JAKE DUNNO RESPONDS TO METRO LETTER RE: PLAGIARISM
EXCERPT FROM METRO: AND JAKE DUNNO'S RESPONSE
'Terminator' vs. TV: When cult culture gets hijacked
By Steve Palopoli
ONE OF the most time-honored staples of cult-fan culture is the "idea espionage" conspiracy theory. ..I'm not talking about Brian DePalma/Woody Allen-type homages here— I'm talking about heavy idea lifting that leaves someone or someones cut out of a success they deserved to be credited on.
We know that such wholesale theft goes on because sometimes people just flat-out admit to it. One of the most famous examples of that came after James Cameron finished The Terminator. According to Marc Shapiro's biography of the director, a visiting journalist asked where he had gotten the idea for it, and Cameron said, "Oh, I ripped off a couple of Harlan Ellison stories." Shapiro also quotes Ellison as saying he found the "smoking gun" in a Starlog article in which Cameron was quoted as saying he got the idea for The Terminator from "a couple of Outer Limits segments." The episodes in question had both been written by Ellison. He sued and received a settlement of $400,000, along with a story credit on all theatrical and home-video prints of the film.
... What didn't Cameron steal from this episode for his movie? It's about a man from the future who goes back in time to present-day Earth after humanity has been defeated in a future war by an alien race. The aliens send agents back in time to get him, aware that he is humanity's last hope. As if that wasn't enough (spoiler ahead), the guy turns out to be a cyborg. "Demon" is probably the best episode of the series, and it still hold up today. It's a little talky, but the tension is thick, Robert Culp is great in the lead and some of the ideas will blow your mind. It's hard to believe it was made over 40 years ago, which is all the more reason Ellison deserved to get credit for his ahead-of-its-time work (I'm pretty sure I saw seeds of Terminator 2, Buckaroo Banzai and even the set design of Blade Runner in there, too, but we won't get into that now).
It's stuff like the Terminator case that adds fuel to these fan-outrage fires. Personally, though, I don't have any idea-theft axes to grind. Well, OK, I would like to know if the writers of Galaxy Quest ever saw the 1985 Tales From the Darkside episode "Distant Signals," about an alien who comes to Earth to try to get a bad TV show revived because his planet picked up its broadcasts and got obsessed with it. Did those studio jerks think no one would notice?
Cult Leader is a weekly column about the state of cult movies and offbeat corners of pop culture. Email feedback or your favorite movie rip-off here.
MR. DUNNO RESPONDS:
October 3, 2006
'Terminator' vs. TV
When cult culture gets hijacked
Dear Mr. Steve Palopoli,
I came across your recent article in the Metro, Sept. 27, 2006, concerning the hijacking of the "Terminator" concept by James Cameron and found it amusing to say the least. As one who finds this kind of behavior abhorrent- not giving credit where credit is due- I thought I'd fill you in on this little pearl o' wisdom.
For your consideration, Mr. Aaron Sorkin: a revered, highly paid, and talented writer for the hit NBC television series, The West Wing. As it turns out, Mr. Sorkin hijacked several drafts of a film script "The President Elopes" written by a respected Hollywood screenwriter, William Richert, and attached his name to the project without ever giving the original writer credit. In fact, in writing the finished screenplay, which he renamed "The American President", Mr. Sorkin actually holed himself up in the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills- smoking crack several times a day- and plagiarized the entirety of the script- based on several previous drafts written by the aforementioned screenwriter. He literally lifted scenes and dialogue right from the pages of the previous drafts and simply changed the character's names.
Wait a minute. Did you say crack cocaine? Yep, you got it!
Originally, William Richert wrote his screenplay, "The President Elopes" and developed a cast of characters for the imaginary "Executive Wing." The story tells of a widowed President bereft with sadness about his wife's untimely passing from cancer. The President embarks on an "everyman's journey" desperately trying to woo a lonely, attractive lobbyist and restore a semblance of family to he and his son's lives in the White House. But conflict in his Presidency seems to get in the way of his newly found relationship. Turmoil, turmoil, and at last resolution and redemption… Ahh…. The final kiss- fade to red, white, and blue!
