Slashdot Mirror
Lucas Restricts Fan-Made Films To Documentaries, Parodies
garagekubrick writes: "A great piece at the Houston Chronicle discusses how the community of fan made Star Wars films received a boon in December when Lucasfilm loaned their sponsorship to the event, and George Lucas himself would be a judge. Unfortunately, they've limited the contest to parodies and documentaries, thereby shutting out hundreds of entries. As a Lucas rep says, 'if in fact somebody is using our characters to create a story unto itself, that's not in the spirit of what we think fandom is about. Fandom is about celebrating the story the way it is.' Pretty rich coming from the filmmaker who constantly cites greed as being the root of the dark side, and who keeps discussing the liberating values of digital filmmaking. Guess as long as it doesn't hurt his Empire..."
I guess, once again, Lucas proves he just doesnt care about his fans, just his franchise. He has attempted to kill, maim, destroy all types of fan sites and fan fiction based on SW, aka bobafett.com Makes you wonder why he even bothers to deny its about the money, when he finds ways to discourage everything else it could be about.
Part of it could be legal. If he allowed it once, he wouldn't be able to fight true piracy in the courts later on. Kind of like people have to pay to sell a book that takes place in the SW universe. If he allowed royalty free once, it may not stand up in court the next time.
But Lucas is the king of special edition versions. Each of his movies have appeared in so many various special editions and formats that the fans must have paid many times over for each of the movies. The RIAA and MPAA must be envious.
"if in fact somebody is using our characters to create a story unto itself, that's not in the spirit of what we think fandom is about. Fandom is about celebrating the story the way it is."
Remember kids - when you use your *imagination*, only use it to twist your favorite characters, like Big Bird, into ironic circumstances, where they do something you'd never expect of them.
Otherwise, you could be hurting their value as characters.
Have fun kids!
;^)
Ryan Fenton
According to current law, if Lucasfilms shows the propensity to forgive others using their trademarked material, their ownership of those trademarks would be jeopardized. It would mean anyone could make Star Wars films or merchandise and sell them. Parodies and documentaries are protected as fair use, so Lucasfilms can promote them without threatening their trademark ownership. I don't know of many IP production companies that'll even go that far.
I can live with getting the Phantom Edit in DivX over P2P file sharing programs. Just let me see Troops on the big screen.
Why am I suddenly getting the image of George Lucas and Hilary Rosen on a date, discussing how to completely dominate the entertainment industry and control every possible use of the content they produce, complete with evil laughter, creepy background music, and a slow fade to black, followed by narration setting the scene for a rebellion against an all-powerful enemy? Will there be another Star Wars film contest next year?
Call me crazy, but shouldn't the fans, and not the creators decide what fandom is all about?
Will sports arenas try to throw people out for cheering for the visiting team? Will they decide that it's illegal for me to get a hometeam jersey printed up with my name on the back, instead of an actual player's name, because we should celebrate the game how it actually is, not how we'll enjoy it the best?
It's silly.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
One fan film, Darth Vader: The Rudy Pirany Story, was accepted by the contest after its director, Victor Martin, agreed to edit out scenes in which his protagonist -- an actor with a permanent Darth Vader mask who can't find work after Star Wars -- buys cocaine from Yoda and takes a role in a pornography movie.
;)
Yup, i have a sneaking suspicion that this closely mirrors the Plot of the upcoming Episode 3
Lucas' attitude is the proper one.
Parodies are legally protected speech (subject to a few tweaks, etc.). That's why Spaceballs or Weird Al's "Amish Paradise" don't require the payment of royalties, and don't require the original creator's permission. So all Lucas is doing with regard to parodies is acknowledging that there's nothing he can do about them, and saying that he enjoys watching them and so will assist in their circulation.
Documentaries don't really use copyrighted materials - the story they're telling is not about Luke Skywalker, it's about Lucasfilm (or whomever is the subject of the documentary).
New non-parody works, though (like fanfiction), which utilize the characters to create original fiction, are legally problematic. If Lucas acquiesced in the creation of these, then he would be yielding his copyright into the public domain. This would be a hugely bad idea for him. (Every movie production company would set to work making cheap-ass Star Wars flicks, to start with.) It would mean he was relinquishing his right to royalties from the use of the characters, etc. He would be insane to do this.
Unfortunately, there's not much in the way of middle ground, where he could say "well, fans can make little fanfiction movies, but commercial movie producers can't". IIRC, Mercedes Lackey got into a lot of trouble this way once, trying to turn over a portion of one of her fantasy worlds into the public domain for fans to write fanfiction in -- ended up as a mess.
The best Lucas can do is what he has done here - applaud the parodies and apologetically forbid "Star Wars" fanfiction.
