Subverting Copyright Maximalism, and Territorialism on Franchises (“For Great Justice!”)
PrevNode LinkNextThe commercial fiction industry ( "Hollywood"/etc. ) is not a good oligopoly because they assume people will only enjoy fanfic from one franchise or at most two. This causes franchises to be territorialised even inside media conglomerates. On the other hand, before the 19th-20th centuries, creators mashed together the franchises of previous generations, along with Real Person Fiction ( RPF ) and current trends and events.
These were funny or entertaining by people who were not familiar with their origins and sources of inspiration (often indirect or subconscious ones). I enjoy watching Monty Python's "Romans go home!" skit despite not being taught Latin, and enjoyed reading The Three Musketeers despite not being an expert in French history.
In order to subvert copyright maximalism, actors or other film workers, can finance the production of fanfiction screenplays starring them, and which are not written in the Hollywood-blessed format. They can and should also try to make a profit from them. As an analogy, Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV album was licensed under a redistributable (Creative Commons) licence and yet proved very profitable.
For example, I think either Arnold Schwarzenegger or Emma Watson can afford to license the franchises which I used in my "Terminator: Liberation" screenplay starring them. Moreover, they have my (legal and spiritual) blessing to change the screenplay as they see fit.
Even if they do not license a franchise, then a (for example) "Walt Disney Corp. vs. Emma Watson", or perhaps "Walt Disney Corp. vs. Emma Watson Productions", or even "Walt Disney Corp. vs. Arnold Schwarzenegger Films" court case will not look good to share holders. Like I like to say: One does not simply say “no” to an Alpha Female
.
Natalie Portman and Tiffany Alvord can do the same with Queen Padmé [Amidala] Tales, which someone who read the first part of its Pilot episode, noted that it was crazier than Run, Lola, Run
.
I recall an old Fortune magazine feature where Steven Spielberg noted that he had been given advice to never finance a film out of one's own pocket. Now's the time to challenge this guideline - at least until the dust settles.
Back after Sesame Street started airing and became notorious for its high entertainment / educational value (and political activism as, for example, its friendly, benevolent, and endearing, "monsters" alluded to the contemporary western perception of the Communists), it was a labour of love by a large group of people. Nevertheless, they had one poster child figure: Jim Henson. As a result, when his company embarked on creating a somewhat more “adult-oriented” and commercial project - The Muppet Show - it was renamed to “Henson Associates, Inc.”, knowing that it made them much more untouchable by copyright trolls.
Can you imagine any of those:
Warner Bros vs. Sarah Michelle Gellar Films.
Universal Studios vs. Tom Cruise Films.
Walt Disney Corp. vs. Joss Whedon Films.
The MPAA vs. Chuck Norris Films.
Dreamworks vs. Tiffany Alvord Productions.
Even: Megacorp vs. Ariel Winter Films.
Freeing Franchises
Node LinkNextI can further suggest the owners of major (and minor) franchises to put them under permissive copyright licences, requesting that a donation be made in case there is profit. If one cannot legally accept donations, then they can sell digital goods (or tangible merchandice) with a minimal, but not maximal price similar to the Humble Bundle or bandcamp models. Hacks!
They can do it either by agreement or unilaterally. As an analogy, I recall that back in the late 1990s, there was an initial resistance by vendors of commercial SQL databases to release official Linux ports of their databases (which they built and supported on similar, but proprietary and costly, UNIX-like operating systems). However, then they announced their intentions to do so one by one, and it was technologically easy to do and brought all of them many sales. And today anyone who proposes deploying a UNIX-like server that does not run an open-source operating system (GNU/Linux or BSD or similar) except for running legacy applications, is in a state of sin.
Also see my earlier thoughts about commercial fan-fiction.
Copyright maximalism, and franchise territorialism, are artificial, man-made, and unnecessary problems. They can be subverted either legally, or in practice, by hacking around them. As alternatives to the more famous actors, cosplayers can play as them or one can produce lower-cost animations (including MLP-style animations) and solicit money for producing a live action version. One can also solicit money for relicensing works under less restrictive licences (e.g: "CC-by-nc-sa"→"CC0").
Reusing my Older Fics
PrevNode LinkNaturally, there are older (but still mostly pertinent in my opinion) fanfic screenplays on my site under modifiable Creative Commons' licences sporting roles envisioned as played by:
The cast of Friends as themselves and the characters from Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead.
The cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The cast of Star Trek Deep Space Nine (DS9) along with Melissa Joan Hart and some modernised Biblical characters and some contemporary celebrities of the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) world.
Emma Watson (again!) along with Wil Wheaton, who is once again playing a big dick on screen (while advocating the opposite in real life) in a politically incorrect parody and antithesis of "Buffy".
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Summer Glau (as played by herself or by Megan Fox) as they try to vanquish an idolised version of the NSA.
While I am playing the domineering "The Messiah" for now (because frankly you guys suck!), there are likely others who reached the same conclusions. And my secret plan for Queen Padmé [Amidala] Tales is to beget an even greater Hacker Monarch/Messiah, who despite being fictional, is an awe-inspiring Renaissance Woman. But she too will likely not be the final word about Messiah-hood just like Deep Thought is only the "second greatest computer in the Universe of Time and Space". Like Moses, Socrates, Muhammad, Saladin, da Vinci, Newton, Richelieu, Dumas, Verne, The Beatles, The Muppets, etc, were succeeded, so will Queen Padmé Amidala of the Naboo of the Selinaverse. And it seems likely that people had once taken Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Saladin, Richelieu, or Dumas not as seriously as some people later took The Muppets, The Beatles, Buffy, or the Web 2.0 Bloggers, or xkcd.