Similar storylines...

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Similar storylines...

    I have a question about copyrights, if I take the idea of a character seeing dead people...and write script, that has that idea but it is not the same as M. Nights, would that be violating the copyright laws? I'm just using him as an example.

  • #2
    Re: Similar storylines...

    Not if your execution of the idea is different.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Similar storylines...

      Originally posted by Berlin Stardust
      Not if your execution of the idea is different.

      Interesting. Thank you.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Similar storylines...

        Yeah, if the only similarity to The Sixth Sense is that your story has a character who can see dead people, you're in no danger of violating copyright. Hell, Shyamalan's movie wasn't the first or the last to feature that basic concept.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Similar storylines...

          Originally posted by refriedwhiskey
          Yeah, if the only similarity to The Sixth Sense is that your story has a character who can see dead people, you're in no danger of violating copyright. Hell, Shyamalan's movie wasn't the first or the last to feature that basic concept.
          That's what I was gonna say... that idea has been done before. However, M. Night did it in his own clever way. If you can think of a way that no one else has done... then go for it.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Similar storylines...

            I see dead people....they're great! Nothing like living guys. They really know how to treat a girl...
            And they always have a stiffy.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Similar storylines...

              It comes down to "the engine that runs the machine" - so if you have a character that sees dead people, not a problem. Lots of stories like that. If you have a *boy* who sees dead people, you're in very dangerous territory. If you have a shrink that is trying to help a boy who sees dead people.... you're in trouble.

              I was going to do a page one rewrite on a script, and part of the rewrite is to change the loaction to a western bar that features a mechanical bull (like Gilley's)... and like URBAN COWBOY. Now, you can't copyright a type of bar or a device like a mechanical bull in a script. But if my script was all about a *mechanical bull riding competition* - that's URBAN COWBOY. The engine that runs URBAN COWBOY is the rivalry between Travolta and Scott Glenn that is "fought" in the mechanical bull riding competition (with Debra Winger as prize). In *my* script, the mechanical bull is just one of the things in the bar, and the engine that runs the machine is a plan to rob the bar and the double and triple crosses that follow. This scipt originally took place in a more urban nightclub setting, and could take place in almost *any* popular bar. The mechanical bull part is a changeable element - unlike URBAN COWBOY where that bull is what the whole film is about.

              If you have a script that has similarities to some other film, make sure you do a rewrite that accents the differences.

              - Bill
              Free Script Tips:
              http://www.scriptsecrets.net

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Similar storylines...

                You have absolutely nothing to worry about. You can write a Sixth Sense remake and get away with it just as long as you call it an "homage".

                But the 6th Sense isn't even the only movie that came out in 1999 about a character seeing dead people...and there were plenty before that year as well.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Similar storylines...

                  Originally posted by Biohazard
                  You have absolutely nothing to worry about. You can write a Sixth Sense remake and get away with it just as long as you call it an "homage".

                  But the 6th Sense isn't even the only movie that came out in 1999 about a character seeing dead people...and there were plenty before that year as well.
                  The Twilight Zone had about 10 episodes with that storyline. lol

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Similar storylines...

                    LOL

                    "Dead people" = ghosts.

                    M. Night did not invent ghosts. Nor did Serling.
                    Does this even count as a blog?

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X