British Comedy Guide

Plagiarism! Page 2

Like everyone else, I was advised 'Write what you know about'...
I'd been brought up in a corner shop so that's where I set my sitcom.
'Use a proven formula' came the next piece of advice.
I took Laurel & Hardy for a blueprint and (amongst other stuff) made them brothers to disguise the deed.
Months later I submitted to the Beeb and was told they 'had something similar in the pipeline'. Within weeks, Open All Hours hit the screen - a thinly disguised Laurel & Hardy sitcom about 2 single men, who are related and live/work in a corner shop.
Obviously, someone got there before me but had OAH appeared a couple of years later, I may have nursed a faint suspicion.

Gutted by all the wasted work, I put away my typewriter until the day my wife persuaded me to re-write the scripts.
By now I was a Market Trader so I moved my characters out of the shop, domiciled them in a high rise and added an old Aunt who looked after them.
Before the alterations were complete...Only Fools and Horses emerged...a thinly disguised Laurel & Hardy sitcom about 2 brothers who are Market Traders and share a high rise with an elderly relative....

When Indian call centres first started......
'Don't bother' said a "contact" at the Beeb 'loads of people are writng it so no production company will even look for fear of someone else doing it.'....had I completed and submitted "Thank You For Holding" I might be wondering where the idea for Mumbai Calling came from...but then...naturally...mine was far better so it can't be a copy:D

ABRIDGED VERSION - Whatever you can come up with - so can somebody else - and vice versa.

OFAH bears as much relation to Laurel and Hardy as Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling do!

Oh, now hang on....

The one thing I dislike around discussion on plagiarism is MY often quoted line "Talent borrows, genius steals." Anything that perpetuates the idea that it's okay to steal fosters a bad mindset for any 'creative'.

Quote: SlagA @ June 7 2009, 8:44 PM BST

The one thing I dislike around discussion on plagiarism is MY often quoted line "Talent borrows, genius steals."

Didn't I post that line somewhere on here recently? (If so, I am sure I originated it, I usually do.)

Laughing out loud I meant it kinda tongue-in-cheek in tone. Didn't have anyone in mind. Especially not you, Tim. :)

As I once wrote on the subject, "To plagiarise someone once may be considered a misfortune, to plagiarise twice begins to look like carelessness" (© Tim Walker 2009).

Quote: SlagA @ June 7 2009, 10:58 PM BST

Laughing out loud I meant it kinda tongue-in-cheek in tone. Didn't have anyone in mind. Especially not you, Tim. :)

God, I'm slow tonight, SlagA! Just trying to remember which thread I did post that one though... :)

Quote: SlagA @ June 7 2009, 8:44 PM BST

The one thing I dislike around discussion on plagiarism is MY often quoted line "Talent borrows, genius steals." Anything that perpetuates the idea that it's okay to steal fosters a bad mindset for any 'creative'.

I agree, and rather than taking it as licence to plagiarise, it's worth examining the quote deeper. The point is that The Genius in question *adds* their touch of genius to the 'stolen' work. It's akin to standing on the shoulders of giants to see further.

Quote: SlagA @ June 7 2009, 8:44 PM BST

Anything that perpetuates the idea that it's okay to steal fosters ../.

Yes, Fosters is not worth stealing.

I just watched The Thick Of It episode 1 on YouTube. I think this week's news stole its plot from here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIzx_Z-TGe4

Recent political events make The Thick Of It look almost restrained in its portrayal of incompetence, back-stabbing and warped personalities. I do hope they produce get some new episodes out before the general election, they can't be short of new ideas.

There are eight more due around August-time, I believe.

Dan

Lovely. That'll do me. :)

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