[B5JMS] attn. JMS: A TV writing question...

[b5jms at cs.columbia.edu]

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From: "Joseph DeMartino" <jdemarti at bellsouth.net>
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 13:10:59 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 33

> The studios responded by insisting that any writer who works for them
must sign an agreement which stipulates that -- as you will see on
endless movie credits
-- "for purposes of the Berne Convention, Universal (or whatever studio)
shall
be considered the author of this work."

Cute, eh? <

Maybe.  But consider this:  The "final work" in these cases is *not* the
script, it is the collaborative effort of *dozens* of people from the
writer to the grips, all of whom work for the studio, and all of whom
are using the studio's money to produce the *actual* "final work" - that
is, is the movie or television episode.  When Universal or Fox or
Paramount ponies up 50 or 60 million bucks to produce a film which may,
in the end, little resemble the script it was based on (because it was
altered by the director, re-interpretted by the cast and totally
restructured in the editing room) it doesn't seem utterly outrageous to
me that they end up being considered the "author" for copyright
purposes.  Because films (*pace* the French and the Director's Guild)
generally *have* no single author.

Granted it would be better if the rest of the folk who worked on the
picture got a *share* of the actual copyright, rather than a diminishing
residual, but this is not exactly the same situation as an author's
relationship with a publisher.

Regards,

Joe




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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 04:14:09 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 20

>Maybe.  But consider this:  The "final work" in these cases is *not* the
>script, it is the collaborative effort of *dozens* of people from the
>writer to the grips, all of whom work for the studio, and all of whom
>are using the studio's money to produce the *actual* "final work"

That's as may be.  But the Berne convention was specifically put into place to
protect *writers* as the authors of the story.  A grip is essential to the
making of the movie; a grip is not the author and makes no claims in that
regard.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
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