Stolen Concepts?

Monkey said:

We are often told that it doesn't matter if we post our story ideas or give away the whole of our story while shopping around our manuscripts; with competition as fierce as it is, we have to really push to sell our ideas, and no one's going to go through the trouble to seek them out and steal them from us.

On the other hand, I just ran across this:

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=264745&GT1=7701

Movies and the books they are based on are never identical. The different mediums make that nearly impossible. This is fairly blatant stealing, and I'll be watching to see what happens.

What do you guys think?

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I don't think it's "stolen" at all. The author found out about the movie script while she was shopping hers.

The basic concept -- a type of reporter gets drunk, has a one-night stand, and gets preggo and has to deal with the fall out is not an "original" idea.

I'm sure we could find a category romance that's done it long before the author of this book. (Surprise pregnancies are a staple in category romance, so I'm pretty sure there has to have been a heroine who was a reporter facing a "whoops" baby.)

West Side Story "stole" from Willie.

I don't think she has a case. But we shall see what the courts think.

Susan G.

Oh, and sometimes there just seems to be ideas floating around in the universe that multiple people grab onto at the same time.

Take, for example, the summer we had two movies featuring an astroid about to smash into earth. Same basic concept, two very different stories/movies. Neither stole from the other.

Also, a friend and I brainstormed a book (which she then sold) about some party crashers. (Confessions of a Party Crasher by Holly Jacobs) After she'd sold the book on a partial, what did I see in the theatre? A trailer for Wedding Crashers. We came up with the idea independently, months before we saw the trailer, and the stories were very different -- but there was a kernel of basic sameness.

Susan G.

Monkey said:

What do you guys think?

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My novel, "Pub" started out as a completely different book. It changed, from the original plot, so much, that I could go back and write that book now and it would be different enough that it could stand alone. Yet both have the same basic concept.

The one I'm now wrestling with is the same. I had a very clear idea of where it was going. But as it evolved, it has changed so much, that again, it's almost like a second story has sprouted from the original root.

My point is that there really are no new ideas. The seven/nine/twentyone basic plots are all there and we all dip in and use them. What's different is the execution. In writing lingo, the "voice."

And whenever someone hits it big, the wannabe's pop out and try and sue.

You see this sort of thing all the time. Two people or groups of people come up with the same sort of idea based on a same concept, but the execution will be different.

With all the people we have in this world, I think it's a bit "high horse" of someone to think that no one else could ever think of the same concept he (or she) did.

It's like this building that was for sale in a very lovely business location in my town. I commented to several people that it would be the perfect location for a gourmet coffee shop, which our little tourist town could use.

A couple of months later, a couple that I don't even know purchased that building where now they run a coffee shop & art gallery.

It's the same sort of thing.

I once came up with the idea of a flood. One that would not only soak everything really good, but completely wipe out all life on planet Earth.

Then this other guy came up with the same idea. Really made me want to sue, but his differed slightly.

His had a boat.

I don't really see it as blatant stealing at all. Things like Sex and the City and Bridget Jones' Diary put a lot of things out into the zeitgeist. There's no reason that more than one person wouldn't come up with the idea of writing about a single female media professional. And once a writer comes up with a character like that, there are only a handful of likely scenarios that follow.

Truth be told, a writer doesn't really have limitless options for the stories they tell. There's a necessary degree of being true to human nature that's required, too.

I agree that the premise is just generic enough to "protect" Apatow. (Though the reporter detail is...Hmmm.)

I'm extremely aware of this with my own work. Both my novel coming in February and my WIP are riffs of ideas from pretty original films I've seen. (What's interesting is that Obedience has been compared to the film I used as inspiration; but it's also been compared to Stephen King, The Blair Witch Project, Tartt's The Secret History, and ten or fifteen other books/films out there. I take that as a high compliment.)

I think the trick is making the action that spins off of the original idea completely yours, and I think I do that.

As wordmonkey says above, what's new? What's that line from Nothin' But Trouble?

All around the world it's the same song.

Susan Gable said:

The basic concept -- a type of reporter gets drunk, has a one-night stand, and gets preggo and has to deal with the fall out is not an "original" idea.

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This happened to some reporter in real life. She wrote up her story in the Reader's Digest. All I remember is she was a good-looking blond gal, the baby was a blond boy who looked a lot like his mother, and he was her only known blood relative as she'd been adopted.

I think this particular author may have a case. It sounds there's a lot of similarities (even the title!). Still, you should remember that not much people would risk their carreers by stealing something. It's similar to worrying about being kidnapped in a Portuguese holiday resort. It's rare, but it's the rare occasions that get attention.

I had an idea for a novel about a young spy a few years back, only to run into a trailer for the film "Agent Cody Banks" a short time later and (even worse) the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz. I guess my idea wasn't all that original, because my execution would be pretty close to what the last guy did.

It'll be hard to prove.