Intellectual Property Smothering Good Story Ideas

[Greg Cox]

Secondly, I think you have to decide if your creating just to create or if your in it for the money, I think the capacity for piracy etc is getting to the point where you cant be in writing just for the money, it can't be your main career either.

But why should it be a either/or situation? Can't people want to be creative and make ends meet?

Look. Nobody in their right mind becomes a writer "just for the money." If you want to get rich, become an orthodontist or an oil executive. Writers want to get paid so that we have more time to write . . . and because that may be the only thing we're good at!

As a rule, we don't get salaries, pensions, or health plans. So why begrudge us our royalties?

Let's not romanticize writing. It's a job like any other.

Does anyone ask a shoe salesman to sell shoes "just to sell shoes" . . . ?

 

[scotpens]

Look. Nobody in their right mind becomes a writer “just for the money.”

Reminds me of the joke about the
Polish jazz musician . . .

 

[Greg Cox]

Or the one about the struggling actor who decided to try writing, too, so he would have something reliable to depend on if the acting didn't work out!

 

[Green Shirt]

Is a dentist or a plumber being "greedy" when he or she wants to be compensated for their work

No, unless they want money every time you flush a toilet or floss your teeth.

 

[B.J.]

This just reminds me of the quagmire that is the Batman 1960s TV series, and why it has never been released on home video.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Look the idea that you should retain control of a character you developed is fine, but I sense its ALL the money, not what they do with your creation, that people are worried about here.

Christ, do you have any idea how much money the studio makes every time they sell a DVD compared to how much a writer makes? "ALL the money," indeed. If that's what you sense, your "sensors" are busted, and your "greed" thesis is based in lack of information and an unwillingness to be fair.

Fans often seem to respond very much like addicts towards artists, writers, actors, and anyone else acting in their reasonable self-interest: the creative people are perceived as an obtacle potentially blocking access to the fan's entertainment of choice. Protecting the drug supply is the Prime Directive.

 

[Shatnertage]

So you think you have a right to be entertained, but don't want to compensate the people who entertain you?

Being compensated for your creative work is hardly "greed."

Nice, also, that you in your infinite wisdom have decided for all of us that, thanks to people wanting to enjoy the fruits of other people's creative labor without paying for it, no one should pursue writing "as a main career."

And if you need to raid other people's IP for "good ideas," odds are the ideas--and the writing--weren't that good to begin with.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

And if you need to raid other people's IP for "good ideas," odds are the ideas--and the writing--weren't that good to begin with.

Exactly. If the idea is so fucking brilliant that it's irresistable - pay the people what you owe them. The fact that this option is so often rejected isn't because of the expense but because most of these ideas - Nick Locarno, really? - are not good or significant enough to be worth the price.