Sony & NBC Interfere With Fan-Funded Web Series, Accomplish Nothing
from the except-making-the-lawyers-richer dept
ChurchHatesTucker points us to yet another example of how the strictures of the legacy entertainment industry are at odds with modern attitudes towards culture and creativity, and the hypocrisy of those who rely on fair use but seek to limit it for others. First, a bit of background:
The NBC series Community (which is awesome, by the way) recently introduced a show-within-the-show: a parody of Dr. Who entitled Inspector Spacetime and shown only in a few short clips. Travis Richey, the actor who portrays the titular character for his few seconds on screen, and who is also an experienced web series producer, immediately saw the potential to extend the fake show into a series of real shorts. He approached the Community creators with a script, only to discover that, as he puts it, "Hollywood doesn't work quite that way." He then had his agent pitch it through official studio channels, but never heard back—so he took the idea to Kickstarter, planning to produce the series himself.
It will come as a surprise to no one that the lawyers made short work of that plan—but Richey isn't stopping, he's just changing the title:
Lawyers from Sony and NBC have contacted me demanding that I cease production on an Inspector Spacetime web series.
Though I firmly believe the law would be on my side in producing this parody, I have no wish or ability to fight a show that I love as much as "Community." I had hoped that they would embrace what is essentially a fan film and appreciate the value it adds to the character, and the audience that we would bring who are finding "Community" for the first time through this character, but alas, that's not the case. So, I will be removing all references to Inspector Spacetime from this series (it only happened in the title anyway), and altering the appearance of the Inspector so that he does not look like Inspector Spacetime. What remains is 100% the creation of myself, my writing partner, and you, the fans.
The title card on the video now reads "Untitled Web Series About A Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time", and the project is already more than half-funded, with the rest of the month still to go. Richey says the money is for equipment only: everyone involved is a volunteer, and the finished series won't be monetized at all. This is a case of someone who just loves to create, for its own sake, being blocked by problematic, hypocritical legal claims. Problematic because a name and a simple character concept, barely established with a handful of brief clips, should really fall on the idea side of the idea/expression dichotomy; hypocritical because that character is himself a direct parody of a much bigger cultural icon, and relies on that very same dichotomy for his existence.
Some will say that it's no big deal: he changed the title, and now he can make the series. Luckily, this time, that does appear to be the case—but there is no reason even that should have been necessary. As Richey says, he still thinks he is in the right, but has no intention of going to court: not just because of the expense, but because he doesn't want to. He wants to create, not have creator-fights with his peers. But somehow the industry that claims its every move is about protecting creators always manages to get in the way of people like that.
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Filed Under: community, fan films, inspector spacetime, travis richey
Companies: kickstarter, nbc universal, sony
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Maybe the trolls just don't know how to use the web
Why don't those stories ever make headlines? Are there any ?
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Re: Maybe the trolls just don't know how to use the web
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If he gets extra funding beyond his target goal...
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Re: If he gets extra funding beyond his target goal...
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Re: If he gets extra funding beyond his target goal...
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He then had his agent
FTFY
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I know...
I know:
Dr. Who
What do you think?
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Re: I know...
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Even Better
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Re: Even Better
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Re: Re: Even Better
Accidentally hit the 'report' button on this post when I was trying to do something else. Please disregard.
My apologies.
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Re: Re: Re: Even Better
It's not an actual "report to admin", merely a "vote down" button.
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Re: Even Better
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That's what you think ... wait till the lawyers ask for 'their' cut after filing all sorts of frivolous lawsuits. Win or lose, litigation costs will ensure the lawyers get paid either way.
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Detering creativity
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If they were fans of their own shows, they wouldn't send lawyers after other fans for making fanart, right?
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After 2010 never watched a single episode of that TV series and didn't remembered until now.
Should I start pirating again?
Nah, I will just let it go.
Don't want me to pirate online that is ok, I will not go out of my way to find it elsewhere either.