All employees must wash hands before seeking equitable relief.
Why I hope someone submits the complete Episode I in this contest:
1) It's a great documentary about filmmakers after they lose their talent and get greedy.
2) It'a a terrific parody of the Star Wars series. If a student filmmaker had made this, Jar Jar Binks would have been hysterical, not insulting.
3) The quality of directing was that of a student parody. After all, no one's done those cheesy side-to-side wipe-away scene changes since... well, since Star Wars.
4) The acting was so bad, it was obvious that the actors weren't being paid anything. Not to mention I'm sure Anakin was the casting agent's grandkid or something.
5) You walked out of the theater thinking, "Man, that sucked, but the guy's got potential. Maybe someone will give him a chance someday."
modern choral music...
I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
Beyond simple trademark dilution, Lucas puts himself at risk for copyright infringement suits since he is actively producing more movies in the same series. If Lucas sees one of these movies, then he risks the creator of the movie suing him for copyright infringement when he releases Episode 3, a long and possibly quite costly lawsuit. A lawsuit with base and no purpose other than to extort money from Lucas.
Does this happen? Well, I haven't heard of it happening in the movie biz, but most filmmakers are rarely in a position like this. In the music industry it does happen, quite a lot, to the point where one of the first things any professional musician (particularly successfull ones) learns is if someone hands you a demo tape, you hand it right back to them on the spot! It means nothing about the musician's opinion of you, or your music if he or she does this to you - it is simply an important legal defence in this age where you find unscrupulous people who will abuse the courts for their own personal gain, at the expense of others.
Just another situation where our litigous culture and the unscruplous few(?) screw things over for everybody.
C'est la vie.
Imagine this
A kid is playing with his StarWar toys.
Using his own imagination, he positions the toy figures, and playacting.
The kid provides dialogue, sound-effects, screenplay, and all the rest.
Suddenly, the front door busts open. An army of armed law enforcement officers come rushing in and take the boy into custody.
The charge ?
The boy has violated George Lucas' copyright / trademark on StarWars' characters.
The End.
You think that can't happen ?
Just wait till congress pass ALL THE LAWS Hollywood wants, and the kids won't be able to play with their imagination anymore.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
After twenty successful years with those businesses, he tried to make a movie. And it was, unsuprisingly, overproduced crap.
Lucas needs to accept his destiny, which is to be a suit.
Begun this parody has.
And put it at the beginning of the phantom edit.
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
Fandom is about celebrating the story the way it is.
It sounds like Lucas is trying to avoid the fandom menace.
Sometime's I just kill me.
"Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."
-E. W. Dijkstra
If it be money or trying to stay true to his characters values, its his choice. All you people do is bitch when you don't get your way.
I realize you're mostly just being contrary (though there are worse words for it) - but weren't you ever a child? Did you ever watch or read a story with great characters, then *imagine* what could be? Sometimes amazing childhood tales come from kids sitting with their legos, acting out what a character might do in a given situation. It might not mean that much to you - but the right to freely tell such stories is a cherished act for millions of people. To disallow such public discussion on those topics is to strip people of the right to discuss their earliest explorations into creativity. Yes, older people can be expected to create their own characters - but the young should be highly encouraged to play around with the ideas of characters they like, regardless of who owns them. They should also be free to share these ideas. To do otherwise may very well be to prevent millions of children from growing their imaginations, just so a handful of adults may continue to explore their imaginations for debatably larger ammount of money.
:^)
Ryan Fenton
Star Wars Episode III: "I wipe my ass with your money"
Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
Heh... interesting you should pick that particular reference. I caught the Weird Al episode of "Behind the Music" (I think that's what it's called) on VH1 recently. I remember one part in particular, after they showed Coolio's reaction to "Amish Paradise" -- to paraphrase:
- "... he must have enjoyed that check we sent him!"
Coolio did get paid for Weird Al's use of his song. How much, or precisely why, were not revealed. If Coolio was as displeased with "Amish Paradise" as he claimed to be, he could have sued... but he didn't. Parody may be protected, but copyright is copyright -- considering (in this case) the tune, not the words. Weird Al's version is easily identifiable as the same tune, thus would (in my mind, IANAL) require royalty payments.Spaceballs is different, I suppose... although using identifiable characters, Mel Brooks wrote his own story -- instead of having to use an existing song. Also, the characters themselves are parodies of the originals.
Odd how the human mind works -- we can relate things by visual cues easily (a large (tall | fat) furry character, someone wearing a black helmet, Mel Brooks as Yogurt...) -- but to identify similar diversity in music takes significant training. Go figure.
