with a rather tender story revolving around Face and Murdock from "The A-Team." On the day of his wedding, Face takes a little time from the usual pro-forma screwing of hookers to reflect on the life he and Murdock have shared.

In my quest to read fan fiction about Corey Haim, or inspired by his wonderful life, I discovered a Lost Boys fan fiction site that contained a disclaimer warning others not to "steal my original characters or my ideas…go and get your own characters and ideas; have a little faith in yourself! But don’t steal from me!" I searched the entire story the woman had written and not one mention of the word "paradox" was found.

Still More TV Revivals

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Not only are HAWAII 5-0, MIAMI VICE, KOLCHAK movies on the way, but now Variety reports that DALLAS is going to the big-screen, too.

Regency Enterprises has struck a deal with "Legally Blonde" helmer Robert Luketic to helm an update of the wildly popular Eye web skein "Dallas," which aired from 1978-91. Set in a post-Enron world, with the conniving J.R. Ewing now the head of the most powerful energy company in the world, the film will feature the plottings and backstabbings of many of the original "Dallas" characters. Script is from Robert Harling ("The First Wives Club," "Steel Magnolias"); series creator David Jacobs is producing the film with former Sony Pictures exec VP of production-turned-producer Michael Costigan.

Speaking of TV shows-turned-to-movies, Variety Reports that Burt Reynolds has just signed to be Boss Hogg in the movie version of DUKES OF HAZARD. Seann William Scott and Johnny Knoxvilel play Bo and Luke Duke, Jessica Simpson is Daisy Duke.

Adaptation will be set in the present day but the General Lee, the duo’s 1969 Dodge Charger, is expected to be the same iconic orange car seen in the series. Pic is being directed by Jay ChandrasekharJay Chandrasekhar of the Broken Lizards comedy troupe, who co-wrote the script

Romantic Times Magazine on Fanfic

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The Romantic Times magazine featured an article this month on fanfic, covering both sides of the debate, though largely favorable towards the practice. But they note:

Writing fan fiction is a violation of copyright law. But many fanfic writers are either unaware of or unconcerned with this fact. Often they’ll slap a short disclaimer at the top of the story, disavowing ownership of the characters used and consider the matter handled…

Attorney-turned-Romance author Julie Kenner says… “for our purposes as writers, copyright serves to protect our words. But when someone is using, say, Stephanie Plum in fan fictio, they probably aren’t quoting any of Janet Evanovich’s language and they think they are they’re clear of infringement. But the 9th Circuit and the 2nd Circuit — both leading courts with regard to intellectual property law — have found protection for the characters themselves under certain judicially defined parameters.”

And those little disclaimers? Ain’t gonna hold water in front of a judge, Kenner says.

Published authors reactions to fan fiction vary….Laurell Hamilton, Anne Rice and Diana Gabaldon firmly believe this practice is both legally and morally repugnant and have, in some cases, hired attorneys to fight fan fiction sites with cease-and-desist actions.

Author Meg Cabot who, by the way, doesn’t mind fanfic, recounts an interesting anecdote:

“Another reason I don’t read fan fictions is because I know an author who, justifiably, freaked out when she read a fic where the writer had one of her characters get graphically and brutally raped. You could see how that would be disturbing and put you off writing anything for a while.”

Even authors who approve of fanfic have hesitations:

Both Rowling and Cabot write for children, who sometimes don’t fully understand the distinction between a published work and fan fiction — especially if they stumble upon a sexually explicit fic or one that talks of Harry whispering sweet nothings in Ron’s ear.

To say nothing of the Harry and Ron “male birthing” stories…

You Don’t Bring Me Money Anymore

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There’s a rumor being reported by Billboard that Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand will be teaming up for a nationwide concert tour.

A planned tour by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond could set a new record for high ticket prices, Billboard reported Thursday. The duo has been guaranteed approximately $3.5 million per show, putting estimates for tickets to be $300 to $400 on the low end, an unidentified source told Billboard magazine.

VIP packages could sell for $3,000 or more, some industry executives said.

Streisand and Diamond, who collaborated on the 1978 No. 1 hit “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” reunited for the first time in 24 years last June for a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Diamond’s last tour, in 2001-2002, grossed $80 million.

Streisand is credited with breaking the $300 ticket barrier in the early 1990s and reportedly has charged as much as $750 per ticket in recent years.

The diva grossed $18.2 million for two 1999 New Year’s Eve shows to ring in the new millennium at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Insiders predict the proposed tour will be successful.

“Streisand and Diamond is the ultimate 60-year-old show,” an unidentified industry executive said.

I’m not 60, but I’ll be there. Considering I write Diagnosis Murder novels, this admission can’t come as a big surprise to anyone. I also wear Depends… for the comfort.

Fanficers in an Uproar

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I saw that a fanfic forum had linked to some of my posts here… so I took my argument into their camp… and they aren’t happy about it

But you don’t you understand his PAAAAIIINNNN??? The big, mea, awful, horrible fanfic writers just come in and destroy everything he loves and works for, yea verily like Vikings descending upon a helpless crannog they swwop down and leave his pwecious pwecious creation in RUINS! Oh, will no one save the poor creators? May my fingers be broken if I ever start taking myself that seriously.