Another one I was watching was that one with a mon(car saleswoman), dad and 3 kids of a small town, can't remember the name, where the little one repeated words in a weird way, and the 2 teenages where dumb, that one was funny too, but can't watch.
Fine out of sight out of mind.
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Perhaps the most ridiculous part is that Community's future is uncertain (it only narrowly avoided cancellation this season) and they could really, really use any new fans that a project like this brings in.
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But NBC's corporate pride will not allow for somebody else to do that work for them. They MUST maintain absolute control of all their content, even at the expense of the creator's willingness to further promote/enhance a preexisting work.
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Basically, if one show fails, another will take it's place. They will try some other combination of X and Y and Z and come up with something else more palatable to people's tastes. Poor or marginal ratings show that something isn't right. It's not an online community or a fan anything that will save very many shows. It happens rarely enough (think Family Guy) that people tend to remember it.
In the end, it's cheaper, easier, and much more productive to come up with a replacement or show changes that will make the product appeal to more people, rather than narrowly appealing MORE to the smaller existing fan base alone.
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Community is one of those fan-saved shows. It was the uproar from fans and critics that brought it back from "indefinite hiatus" (usually a death sentence)
But yeah - god forbid that Hollywood would every try anything new to promote a show, or consider making a show that isn't "some other combination of X and Y and Z". I know I know - that's not their style.
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Oh and, no "indefinite hiatus" is not a death sentence. That is actually a much better status than an outright cancellation, that means they were waiting for something else to suck even worse and get cancelled, and then bring this show back.
I wouldn't call it "fan saved" as much as "saved by the numbers".
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You're confusing yourself again. We're talking about a content creator here. You know, the kind that the MPAA supposedly, selflessly looks out for?
"when a video came out bearing the name "Inspector Space Time" people would assume it was produced by NBC/Sony."
It would just SUCK for NPC/Sony to have people think that they were cool and supported fan projects. Fans of NBC shows might think the studios care what they think, and we can't have that!
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15 Seconds of fame
What happens if this Travis guy creates an extremely unfunny web series that is not representative of Community? How would that help the show?
He looks like an opportunist that is getting a bunch of geeks to buy him $20,000 worth of camera equipment. I also saw that he continues to bash NBC. Way to go, genius. It looks like Community will be back for another season. Hmmm...wonder if they are going to replace the Inspector....wonder if they would ever have this guy on any of their network shows again. Congrats. You just crapped on your 15 seconds of fame.
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Re: 15 Seconds of fame
And yet every aspect of him is directly lifted from Dr. Who. How does that work, exactly?
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Re: Re: 15 Seconds of fame
Or does the Beeb know something about the value of (a) free publicity and (b) keeping the fans of the good Doctor happy than NBC is failing to understand with their screwing around with Community?
Incidentally Dr Who was finally brought back after a hiatus by it's fans and the Beeb's peek at it's account books which made them realize what a money maker Dr Who is in syndication, particularly the Tom Baker years.
So best leave well enough alone and let NBC do publicity for Dr Who for free. :)
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Re: 15 Seconds of fame
People wouldn't watch his web series for very long.
"How would that help the show?"
How would it hurt the show? How many shows have you stopped watching because a fan made something for it that turned out to not be very good?
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Re: Re: 15 Seconds of fame
Have you ever been in a fandom in your life? Fans ruin shows for fans ALL THE TIME. Fans have stopped watching a show because of bad fan fiction (I'm not one of them, but I know it's happened).
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I've watched a lot of the stuff on his Youtube Channel, and he seems like a really creative talent, whose biggest problem seems to be a lack of quality equipment. I was happy to donate.
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still shouldn't have got any further than that thought being shot down due to the timing, but it wouldn't surprise me.
it still baffles me why studios, presented with these sorts of things, first turn it down, then sue... why not just give the guy a liscence in the first place and collect a percentage of any profits he might make? that way your ownership is established and you potentially get income you wouldn't be getting otherwise... not to mention any works based on That have to come back to you too...
i mean, come on, you already HAVE this stupid system, at least Use It Right...
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