Sorkin's plagiarized version, "The American President" stars Michael Douglas and Annette Benning. But it was Robert Redford's film company, Wildwood Enterprises, which was originally was slated to produce the story of the widowed President. And Redford, himself, intended on playing the role. However, due to acquisitions and mergers, the concept was bought and sold several times. At one point Disney held the rights to the concept. That is, until Rob Reiner and Castle Rock Entertainment signed on. Reiner had just finished a film "A Few Good Men" written by none other than Aaron Sorkin. Reiner approached Sorkin with drafts of the "The President Elopes" and asked him to revise the script to make the President's character more "Clinton-esque." With a country reeling from Monica-gate and the controversy embroiled in the Clinton administration, Reiner hoped to make this newer version of the President more friendly and approachable.
Redford wasn't impressed. In fact, he abandoned the project altogether and indicated to Reiner that he was no longer interested in playing the President. After Sorkin's crack binge at the Four Seasons, Sorkin reluctantly entered a drug rehabilitation center at the Hazelden Institute in Minnesota. It was there that Sorkin wrote the pilot for the "West Wing". He had simply changed Richert's "Executive Wing" to the "West Wing" and a bold, new television pilot was born. Blatantly and clearly, Aaron Sorkin simply stole the idea and ran with it.
The sad part in the whole misadventure of Sorkin's plagiarizing endeavors is that the original writer, Willaim Richert never received due credit in the film- to say nothing about the TV show. His concept was hijacked, and the Writer's Guild of America declared that Sorkin deserved full credit for the screenplay and needn't give anyone else screen credit. How can that be?
Well, guess who happened to be responsible for making the legal decisions at Castle Rock, the parent film company who owned the rights to "The American President" and the earlier drafts of "The President Elopes"? Could it have been Aaron Sorkin's mistress and sex partner whom he was shacking up at the Four Seasons? Immediately after the decision by Castle Rock was made, Sorkin and Julia Bingham married, and just a few months later, divorced amicably. Guess who happens to be one of the major stockholders and owners of Castle Rock? Rob Reiner.
Sorkin continued writing episodes for NBC's the "West Wing" and was later nabbed in a Burbank airport for attempting to board a plane bound for Las Vegas with cocaine, marijuana, and a large amount of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Apparently his stint at the recovery hospital didn't take. After the arrest NBC sacked Sorkin as head writer for the series.
So how was he able to avoid prosecution and never serve a moment in jail? As it turns out, Aaron Sorkin comes from a long family lineage of attorneys. He's one of the only few who are not! His mother, his father, and even his brothers and sisters are all attorneys. Essentially, he paid his way off. And that's not hard to do when you are talking about the kind of money Aaron Sorkin has at his disposal.
With his new NBC TV show, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" Sorkin certainly doesn't have any financial woes. With the profits from "The American President" and the syndication rights for the entire seven seasons of the "West Wing" slated to be the highest grossing television show in history- expected revenues for the mythic Presidential empire are expected close to a billion dollars. That's "B" as in billion… Ca Ching!!!
And what of the original writer, William Richert? Well, because the WGA is essentially a union for writers, arbitration hearings and cases cannot be overturned, nor reopened- no matter what the given circumstances.
Richert's only other recourse was to file a civil suit against the WGA, which he has done. In what has become a class action lawsuit against the WGA, several hundred other writers have come on board protesting the means by which original writers are not given credit for their works by the WGA. The case is still pending legislation and residuals could result in payment of hundreds of millions of dollars to their respective writers.
An interesting sidebar to all of this is Robert Redford. Redford has long been known for his charismatic charm, and his pro-environment political stance. He's a representative for the underdog; a tough talking, no nonsense activist. So why didn't he simply stand up to the WGA and inform them that William Richert originally came up with the concept of "The American President" and the "West Wing"?
Money. That's why. After Redford backed out of the project and Rob Reiner took it over, Castle Rock Entertainment paid Robert Redford 5 million dollars! They paid five million dollars for no reason whatsoever. Castle Rock already owned the rights to the screenplay, and Redford was under no obligation to star as the President. Castle Rock Entertainment and Rob Reiner simply bought Robert Redford's silence. What kind of man is he? That's for you to think about. His continued silence keeps hundreds of millions of dollars in the pockets of thieves. I know I sure won't look at Robert Redford, Rob Reiner, nor Aaron Sorkin the same way again…
I am a television producer who has just recently come across this story and I plan on producing an expose bringing to light Sorkin's shady deals and misgivings. Apparently this one story isn't isolated either. He has done this to several other writers but has the manpower of legal giants behind him.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Jake Dunno
'Terminator' vs. TV: When cult culture gets hijacked
By Steve Palopoli
ONE OF the most time-honored staples of cult-fan culture is the "idea espionage" conspiracy theory. ..I'm not talking about Brian DePalma/Woody Allen-type homages here— I'm talking about heavy idea lifting that leaves someone or someones cut out of a success they deserved to be credited on.
