Multiple Hollywood Studios Making Movies About Julian Assange; How Many Will Pay Him For His Story?
from the just-wondering... dept
We've all heard the refrain from the MPAA a million times: profiting off of someone else's work is "theft" and we need new laws to stop that kind of thing. So, it struck me as interesting to see an article in the Wall Street Journal, claiming that multiple Hollywood studios are planning movies about Julian Assange and Wikileaks:Among the studios with WikiLeaks movies in development are Time Warner Inc.'s HBO Films, DreamWorks Studios, Comcast Corp.'s Universal Pictures and Annapurna Pictures, the company run by Megan Ellison, daughter of Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison.Most of the article talks about the difficulty of creating a movie based on a true story that's still very much in progress. However, they just barely touch on the question of paying for the story. After all, the story of Assange is based on "his work," right? There had been one project that sought to buy an option on Assange's own memoirs, which were due to be published by Random House, but apparently Assange failed to deliver and the deal fell through. Other projects did option different versions of the Assange story -- but not from Assange himself. One optioned the book from former WikiLeaks spokesman, turned Wikileaks critic, Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Another optioned a profile of Assange that was done in the New Yorker.
However, all of the actual stories focus on Assange and his work in building up Wikileaks. If Hollywood really believes so strongly in not "profiting off the works of others" without fairly compensating them, why aren't they lining up to pay Assange?
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Filed Under: daniel domscheit-berg, hollywood, julian assange, licensing
Companies: annapurna pictures, comcast, dreamworks, hbo, the new yorker, time warner, universal pictures, wikileaks
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The don't want to make it onto the list of terrorism supporters.
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This defines their business model doesn't it
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FTFY
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are you high mike?
this level of inconsistency is becoming a problem, mike. i really like this site, but i'm starting to be unable to trust you to speak coherently because you are too busy trying to nitpick the xxaa's at any cost, including your integrity.
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Re: are you high mike?
Try harder!
Perhaps Mike Masnick is pointing out the inconsistency (ie hypocrisy) of Hollywood.
In Hollywood logic, one pays for the right to use a story. Yet, here is an example of Hollywood using somebody's story and not bothering to follow their own rules!
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Re: are you high mike?
Case in point:
"If Hollywood really believes so strongly in not "profiting off the works of others" without fairly compensating them, why aren't they lining up to pay Assange?"
He's pointing out the hypocrisy and contradiction in Hollywood's position. Hollywood believes in someone being paid for others profiting off of their work when Hollywood is the one getting paid.
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Re: Re: are you high mike?
I vote for an involuntary name change for MPAA to "Mega Piracy Association of America", given their past as patent infringers who escaped prosecution by moving to the wild west, and now using the same laws which they skirted in the past to ram their idealistic bullshit down our throats. I don't think the MPAA has ever not been hypocritical.
I remember the last time someone tried to make a "true story" about someone who the government vilified; a chap by the name of Kevin Mitnick, and the industry didn't even try to make the crap close to reality. And it flopped. Which hopefully this one will too.
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Re: Re: are you high mike?
Where is the "work", specifically a script or similar?
Mike is screwing around with the word "WORK" here. Assange's "work" is as leader of Wikileaks. He hasn't produced a "work" about his life.
There is no "work" to license.
Mike is being a prick, as always.
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First, as has been said before, Mike doesn't say that he is against the industry creating works about Assange. He is saying that they are being hypocritical (which I agree) when they say that you must pay them for every use, but then they don't pay for use.
Second, none of the MLB/NBA/NFL players "work" by creating scripts or similar, so according to you, they shouldn't complain when someone uses their likeness in a video game. There is no "work" to license in their case either, yet they demand payment for the use of their likeness in a video game.
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then they are going to pay Mike? or the people at CNN or other news outlets? After all, they did write it.
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Re: are you high mike?
I agree. Mike knows this a story ABOUT someone, not a story written by someone. This isn't Assange writing his bio and the studios ripping him off, this is about someone in the news getting a movie made about what has happened with them in a public way.
Mike, are you suggesting that the newspapers should pay the subjects of news stories they write about? Should "unauthorized" biography writers be sent to the gulag for not paying?
It's hard to take you seriously when you try way too hard to pick at nits. It shadows the rest of your posts and make me wonder what else you have intentionally gotten wrong or intentionally ignored.
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Re: are you high mike?
Mike's not supporting or agreeing with the idea that people should have to pay for every use of every story. He's merely pointing out the hypocrisy. If Hollywood were following through with their crusade against people "profiting without payment", then they would be paying Assange for his story. But, they're not. They conveniently rediscover fair use and free interpretation when it's they who come to profit from it.
Mike's pointing out the stupidity and hypocrisy, not agreeing with it. That's pretty clear from the article he wrote, although for some reason that differs from the article you seem to have read.
"i'm starting to be unable to trust you to speak coherently"
Everybody else seems to have understood his point. Methinks it's not Mike at fault here.
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Re: Re: are you high mike?
People don't have to pay for every use of every event that occurs. It's a bullshit attempt to call Hollywood out, and in the end, it just sounds bitter and twisted.
You may have understood his point, but that is only because it is pretty childish.
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Re: Re: Re: are you high mike?
You may have not understood his point, but that is only because you are pretty childish.
