Using real life locations in a story ex: local restaurants

[Kelliezgirl]

I've seen that crater; it's impressive. I didn't see any girls in flatbed Fords slowing down to take a look at me. That was no surprise, however.

But a little disappointing nonetheless.

 

[EmmAgain]

Corporations and celebrities are very aware of the "Streisand Effect." They are better off ignoring something like a mention in a Lit story than they are dealing with the potential fallout of trying to take it down and having the story go viral.

It also depends where you are. When I was doing content creation on Privacy in Argentina, you could do pretty much what you wanted, where you wanted, with whoever you wanted. One of my BG videos is literally titled ‘Aquafun Pool Fuck’ and opens with the waterpark’s logo. Staff and other visitors pop up in the background.

But back in the US on OnlyFabs, 80% of our time seemed devoted to endless compliance paperwork ( § 2257) and blurring out faces, logos, and anything else identifiable. We got a cease desist because one of our sessions in a hotel had a Hilton logo in the background for, like, two microseconds.

Anyway, my long winded point is that if you have any level of success in the US - and I hope you do! - be prepared to rewrite anything with brand names or real people.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I’ve used real life businesses on occasion. Example from Ruleskirter- the club where Doug and Lisa meet in Austin, Paradox, was a real place in 1997. It closed down a few years later. Roppolo’s Pizza and the garage near Frost Bank Tower where Lisa keeps her bike are also real places and still around. I recommend both.

Silvan’s Karaoke Bar is unfortunately fictional. Antone’s Nightclub (used in Compensation and Bad Connections) is real but has a slightly different interior layout.

I wrote about the Raging Torrents water park on Whorey’s Piers in Feral Forest, NJ. None of which are real obviously

 

[Kelliezgirl]

It also depends where you are. When I was doing content creation on Privacy in Argentina, you could do pretty much what you wanted, where you wanted, with whoever you wanted. One of my BG videos is literally titled ‘Aquafun Pool Fuck’ and opens with the waterpark’s logo. Staff and other visitors pop up in the background.

But back in the US on OnlyFabs, 80% of our time seemed devoted to endless compliance paperwork ( § 2257) and blurring out faces, logos, and anything else identifiable. We got a cease desist because one of our sessions in a hotel had a Hilton logo in the background for, like, two microseconds.

Anyway, my long winded point is that if you have any level of success in the US - and I hope you do! - be prepared to rewrite anything with brand names or real people.

https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2013/10/12/indie-film-shot-at-disney

These guys shot an entire movie guerilla style inside Disney World, it aired at the Sundance Film Festival and has been released.
Fair Use provides more protection than most people think.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Corporations and celebrities are very aware of the "Streisand Effect." They are better off ignoring something like a mention in a Lit story than they are dealing with the potential fallout of trying to take it down and having the story go viral.

It was about an aerial photo of her house, which is sitting right there on a Malibu bluff overlooking the Pacific. I should sue Google for a street-view of my apartment. I mean, you can clearly see what crummy curtains I have.

 

[EmmAgain]

https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2013/10/12/indie-film-shot-at-disney

These guys shot an entire movie guerilla style inside Disney World, it aired at the Sundance Film Festival and has been released.
Fair Use provides more protection than most people think.

That’s good to know - thanks!

Almost all our legal ‘trouble’ in the US was with OnlyFans themselves. I guess they’re hyper-cautious. But the Atlanta Hilton thing fell through the cracks, hence the letter. (Nice to know I had a fan somewhere in Hilton management!)

EDIT: Not a lawyer! Just been at the receiving end of them - literally and figuratively!

 

[MelissaBaby]

But back in the US on OnlyFabs, 80% of our time seemed devoted to endless compliance paperwork ( § 2257) and blurring out faces, logos, and anything else identifiable. We got a cease desist because one of our sessions in a hotel had a Hilton logo in the background for, like, two microseconds.

That may have been more about the image of the logo than the name itself

 

[RetroFan]

I enjoy referencing landmarks if I'm writing in places I like and familiar with, it helps set the scene. For example, if I was setting a story in Sydney the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and other landmarks will be included.

Sometimes you have to include real things to make a story work. For example, I'm writing an ongoing series about a young man who slips into another dimension. In this new dimension he finds out that Star Wars is limited to the original trilogy of films and a prequel similar to Rogue One made in 1999. The prequel trilogy was never made - it was stuck in development hell at the time George Lucas died in the early 2000s (he of course is still alive in reality) - and obviously no sequel trilogy and other associated media in the 2010s either. However 'The Star Wars Holiday Special' does exist in the alternate reality as well.

While I would never write Star Wars fan fiction for Lit, the somewhat benign inclusion of Star Wars helps show the difference between the real and alternate worlds because it is so well-known. Describing a fictional sci-fi series for the 'real' world that is different in the alternate reality wouldn't work for this type of story.