We know that such wholesale theft goes on because sometimes people just flat-out admit to it. One of the most famous examples of that came after James Cameron finished The Terminator. According to Marc Shapiro's biography of the director, a visiting journalist asked where he had gotten the idea for it, and Cameron said, "Oh, I ripped off a couple of Harlan Ellison stories." Shapiro also quotes Ellison as saying he found the "smoking gun" in a Starlog article in which Cameron was quoted as saying he got the idea for The Terminator from "a couple of Outer Limits segments." The episodes in question had both been written by Ellison. He sued and received a settlement of $400,000, along with a story credit on all theatrical and home-video prints of the film.
... What didn't Cameron steal from this episode for his movie? It's about a man from the future who goes back in time to present-day Earth after humanity has been defeated in a future war by an alien race. The aliens send agents back in time to get him, aware that he is humanity's last hope. As if that wasn't enough (spoiler ahead), the guy turns out to be a cyborg. "Demon" is probably the best episode of the series, and it still hold up today. It's a little talky, but the tension is thick, Robert Culp is great in the lead and some of the ideas will blow your mind. It's hard to believe it was made over 40 years ago, which is all the more reason Ellison deserved to get credit for his ahead-of-its-time work (I'm pretty sure I saw seeds of Terminator 2, Buckaroo Banzai and even the set design of Blade Runner in there, too, but we won't get into that now).
It's stuff like the Terminator case that adds fuel to these fan-outrage fires. Personally, though, I don't have any idea-theft axes to grind. Well, OK, I would like to know if the writers of Galaxy Quest ever saw the 1985 Tales From the Darkside episode "Distant Signals," about an alien who comes to Earth to try to get a bad TV show revived because his planet picked up its broadcasts and got obsessed with it. Did those studio jerks think no one would notice?
Cult Leader is a weekly column about the state of cult movies and offbeat corners of pop culture. Email feedback or your favorite movie rip-off here.
MR. DUNNO RESPONDS:
October 3, 2006
'Terminator' vs. TV
When cult culture gets hijacked
Dear Mr. Steve Palopoli,
I came across your recent article in the Metro, Sept. 27, 2006, concerning the hijacking of the "Terminator" concept by James Cameron and found it amusing to say the least. As one who finds this kind of behavior abhorrent- not giving credit where credit is due- I thought I'd fill you in on this little pearl o' wisdom.
For your consideration, Mr. Aaron Sorkin: a revered, highly paid, and talented writer for the hit NBC television series, The West Wing. As it turns out, Mr. Sorkin hijacked several drafts of a film script "The President Elopes" written by a respected Hollywood screenwriter, William Richert, and attached his name to the project without ever giving the original writer credit. In fact, in writing the finished screenplay, which he renamed "The American President", Mr. Sorkin actually holed himself up in the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills- smoking crack several times a day- and plagiarized the entirety of the script- based on several previous drafts written by the aforementioned screenwriter. He literally lifted scenes and dialogue right from the pages of the previous drafts and simply changed the character's names.
Wait a minute. Did you say crack cocaine? Yep, you got it!
Originally, William Richert wrote his screenplay, "The President Elopes" and developed a cast of characters for the imaginary "Executive Wing." The story tells of a widowed President bereft with sadness about his wife's untimely passing from cancer. The President embarks on an "everyman's journey" desperately trying to woo a lonely, attractive lobbyist and restore a semblance of family to he and his son's lives in the White House. But conflict in his Presidency seems to get in the way of his newly found relationship. Turmoil, turmoil, and at last resolution and redemption… Ahh…. The final kiss- fade to red, white, and blue!