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Re: Re: Re: are you high mike?
"strawman"
"bullshit"
"childish"
On the other hand, I do know that these are words you're intimately familiar with. If only you wouldn't use them as the basis for every comment you write.
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Meta-leak
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Re: Meta-leak
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You can download it from Mega ....
Oh never mind.
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There already is a book and it's FREE
Underground: Tales of hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontier by Suelette Dreyfus was created into a documentary by the Australian ABC.
Also the book has been available in multiple electronic formats since 2001 FOR FREE by the author
http://www.underground-book.net/
Note: I neither confirm nor deny that I nor any of my pseudonyms are talked about within this book.
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Movie studios have a lot to gain by being the lap dog of government right now. Their collective push to ruin internet freedom (SOPA, ACTA, any other acronyms I've missed) stand to gain lots of points in government circles. They can put a lot of money, and cool actors and CGI blockbuster special effects to work winning the hearts and minds of the world.
It's not just movies I might add. Since storytelling was invented it's been used to push agendas.
I'm Australian. I just hope if these movies get made, they show the world how feeble my government has been in doing anything to help Assange.
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A movie made by hollywood about the career of Assange would bear as much resemblance to reality as a bowl of mashed potatoes made about his career.
In either case, america would eagerly hunger to eat a steaming pile.
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"Well, Assange was being unreasonable and demanding too much" or "Assange wasn't cooperating with what we wanted."
Oh, you mean kind of like HBO not providing Game of Thrones without having to jump through hoops and paying (what the public considers) unreasonable rates?
Suck it up Hollywood. You can't make us follow your demands while not following the demands of others
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- We actually tried asking for more then $0!!!!
"Assange wasn't cooperating with what we wanted."
- We wanted to show that he was an evil terrorist and he wanted us to portray the truth. The nerve of some people!
Oh, you mean kind of like HBO not providing Game of Thrones without having to jump through hoops and paying (what the public considers) unreasonable rates?
- But people expect us to make it hard to get and cost lots of money. It's what the people want!
Suck it up Hollywood. You can't make us follow your demands while not following the demands of others
- Sure we can, we've been doing it for years. It's what we're good at.
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Whistleblowers of the carribean
Two birds.......
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Nice idiotic straw man, Pirate Mike. Could you be any more desperate to say something bad about the MPAA? It's really sad, dude.
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Mikes just saying how it is, you hypocrite
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You don't pay to tell a story, plain and simple. You didn't suggest that the people making the Andre3000 Hendrix bio should pay, why would you suggest it here?
Just more proof of a very selective and very nasty agenda.
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Then why the hell are you still here posting and complaining and being generally obnoxious?
Needy much?
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Hollywood paid the Tolkien Estate to make Lord of the Rings, essentially the same thing.
That's not the only one. Hollywood has paid the Arthur Conan Doyle estate many times so they won't freak out whenever a new Sherlock Holmes movie comes out, even one that is not based on any of the Doyle books.
Paying to tell a story is a common practice with Hollywood.
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Mike IS NOT suggesting, repeat NOT, suggesting that you should pay to tell a story.
He is pointing out the hypocrisy of Hollywood saying "If you want to tell a story in movie about Random Person XYZ, pay them"...but then Hollywood turns around and plans several movies based on Assange, with no word on how they're going to pay him.
Mike IS NOT suggesting that they SHOULD pay. He is writing and pointing out their HYPOCRISY.
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I'll agree that it is, if only because there's retarded posters like yourself who seem to not only have missed the clear point of the article, but attacking Mike for the very thing he's mocking. He's agreeing with you morons, not making a serious suggestion.
"Just more proof of a very selective and very nasty agenda."
An anonymous idiot without any reading comprehension skills who sees everything as a conspiracy. What a surprise.
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Reading comprehension fail.
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Uhhh, since when? So I don't have to pay to tell a Spider-man story? Good to know!
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Well
Pollutants to society with their ever self-serving existence and demands. Worse, their antithetical influence on our, supposedly, democratic politics has gone too far for far too long. (Lamar? Mr. Vice President?)
These folks have all but single-handedly (barring the drug stance) instilled the greatest disrespect for the rule of law and its subsequent result in the abuse of citizenry.
They, in my irritated opinion, do not deserve one more fucking red cent. Lawn.. Leave it.
I, I respect your IP so, so much.
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Not About Money
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Unless the the main character is some sort of action hero type with a super hot and sexy sidekick who is always smarter the he is and they drive a super cool car that also morphs in to a helicopter and a fighter jet and a speed boat and a motorcycle and a soap box derby racer and a jet ski and a...maybe if they hire some really good writers this thing could have a chance.
What were we talking about again?
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HAHAHA you have got to be kiddin' me!!!
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Domscheit...huh-huh-huh!
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Who is going to watch if they piss of the suporters?
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I'm pirating this movie FOR AMERICA!
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Julian Assange
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There have been many movies done about public figures such as the Kennedy's, Lincoln, Nixon, and Dr. Salk. and there have been many movies done about the historical events such as the attack on Pearl Harbor, the desegregation crisis in Central High in Little Rock, Ford Motor Company, and the Vietnam War. In most cases those public figures or those involved in those historical events were not paid.
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