Use of famous saying within the dialogue

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  • Use of famous saying within the dialogue

    Used the "Search" and found something from 2005 but not exactly what I'm looking for...

    I want to use a common/famous saying/quotation within the dialogue such as, "Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand." (By Dr. Seuss, fyi)

    Do I need to set it off in some special way? Quotation marks? Single, double? Do I have to give attribution because some of the sayings were not given an author on google?

    What about if I have one character start it and another finish it as in:

    Tom
    Christmas will always be as long as we stand--

    Dick
    Heart to heart and hand in hand.

    Is that appropriate?

    Thanks.

  • #2
    Re: Use of famous saying within the dialogue

    Some might say, it's a spec, so don't sweat it. But I think that not to acknowledge these things suggests you don't care, or are stupid and don't know about plagiarism law, or think that it doesn't matter because "it's just a spec".

    I say, show that you're a smarta$$ and put in an attribution.

    Still, as one of my readers said, of one of my scripts that was full of these (poetry quotes, etc.):

    All those references would come out in the wash with a clearance report.
    Nothing came of this particular read, but I'm sure he meant, "come out" as in removed, or ensured that the attributions/rights are established correctly by all those expensive studio lawyers.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Use of famous saying within the dialogue

      Originally posted by socalwriter1 View Post
      Used the "Search" and found something from 2005 but not exactly what I'm looking for...

      I want to use a common/famous saying/quotation within the dialogue such as, "Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand." (By Dr. Seuss, fyi)

      Do I need to set it off in some special way? Quotation marks? Single, double? Do I have to give attribution because some of the sayings were not given an author on google?

      What about if I have one character start it and another finish it as in:

      Tom
      Christmas will always be as long as we stand--

      Dick
      Heart to heart and hand in hand.

      Is that appropriate?

      Thanks.

      You just put in quotes, bro.

      Comment

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