 

[JohnBJohn]

Even if I have a particular business/branch in mind, I don't feel the need to specify it.

Does mentioning 'the Starbucks on Main Street' rather than 'a coffeshop downtown' improve the story? If the chain matters (it might if there is some comparison to an independent outlet in the story), then why not 'Starbucks downtown'? After all, most readers will not be familiar with the coffee emporia of Whereverville.

This is true. The only people who might get the reference to the places I mention would have to live near them. The people of greater San Diego most likely have not heard of the bar I mentioned.

 

[HordHolm]

This is true. The only people who might get the reference to the places I mention would have to live near them. The people of greater San Diego most likely have not heard of the bar I mentioned.

I think it depends on the fame of the establishment. I've set a punch-up in the Ritz and there are many millions of people who know that's in London, and is meant to be top class, even if they wouldn't recognise it if they were suddenly stood on the street outside it.

 

[MrStill]

It was about an aerial photo of her house, which is sitting right there on a Malibu bluff overlooking the Pacific. I should sue Google for a street-view of my apartment. I mean, you can clearly see what crummy curtains I have.

For a long time, the Google street-view of my house had a police car parked outside, doors open. Not sure what that did to the property value.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

My stories are written in the past, 30 - 50 years ago, so I use real places that existed then (most of them no longer exist) to add color to my stories. For example, in my story Picture Postcards from L.A.: Erin, I describe a visit to the Sunset Grill on Sunset Boulevard after Don Henley had a hit song about the restaurant (around 1987). All of the details were correct (as far as my memory can recall). The Sunset Grill that exists today is not the same Sunset Grill I wrote about. I doubt many people are still alive that remember that Sunset Grill and would have an issue with what I wrote about it.

Any business I describe that revolves around the erotic parts of the stories are made up locations in familiar areas in the greater LA area and I doubt anyone could argue that the place never existed 40 years ago where I wrote it did.

 

[gunhilltrain]

For a long time, the Google street-view of my house had a police car parked outside, doors open. Not sure what that did to the property value.

I think Google will "blank" out parts of an image by request. License plates are one such item. That must happen fairly frequently, because I've often seen it. Some guy's car winds up in front of a house that isn't where his wife or girlfriend are. Or a police alibi is jeopardized. Maybe they do all licence plates; I'm not sure.

As long as you weren't shown being led out of your house in handcuffs, you're probably okay.

 

[JohnBJohn]

I think Google will "blank" out parts of an image by request. License plates are one such item. That must happen fairly frequently, because I've often seen it. Some guy's car winds up in front of a house that isn't where his wife or girlfriend are. Or a police alibi is jeopardized. Maybe they do all licence plates; I'm not sure.

As long as you weren't shown being led out of your house in handcuffs, you're probably okay.

You can have your whole house blurred out on Google Street View via their 'Report a Problem' tool.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Notable that we are worried about references on Lit, when there are far more intense intrusions with surveillance cameras, facial recognition devices, and other technologies that are just starting. A camera records me in my lobby; another one (NYPD) surveys the street down the block. At the moment this is still not fully integrated, but watch out. The Stasi did pretty well with just paper documents.

https://www.thelocal.de/20150109/stasi-documents-trove-released-online

 

[MrPixel]

A camera records me in my lobby; another one (NYPD) surveys the street down the block.

Yeah, it's overdue for this thread to spin off-topic.

You probably don't have reason to know that ALPR cameras (automatic license plate readers) are almost everywhere now. Their installation has exploded in the past two years. You cannot go anywhere in your car without being tracked, even in Bumfuck, Egypt, where we live. Now combine this with the emerging American Stasi.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yeah, it's overdue for this thread to spin off-topic.

You probably don't have reason to know that ALPR cameras (automatic license plate readers) are almost everywhere now. Their installation has exploded in the past two years. You cannot go anywhere in your car without being tracked, even in Bumfuck, Egypt, where we live. Now combine this with the emerging American Stasi.

What struck me was the "Streisand Effect" discussion above. The photograph in question was held by a public entity, the California Coastal Records Project. It had a benign intent perhaps, to document coastal erosion, and her house happened to be in one of the 12,000 photos.

Governments always try to protect their own secrets while keeping track of what everyone else is doing. Some crisis (like a war) will ramp this up. Right now, there is a large effort to find illegal migrants, but I suspect the next step will be overtly political. I don't think all this surveillance has yet been integrated into a seamless whole, but I would guess it's being worked on. As a "resident" of some country, you may not even be aware of the effects right away until you wind up on some Alligator Alcatraz. Or are simply disappeared, as has happened in many countries.