A Rant About Titles

[SlickTony]

Two things took place within the past two days to bring on this rant.

Yesterday, I opened up Weekend, which is what the Lifestyles section in our local rag turns into on Friday. It not only contains the usual comics and Dear Abby and John Rosemond (with whom I agree about once a year) but also the movie reviews.

When I saw a review for a movie called Tears of the Sun, I experienced a feeling of thrilled excitement. My younger sister, who mostly works as a location coordinator but also writes, out in Hollywood, had written a very good screenplay called Tears of the Sun. A copy of it is in my living room at this time.

Mind you, the thrill only lasted a few seconds, even before I looked at the review and realized that this movie had no more relationship to my sister's script than The Magic Mountain has to an Archie comic book. And of course, I also am aware of the fact that the copyright laws do not cover titles.

I wrote my sister an e-mail basically saying this, and she wrote back saying that since she had been shopping this script of hers around, she was convinced that the people who'd produced the movie with Bruce Willis in it had ripped off her title, and in future, she was going to send her work out either with bogus titles or no title at all.

Also, a story series entitled "Quid pro Quo" has just come out in the new story section. I wrote a story called "Quid pro Quo." There is a distressing amount of similarity between many titles in Literotica--it seems to be hard to come up with anything fresh and original. I very much doubt that the same thing that happened to happened to my sister happened to me. For one thing, my QpQ wasn't that widely read. Also, it got me my first pan. (And just about only pan, too!) It was also the only story I've produced here that got less than a 4 rating. Nevertheless...!

 

[medjay]

I always do a quick search to make sure that no stories here share a title I have in mind. I do it as a courtesy to other authors for one, and also to keep from looking like a plagerist. It only takes a minute.

The funny thing is; I submitted a story called Anniversary Party having no idea that there was a movie in theatres with the same title. I would have liked to have changed the title but of course it was too late. So I just said fuck it. Life goes on.

 

[lobito]

Much like the idea that there are only so many ways you can write I love you, wihtout someone else repeasting it eventually, story & movie titles are certainly the same way.

You can write two totally different stries or movies with teh same title, even the same basic idea, but they can turn out totally different in the end product.

Hollywood is a big business type of town, there are creative people tehre, but most of the people in charge of seeing scripts don't become creative until they see someone elese work, and think "I'll copy that, or borrow this"... make sense?

 

[Svenskaflicka]

The only thing that bugs me about people stealing my ideas (for stories, titles, whatever) is that they will NEVER be able to pull that idea off as good as me...

lol

 

[SlickTony]

The only thing that bugs me about people stealing my ideas (for stories, titles, whatever) is that they will NEVER be able to pull that idea off as good as me...

What I said.

 

[gauchecritic]

The only thing that bugs me about people stealing my ideas (for stories, titles, whatever) is that they will NEVER be able to pull that idea off as good as me...

lol

And especially if you write something worth producing (tv, movie, whatever) Mine was so much funnier than the BBC eventually produced and not even an acknowledgement. (or large cheque)

perhaps it was too

Gauche

 

[Chicklet]

one of the 1st stories i submitted ended up having the same title as another story. to my disgust, i later discovered that the main character's name in both is the same, as well. now i do searches before submitting stories. whenever i don't, i'm disapointed.

Chicklet

 

[SexyChele]

I very accidently entitled one of my stories the same as another story at Lit. It's a common phrase, and had I truly thought about it, I would have realized that title would already be in use. Oh well, live and learn. Now I search and hopefully won't run into that type of problem again. But hey, it happens, ya know?

As far as Hollywood goes, most times studios see thousands of scripts. Maybe Tears in the Sun is a rip off, may be not. Could be there are 50 scripts circulating around Hollywood with the same title, different story. Could be the screenwriter had a different title and after the movie was made, it was changed. Who knows? Whatever happened, I wish your sister well. It's a tough business!

 

[OT]

Over on the poetry side, we've been cloning titles on purpose. It's been an interesting exercise.

Last week's title
(there's a links to the past title challenges in the header, towards the end of each challenge thread is a link to the entries. )

 

[MathGirl]

Smug

I never worry about someone plagarizing me. My titles and stories aren't good enough for anyone to want. If anyone is that hard up, they're welcome to it.
MG

 

[SlaveMasterUK]

As has been demonstrated in the music industry, it really doesn't matter to have two works with the same name. Admittedly in the film industry this could cause a problem, particularly if there are two similarly named films released close to each other. But that's not to say it doesn't happen.

I really don't care if I release a story, song or poem with a name that's already been used. If it's right for the project, it's what I use. Normally I don't decide on a name until the end of the project anyway, since I never really know what it's about until I finish it. And usually my titles are quite obscure...

I can usually be assured that my work will be sufficiently different from anything else with the same name that people will easily recognise the difference.

ax

 

[Quint]

I always have to laugh at this.

In the "Non-Human" category, we have:

Blood & Lust
Blood and Lust
Blood Lust
Blood Lust Ch. 1 and 2

and...

Bloodlust

 

[SlickTony]

It's what I was saying, there is a paucity of titles. And all the words existing in the English language, too! I try to use fresh and original ones, but I sometimes I think the genre itself constrains you.

 

[jfinn]

Titles don't really come into play when you're talking about someone plagerizing your work. First, it's hard to impossible to prove that a couple of words are yours alone and that you're the only person who could possibly come up with them. It would have to be something really odd like Thirty Is A Dangerous Age, Cynthia (swear to god that's a real movie) to even have a chance and I doubt even then.

Besides, titles aren't usually bought separately, they just come with the package so unless it's a book title to be used in a movie (which could reasonably be argued has value because of it's built in audience appeal) you don't have much of a case. Also, lots of titles are changed anyway, both by publishers and producers, so you can't really argue that yours might have brought you fame and fortune.

You can however register a screenplay with the WGA (Writers Guild of America) for ten years for about twenty bucks. That's the best way to make sure you keep credit for your work. Besides screenplays, they also accept treatments and/or outlines. In fact lots of production companies won't look at a screenplay anymore unless it's WGA registered.

As for other types of writing you can protect your work by sending yourself a hard copy by registered mail and then make sure someone is around to sign for it. After that store it unopened in a safe deposit box or other storage facility that would provide proof. Both of these methods make great evidence if you have to go to court.

Jayne