What happened was, A History of Violence screenwriter Josh Olson informed the internets that He Will Not Read Your Fucking Script.
Cole Abaius thought this made him a bit of an asshole, although more for the tone than the sentiment.
John Scalzi weighed in (more calmly) and agreed, although he mostly focused on the "Writers have no obligations to strangers" and "I do not owe you my time" and "I do not need to piss off people I know by asking for favors for every single stranger who approaches me" aspects.
And then David Gerrold brought up my own worst fear. See, I don't think people realize the legal jeopardy other people's unpublished work puts a working writer in. Three words for you: Marion Zimmer Bradley (fifth paragraph under "Literary Career"). If you read someone's unpublished work and you then write anything that's the least bit similar, that person could sue you for copyright infringement (i.e., plagiarism). The problem is, there are certain things, certain similarities, that are going to occur in any two works on the same subject, and the established writer may have no way of proving they did not copy. They might be able to defend themselves in court and win, if they can argue that there are more differences than similarities, or that the similarities are not strong enough, but they still have to go to court and pay those legal fees and waste that time.
Here's both sides of that, from my own experience:
When I was an eager X-Files fan in my late teens, I wrote an episode script and scraped up the courage to send it to the production office. It was immediately returned, unopened, in a second envelope with a lawyer's form letter on top, explaining the legal problems with the producers even accepting it. A few years later, there was an episode that bore two substantial, remarkable similarities to my script--but I knew they hadn't even opened the envelope; there was no way they could have stolen my ideas. If they had accepted my script--so much as opened the envelope, or just never acknowledged it, leaving no way to prove that they hadn't read it--I could have plausibly taken them to court and wasted everyone's time and money, whether I ended up losing or not--sincerely believing they had ripped me off, or at least ripped off a few key elements. As it is, I know for a fact that they couldn't have. Coincidences like that, no matter how strong, are entirely possible and no one's fault. And that's why they had to protect themselves. As John August once pointed out, if you know a show well enough to write about it, you are probably in tune with the writers enough to anticipate their own ideas. His example was a Grey's Anatomy episode a reader emailed him about--the reader was all upset because she had sent them a script called "My Favorite Mistake," and then they had an episode called "My Favorite Mistake," and did he think they might have ripped her off? And August pointed out--rather heatedly, and completely rightly--that she knew the show well enough to know that they used song titles for their episode titles, and Sheryl Crow was very much to their musical taste/demographic: "You copied them, not vice-versa. Got it?" It was a coincidence, and perhaps an inevitable one.
On the flip side of that problem, someone once emailed me her own "X-Men in Fifteen Minutes" and cheerfully informed me that I could totally put my name on it and post it as my own, I didn't have to acknowledge her at all. Unfortunately, while this might give her the illogical pleasure of seeing other people compliment it just because it had my name on it, she did not stop to consider what benefit this could possibly have for me. In fact, it not only had no benefits, it presented a bit of a problem. I was trying to get a second Fifteen Minutes book off the ground, and I had considered doing one of the two (or were there three by then?) X-Men movies. I didn't even open her attachment, but as Gerrold says of his friend, the damage was already done. If any of the jokes I thought of looked like hers--in a book I intended to publish. For money. Obviously--she could have sued me. And I would have no way of proving I did not open that attachment. I'm not saying she would. I'm saying she could. And you have no way of knowing who will or will not go after you. As Scalzi points out, a few crazy, bad, ligitious apples have ruined it for everyone else. I have no idea what your intentions are or might later be, and I have to protect myself. And so now, I would not feel comfortable writing anything about the three main X-Men movies. Honestly, I could probably put it out for free with no legal problems, but I feel a childish bit of pique that I was even put in that position. And so much time has gone by... that's probably the real reason I wouldn't write about them now, but there you are.
So what I'm saying is--bottom line--is that a writer refusing to read an unpublished work is an attempt to protect himself from possible legal consequences. Moreover, a writer refusing to read an unpublished work that you have already sent him unsolicited is not an unkindness. It is a response to an unkindness you have already done to him.
ETA: From
annlarimer : What happened to Chelsea Quinn Yarbro; from dwg , Laurell K. Hamilton's take on the Olson piece.
So, y'know, well-spoke.
And it's why, if an author tells you she doesn't want fanfic, you have to respect that. You can try to keep it underground if you want, and most of the time that's good enough, but you still risk a C&D and a smackdown, especially if you post on the web or do a fanzine.
An experienced Trekfic writer, one who really should have known better, once wrote Chesea Quinn Yarbro asking for permission to use one of her series characters in a Sherlock Holmes pastiche. Yarbro said no. The writer wrote the story and put out the zine anyway -- and then sent a copy to Yarbro. And, in an especially stupid move, she wrote in her introduction to the story that she'd written Yarbro, Yarbro had said no, but that she was going ahead because she was certain that, once it was in print, Yarbro would change her mind and be totally thrilled with the finished project.
