Now that I have your attention - if you're an independent filmmaker or dramatist, you may not have many chances to adapt works of popular fiction writers. Intellectual property law doesn't make it easy and licensing fees alone can make approaching big-name authors an expensive proposition.
Jonathan Lethem is one writer eager to see his work adapted by others. The bestselling author of "Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn" has started a project called "Promiscuous Materials." For the price of one dollar, anyone can adapt one of several short stories available into a film or one act play.
In an NPR interview, Lethem explained his reasoning: "What I'm doing is sort of saying, look, we give things away sometimes. That's part of our work, and... as it happens, I'd like to do more of it.... The reason this seemed so important to me is that... people talk about intellectual property as if it were an absolute concept with very easily defined terms and I want to suggest that actually there's an enormous grey area. There's a really big spectrum between charging for something and giving it away...."
Lethem takes his inspiration from the open source software movement and Creative Commons (though the license he is using is not a CC license). In a recent essay in Harper's, Lethem argued that contemporary ideas of intellectual property stifle creativity and prevent artists from building on achievements of others. To drive the point home, he constructed the entire article from quotations by other authors.
Not all of Lethem's work is available on his Promiscuous Materials terms and there are simple conditions to which artists must agree before using his material.
What's your view on intellectual property? Do you protect your work for selected use only, or do you offer other writers/artists/photographers the opportunity to expand on your work or incorporate your work in collaborative projects?
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation and Jonathan Lethem's website. Photo of giant dice in a shop on Ile Saint Louis, Paris
I give it away and hope people run with it farther than I can. I am a teacher, philosopher, and thinker. If someone can implement, execute, and improve better than I, what better way is there that to spread what is important about my work...the message it contains. When you take money out of the equation, it is much easier to make the right call.
Posted by: nutster | 28 April 2007 at 20:34
I think Lethem's idea is great but also he can afford to be generous. If I had a one-time great idea I wouldn't share it on my blog either. In fact, there are a few things I have written in hopes of submitting for publication that I hold back.
On the other hand, with permission and attribution, I would be happy to share anything on my blog, photos and writing, unless someone else was using it in a for-profit sense.
Posted by: sarala | 28 April 2007 at 17:05
A couple of years back, I developed a 30 day training package to be used with "frontline" staff who work with people on social assistance. Most of the training focused on communication and relationship building skills, the understanding and application of counselling skills tailored to the case management approach and service delivery of it (which I also designed and defined because it was a new concept at the time) This was all done within my job and in partnership with a large international consulting firm who had been hired to re-engineer our whole service delivery system.....the business/financial side of things.
The training package came out of my head, and from my accumulated experiences in the field....and my own formal training. It is now being used by the international company in other similar projects, with no mention or recognition of MOI!
I have several ideas with respect to my writing on the burners right now, and have decided not to share them on my blog until I am much farther down the road...... I was warned by another blogger to keep some of my ideas to myself and not to share.
You just never know...........
Posted by: awareness | 28 April 2007 at 16:41
As an artist I am on the fence regarding intellectual property. One wonders if intellectual property were around in Picasso's era to the extent is today, would he have sued Braque. Personally, I think it has gotten out of hand, legally speaking.
Posted by: Christine | 28 April 2007 at 02:33
That is a tough question but my first impulse is to share whatever someone can use to make a great project. Collaboration is cool even if you don't get credit. I'm not doing anything in demand so I guess I can think this way. ;) HUGS
Posted by: Tammy | 27 April 2007 at 18:21