"...America's great minds of today, teaching America's great minds of tomorrow. Poor bastards." -- A Beautiful Min
Star Wars has made George Lucas a billionaire (or close to it) and you have to ask exactly what he thinks he's got to lose by letting loose of the franchise. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did this with his Sherlock Holmes character and greatly enriched popular culture. For example, Sherlock Holmes appears in more films than any other recurring character.
Lucas has also been very grandiose over the years with his association with Joseph Campbell. The two have promted Star Wars from "successful pop culture" to "modern-day myth making." You'd think that releasing his tight-fisted grasp on the material would cement Lucas' mythmaker status. Sure, Tolkein never let loose of his canon, but then again, he never claimed to be the new Homer.
Episode I demonstrated that Lucas was pretty much out of new or even good ideas. If Episode II continues this, then we can pretty much bet that Episode III will draw a shameful end to what the original Star Wars started so brilliantly. If Lucas wants to live up to his own hype and ensure that Star Wars has the new ideas to make it a legacy, he should let loose of it.
If he just wants to make a couple more hundred million dollars before he dies, then, yeah, he's doing exactly the right thing.
Check out Lucas' opinion of critics in this Salon piece
... They certainly don't know anything about history; they don't know anything about film. They don't know anything about politics. They don't know anything about sociology or psychology or anything. I mean, it's like, you get into a conversation with them and it's hard to find a subject that they can actually converse on."
An excerpt: "I mean, they aren't like the rest of us. They don't have any knowledge of anything. They're not successful in any world that I've
What can I add? Not exaclty Mr. Open-Mind. I don't like the idea of him as a judge.
Lucas is legally entitled to do just this. Under US Copyright law, "...the owner of copyright.. has the exclusive rights... to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work"* i.e. Lucas has the sole right to create a sequel, write another Jar Jar adventure, or whatever. The only stuff he's "allowing" is stuff that he doesn't have a legal right to prevent anyway. Commentary and parody are protected as Fair Uses.**
If you don't like the law, think it is ridiculously restrictive of free speech maybe, then perhaps you should write your Congressman?
Sources:
* Title 17 Section 106
** Title 17 Section 107
I recently discovered another game written for the same class that is a even more blatant rip-off. It is here. Strangely, this second game was developed without any knowledge of mine. Both seem to be inspired by Star Wars and specifically by the asteroid field scene in ESB.
So could we get sued?
Lasers Controlled Games!
Only documentaries and parodies in the CONTEST. CONTEST--as in the CONTEST. That is to say, the rules of the CONTEST will be allowing in the CONTEST only parodies and documentaries.
Why is this? Probably because yes, Lucas doesn't want people telling a serious alternative to his Star Wars universe. I say his because it is his. He created it. He made the original movies. Hie company authorizes all official fiction and technical supplements. It is his creation.
Now, I will address all the comments I've been reading.
This does not equal a crackdown on fan fiction. This means that in said CONTEST fan fiction-esque films may not be submitted. No, you will not be arrested for shooting your own film about *your* version of Star Wars. Just don't expect official sanction for it.
Those of you who expect more: I ask on what grounds do you expect this. George Lucas is under absolutely no obligation to do anything for you. Just as you are under no obligation to do anything for him.
He is the artist. He is the owner and the creator of the material. Yes, he based it off Hidden Fortress and B-movie serials. However, his story was about some droids, not some Japanese, therefore it is PARODY and not "fan fiction."
I see many people comparing Lucas to Vader, twisting story dialogue to demonize him...etc. First, I find it quietly funny that you parody Star Wars to attack him, but I digress. Personal attacks, while always modded up on this site, don't accomplish much of anything. Bill Clinton, an expert on personal attacks, said he welcomed them in campaings since that meant his opponents had nothing left.
All this is a long way of saying RTFS. This is a contest in which certain types of films will be allowed an other types will not. You might as well flame the Obfuscated C contest for not allowing your "elite" Visual Basic program.
Thank you and good day, ~Chazzf
No statement is true, not even this one.
I think a lot of today's claims to something like Star Wars are based on trademarks. So, preserving legal protection for their trademark characters may be important to them.
If he allowed it once, he wouldn't be able to fight true piracy in the courts later on.
GOD DAMNIT! WHY DO PEOPLE BELIVE THIS!?
That's just not true. If you don't protect a trademark, you can lose it. The same is not true w.r.t copyrights or patents!!
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Does anyone honestly think that Lucas would be so protective just because of money? Because quite frankly I strongly doubt "money" is a factor in the creation of fan-made films. The odds of any of these films making any money is about 0%; money is simply not the real issue.
George lucas has just always been protective of his story. If he doesn't anway anyone else taking over where he leaves off, just respect it.