Yarbro called her lawyer. She didn't have a choice.
The fan got off easy. She had to buy ad space in a writing magazine to make a public apology. It cost her more money than a fan writer can probably afford -- but it could have been a lot worse. It cost Yarbro billable hours, time, and a great deal of anger.
Don't be a dick to writers. It's not flattering. They don't owe you anything. It will end badly.
I just read LKH's take on the Olson thing, and I think she does peg one key element of it--that it's the ultimate shortcut to fame and fortune, pushing your work on someone established so you can get "discovered" in an instant without paying any dues. And you know what, the more I think about that, the more it pisses me off. I got "discovered" myself, I guess, but you know, I was sitting here on my journal minding my own business. Which is maybe a lesson in zen for people, I don't know.
*in response to more than one issue* Oh, why do a few jerks have to ruin it for everyone else?!
But more than any writing experience I've had, the original essay sort of reminds me of how I feel when parents want me to instruct their kids about physical disabilities.
In the abstract, I agree that it's important they learn good things, but I still really hate it when they pounce in the mall like "Ha! There's one." and put all the pressure to be polite upon me, lest little Johnny carry Captain Hook issues for the rest of his life.
And I too have horror story upon horror story about this sort of thing.
I find it sad that we can't just talk out a story anymore for fear of someone suing us.
As for the suing--from my X-Files experience (again, when I was a teenager and didn't know any better), I can see how people genuinely might think they had been ripped off. I don't blame an overly litigious society (although we have that as well) so much as situations that are unfortunate for everyone all around, and it's up to the established writer to prevent them from happening. And if the unpublished writer can be made aware of it, it can save her some sincere heartache as well.
I mean, I speak from a place of relative privilege in that my university keeps a writer-in-residence, but... even if it's not easy, it's not impossible. And being a writer isn't easy either.
I don't blame writers for telling their fans they cannot read their manuscripts. Hell, even authors sue each other for having similar ideas/themes in their novels. I don't agree with the wording used--but I think Olson was trying to make a point. He is a writer after all.
The idea of star-crossed lovers cannot be protected to the exclusion of others. There are a multitude of creative works that build on this theme (Romeo and Juliet (obviously now out of copyright protection!), Abie's Irish Rose, West Side Story, etc). Once you add sufficient detail that it becomes expression, rather than idea, then it become protectible. However, where to draw the line is a difficult question and one decided on a case by case basis in court cases.
But you can probably put yourself at ease that a very generic "idea" you have which involves star crossed lovers or man vs. nature or an alien invasion or a post-apocalytic future with zombies or a Christian allegory involving a wizard or whatever is probably not sufficient to support a copyright infringement claim. Your expression of the idea could on the other hand . . .
This is also why my husband tries very hard to not take on too much pro-bono work. People ask him all of the time to design a logo, or check their buisness card, or give them an idea, or whatnot. What they don't realize is coming up with ideas out of his head is how he makes money. His creativity and skill pay the bills. It's not just something you should ask him for, for free, just because it's not what you see as *work*. It IS work. Just ask him.
Nobody who asks for a favour thinks the favour is unreasonable. But it quite often is. And the thing about "doing a favour" indicates the person it's asked of CAN REFUSE. And oftentimes should.
Also, in defense of the Hollywood syndrome: that's a bit different. Pitching a script is all about getting someone's attention. I'm sure actors, directors, and writers get sick of having their waiters pitch scripts at them, which is why really good restaurants don't allow their waiters to do it. Standing there demanding that someone read work *right now* is an extra level of entitlement that doesn't even deserve a response.
That's a good point. I love Shakespeare, especially now that my English is good enough to read him without problems. For some reason, I really especially like Henry V. A few weeks ago, I read one of the plays Shakespeare used as sources, "The famous victories of Henry V". Many of the individual plot elements are the same, but there are worlds between the end results both writers came to.
I have this unpublished mystery kicking around, set at a horse barn. The victim is found in a stall with a very gentle gelding who would NEVER kick someone to death.
While I was in the process of submitting that novel to a publisher, I actually read a mystery (by another Canadian, even!) in which a body is found in a horse barn, in the stall of a very gentle gelding who would NEVER...
I had written my scene before the book was published. There is no possible way that author could possibly have seen my manuscript. It *is* possible he had read the same true-crime story I had in which a guy kills his wife and tries to frame her horse.
I still feel sick every time I think about it. Man, I am some lucky my book was rejected, because although it's an obvious element to show up in two horsey mysteries... the execution was SO SIMILAR!
I don't really have anything else to say, I just wanted to thank you for the interesting entry. :D
So very, very, very, VERY, true.