Another poster, with a unique take on copyright law, argues that by not profitting financially from their “fanfic,” it’s not copyright infringement (I’ll be sure to tell that to all those file-swappers facing prosecution and huge fines for sharing their music collections over the net…)

As long as you don’t SELL them, you’re free to use copyrighted characters since… gasp, they ARE public domain. Anything that it published is free game, so long as there is no profit gained on the part of the person using them. Ethical issues? Bullshit, slappy. Do you mind if I call you slappy? Too bad. Anyhow, what’s unethical about seeing something, decide that you like it enough to write something involving said something, and deciding that you like what you’ve written enough to show it to others? Is any money exchanged? Is anybody profiting from using your materials (hence breaking Copyright laws)? Is anyone blatantly reproducing someone else’s work (word for word) and distributing it?
Nope. Besides, haven’t you ever heard, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? Grow up, Slappy

It’s fascinating to me to see all the ways that “Fanfic” writers try to justify/rationalize what they do…

If fanfic is unethical or a breach of copyright whether or not the creator is okay with it, then scriptwriters and the authors of tie-in novels are in no better place just because they’ve got a contract.

What’s even more unbelievable is that they believe they are “self-policing,” that “fanfic” writers are the best ones to decide when their “fanfic” is inappropriate…

If you hate it so much, why are you even here? Take a look around you, all of us are fanfic writers and/or readers, and we have taken it upon ourselves to ‘police’ the net, naming and shaming the fics we feel step beyond common decency. If you want a whinge about fanfic find somewhere that cares. I’m sorry, but you’ve overstepped the line here. If you are anti-fanfic, fair enough, but don’t come here and slag us off.

Of course, I believe that ALL “fanfic” is inappropriate unless the writer has the consent of the author or copyright holder. You won’t see the “fanfic” writers policing those who cross that line, will you?

(UPDATE: The outrage over my comments has spread to another fanfic forum).

Michael Gruber is Robert Tannenbaum??

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Deadly Pleasures is reporting an interesting rumor…

Michael Gruber was reportedly ineligible for an Edgar Award first novel consideration because he has ghost-written other novels previously. Someone told me that he had written some of the Robert Tanenbaum novels. Has anyone else heard that?

I’ve seen Robert Tannenbaum at signings. I wasn’t aware that he had such a large following that he needed a ghostwriter to churn out his books. I mean, is he really in the same league as Clive Cussler? Tom Clancy? James Patterson? At least those titans credit their co-authors.

Godawful Fan Fiction

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I came across a fanfic discussion group called “Godawful Fan Fiction” that, despite the topic of the discussion, isn’t too pleased about my comments regarding fanfic.

Lee Goldberg, in my opinion, is nothing more than a glorified fanfic writer himself. He didn’t create the series, he just wrote some of the tv-episodes and followed up the series with several books…Basically, although I see Lee Goldberg’s point, I don’t think he is in any position to critisize, and I don’t think it’s his place to, either.

Obviously, he or she doesn’t understand the distinction between someone who steals the intellectual property of others (ie fanfic writers) and someone who is authorized by the copyright holders to write about their characters (ie me). He or she also doesn’t realize I was more than just someone who wrote a few episodes…I was an executive producer of the show (with William Rabkin) and, prior to that, a supervising producer… and we wrote DOZENS of episodes… and those are just the ones we took credit for.

I did learn something from reading these posts, however. Apparently the slash/impregnation fanfic is a genre all its own called “mpreg.”

Yuck.

Miami Vice Movie

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Movies based on TV shows aren’t new… but it’s rare when the creative entities behind the show are also in charge of the big-screen version (in fact, I can only think of one recent example, "The X Files").

Variety reports that Miami Vice is the next cult tv series up for a theatrical re-do… with series exec producer/showrunner Michael Mann writing, producing and directing.

Universal is zeroing in on Colin Farrell to star as Det. James "Sonny""Sonny" Crockett, and the studio is in discussions with Jamie Foxx to star as Det. Ricardo Tubbs in the South Beach sizzler.

Farrell, you may recall, also starred in the movie version of SWAT. If this comes to pass, he’ll only be matched by Owen Wilson ("Starsky & Hutch," "I Spy") and Matt LeBlanc ("Lost in Space," "Charlies Angels") when it comes to doing the most tv-to-film adaptations.

That’s not the only revival news today. Frank Spotnitz, ex-producer of "The X Files," is hoping to craft a new version of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker."

"The first TV movie is burned into my memory," Spotnitz told Daily Variety. "It was a huge event at the time, and it was one of my favorite TV characters of all time. The chance to return to this character and find another great storytelling vehicle for smart, scary television was very appealing."

Still unclear is exactly how closely the new "Night Stalker" will mirror the format and mood of the original, which was based on a novel by Jeff Rice. While the first "Night Stalker" telepictelepic shattered Nielsen longformlongform records at the time, the series lasted just one season.

Spotnitz is staying mum about details regarding the new project, but did say he’s learned some lessons from his days on "X-Files" and a recent marathon re-watching of the original series.

"As much as I loved the TV movie, the series was not successful," he said. "I wouldn’t expect a religiously faithful adaptation. I don’t intend to repeat the same mistakes."

To me, Darren McGavin was 90% of the charm and humor of the movies and the series. I don’t know if a new version could be done, and capture any of the flavor of the original, without him. Besides, Spotnitz isn’t exactly know for his light touch…