Sorkin's plagiarized version, "The American President" stars Michael Douglas and Annette Benning. But it was Robert Redford's film company, Wildwood Enterprises, which was originally was slated to produce the story of the widowed President. And Redford, himself, intended on playing the role. However, due to acquisitions and mergers, the concept was bought and sold several times. At one point Disney held the rights to the concept. That is, until Rob Reiner and Castle Rock Entertainment signed on. Reiner had just finished a film "A Few Good Men" written by none other than Aaron Sorkin. Reiner approached Sorkin with drafts of the "The President Elopes" and asked him to revise the script to make the President's character more "Clinton-esque." With a country reeling from Monica-gate and the controversy embroiled in the Clinton administration, Reiner hoped to make this newer version of the President more friendly and approachable.
Redford wasn't impressed. In fact, he abandoned the project altogether and indicated to Reiner that he was no longer interested in playing the President. After Sorkin's crack binge at the Four Seasons, Sorkin reluctantly entered a drug rehabilitation center at the Hazelden Institute in Minnesota. It was there that Sorkin wrote the pilot for the "West Wing". He had simply changed Richert's "Executive Wing" to the "West Wing" and a bold, new television pilot was born. Blatantly and clearly, Aaron Sorkin simply stole the idea and ran with it.
The sad part in the whole misadventure of Sorkin's plagiarizing endeavors is that the original writer, Willaim Richert never received due credit in the film- to say nothing about the TV show. His concept was hijacked, and the Writer's Guild of America declared that Sorkin deserved full credit for the screenplay and needn't give anyone else screen credit. How can that be?
Well, guess who happened to be responsible for making the legal decisions at Castle Rock, the parent film company who owned the rights to "The American President" and the earlier drafts of "The President Elopes"? Could it have been Aaron Sorkin's mistress and sex partner whom he was shacking up at the Four Seasons? Immediately after the decision by Castle Rock was made, Sorkin and Julia Bingham married, and just a few months later, divorced amicably. Guess who happens to be one of the major stockholders and owners of Castle Rock? Rob Reiner.
Sorkin continued writing episodes for NBC's the "West Wing" and was later nabbed in a Burbank airport for attempting to board a plane bound for Las Vegas with cocaine, marijuana, and a large amount of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Apparently his stint at the recovery hospital didn't take. After the arrest NBC sacked Sorkin as head writer for the series.
So how was he able to avoid prosecution and never serve a moment in jail? As it turns out, Aaron Sorkin comes from a long family lineage of attorneys. He's one of the only few who are not! His mother, his father, and even his brothers and sisters are all attorneys. Essentially, he paid his way off. And that's not hard to do when you are talking about the kind of money Aaron Sorkin has at his disposal.
With his new NBC TV show, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" Sorkin certainly doesn't have any financial woes. With the profits from "The American President" and the syndication rights for the entire seven seasons of the "West Wing" slated to be the highest grossing television show in history- expected revenues for the mythic Presidential empire are expected close to a billion dollars. That's "B" as in billion… Ca Ching!!!
And what of the original writer, William Richert? Well, because the WGA is essentially a union for writers, arbitration hearings and cases cannot be overturned, nor reopened- no matter what the given circumstances.
Richert's only other recourse was to file a civil suit against the WGA, which he has done. In what has become a class action lawsuit against the WGA, several hundred other writers have come on board protesting the means by which original writers are not given credit for their works by the WGA. The case is still pending legislation and residuals could result in payment of hundreds of millions of dollars to their respective writers.
An interesting sidebar to all of this is Robert Redford. Redford has long been known for his charismatic charm, and his pro-environment political stance. He's a representative for the underdog; a tough talking, no nonsense activist. So why didn't he simply stand up to the WGA and inform them that William Richert originally came up with the concept of "The American President" and the "West Wing"?
Money. That's why. After Redford backed out of the project and Rob Reiner took it over, Castle Rock Entertainment paid Robert Redford 5 million dollars! They paid five million dollars for no reason whatsoever. Castle Rock already owned the rights to the screenplay, and Redford was under no obligation to star as the President. Castle Rock Entertainment and Rob Reiner simply bought Robert Redford's silence. What kind of man is he? That's for you to think about. His continued silence keeps hundreds of millions of dollars in the pockets of thieves. I know I sure won't look at Robert Redford, Rob Reiner, nor Aaron Sorkin the same way again…
I am a television producer who has just recently come across this story and I plan on producing an expose bringing to light Sorkin's shady deals and misgivings. Apparently this one story isn't isolated either. He has done this to several other writers but has the manpower of legal giants behind him.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Jake Dunno
Labels: news, plagiraism, theft, West Wing
posted by William Richert | 11:27 AM
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