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tkwrtnewsfeed · 7 years

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Newsfeed #86 August 13, 2017 (13 Úrimë)

ICYMI: Fantastic Credits and Where to Give Them.

I worked in Hollywood for 4 /12 years and one of my good friends is an intellectual property lawyer I’ve known since then--well over 16 years--with a client list that includes none other than Maurice (Kevin Kline) in the live-action film “Beauty and the Beast” starring Emma Watson.

(My attorney could sue anyone spreading salacious rumors about me and my work should he choose to do so, but I’m not a jerk. But he does know about it; he’s good at what he does--he’s successfully sued Google).

Translation: I’m at least 3-7 degrees of knowing how to give credit to artists. Otherwise, my attorney/friend would have me shot at sunrise. Would you like to learn how to do it without being a pain about it and spreading unscrupulous rumors? Let me explain Copyright © from a legal perspective from 30 years of working with copyrighted materials with an actual attorney that specializes in artistic intellectual properties with 40 years of experience that includes everything from visual art, music, film, books and has won a major copyright infringement case against Google (among other high profile cases) for major A-List celebrities.

1) Whatever you do is copyrighted from the moment you put it on paper by law. You don’t have to bitch about anyone stealing it perpetually. HOWEVER, you can’t complain about someone posting it anywhere in public (Pinterest, mostly) if YOU post it anywhere in public. If you share it, even asking people not to, it is already public and can go anywhere. What people CAN’T do is SAY it’s theirs. If they explicitly say “I did this” and they didn’t, you have a case. Otherwise, it is NOT copyright infringement if someone posts it anywhere.

It would be nice if EVERYONE would give credit--I try to do it if I do or link back to the original place I find something and that is time consuming if the work is not located where it came from (dead-link) or it was digitally stolen--something my attorney told me about a couple years ago. I see it all the time. But, if you make it public, it is assumed to be public. It is NOT ASSUMED to not to be copyrighted. Put that cute copyright sign on it and let it go. You should have the original as collateral, I would think. That’s the only way no one can claim it and you can properly bitch about it w/o an official U.S. Copyright.

2) I PUT “Images: ©2012, 2013, 2014. Warner Brothers Pictures. The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. All Rights Reserved.” on pretty much every post for The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy because the photos I use BELONG to Warner Brothers/New Line Cinema/Wingnut Productions. Altered by someone online doesn’t change this UNLESS the person altering got permission from WB/NLC/Wingnut to alter it. Otherwise, it is their property and they can sue anyone that alters their work and put their name on it if they so choose. I post this disclaimer to keep from GETTING sued--even though I don’t alter the photo in anyway. Gifs are the same way and currently seen as pirated these days and are subject to suit as with screen caps.

The reason no one gets sued over screen caps and gifs is because no one is making $$ off of them. You only get credit for edit not the work of the camera guy that was paid to shoot a film and the studio that owns his camera work. Unlike Marvel that has begun digital copyrights on some photos (you post something on Facebook, it automatically gives credit). The minute someone charges for any altered screen caps, gifs or photos and calls it their own work, that is the legal definition of copyright infringement.

Without proper credit, you are open to lawsuit by the studios, photographers. I go out of my way to avoid altered anything because then I could get sued even if I didn’t alter it--even if I am not making money from it. Which brings me to the next point:

3) IF I was making $$ and using someone’s art, then I could get sued. That means I’m not paying the original person their due (licensing fees) for use of their work. THAT includes my original story that uses and will use a great number of canonical characters from Tolkien. If I want to turn The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy into a book, I have to do it the right way--which is get permission from the Tolkien Estate (I’ve had the paperwork since 2016 when it was shown to me by a member of the Mythopoeic Society--they are close to the Estate). They can allow me to publish after negotiations of paying for use of the characters or force me to put “not affiliated with the Tolkien Estate” and/or change names if they so choose.

Example of a Tolkien allowed to go to press with “non-affiliated” tag of Tolkien. It’s clean, so the Estate probably doesn’t mind so much. Not all of these “non-affiliated” books are bad or not liked by the Estate. The label is not exclusively a non-endorsement--there might be something unknown about as to why it’s there.

Example of a book with the coveted “Tolkien Trademark” and approved by the Estate--spoke with one of the authors; pretty cool.

You want this, you better have your %^$* together. Yes, they give them out, but they are particular--do it right: legal and above board.

I’m not making any revenue off of TKWR Trilogy but if I were, I wouldn’t be using film photos. I would HIRE an artist to tag along over to the final phase of getting this book turned into something sold on Amazon or in Barnes & Noble. Then, the artist of choice would get paid for their work properly. They could use the work from this book anywhere they wanted and it would be protected forever--example of this would be Ted Nasmith.

Due to all the rumors about people say I’m doing because they have nothing better to do with their time (regardless of the obvious), I decided not to share any Tolkien Fan Art, use and Tolkien Fan Art or consider any Tolkien Fan Art unsolicited by anyone on Tumblr, Pinterest, DeviantArt or anywhere else that isn’t done by anyone not represented by an agent or a lawyer. If I so choose, artists will have to go through my lawyer--not me. After today, there will be no artists’ works mentioned or shared by me anywhere again until I’m done with the entire trilogy--unless idiots stop spreading lies and rumors (they won’t so don’t hold your breath).

I discovered a lot of fan art pertaining to my book and I could say something, but I’m not a jerk and I’m not complaining. I’m also not making any $$ of the book. It is assumed to be public but not assumed not to be copyrighted--which it actually is (ask my attorney).

I will do something should I decide to take any number of offers to publish after a lot of legalities I will go through. For now, I’ll just watch to make sure no one’s claiming my work--my words--as their own (and some have which is why I sent the book to witnesses so I have a case and proof should I do something later on). The book will change in the final form as I edit; it already has with additions and changes in Book II: The Saga of Thranduil and Book I: The Epic of Eryn Galen and Book III: The Last Tale of Legolas Lasgalen.

I love artists here, but a few ruined it for everyone. I’ve had artists wanting to illustrate Book II: The Saga of Thranduil, but now that’s been narrowed to only one that doesn’t accuse me of salacious and reputation-altering deeds I’ve never done. Having a friend that’s a respected and experienced intellectual properties attorney with connections in the U.S. and Europe that has worked within the industry successfully for 30+ years with a stellar reputation protecting my works--all of them including screenplays, poetry, stage plays--makes it possible for me to help protect an artist of my choosing (and he’s already done wonders for clothing designer friend of mine in Florida that designed things for my film project HERETIC: THE LEGEND OF AKHENATEN*). He loves protecting properties and takes referrals. I’m not helping anyone spreading rumors.

Thank you, Captain Obvious. That was obvious.

I told someone once that I would, but they thought it better to insult me rather than allowing me to connect them to a publisher I knew that could have looked at their work without the long query process. You make connections in the business and it’s good to keep them and I do.

I live by the motto: “The ass you kick today may be the ass you kiss tomorrow” so I try to be nice and respectful to everyone--even I have to draw a line.

[By the way, there will be a LOT of versions coming for The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy. This one is the Annotated Version--complete with all the notes and references and explanations of the use of Tolkien to create the entire trilogy. Let’s just say it took 4 hours to do the first bibliography and I just added more books. This one (which will be done for both the original version and extended version) will take years.]

But if you don’t want to be seen as an artist, it’s a safe bet you won’t think pinning = stealing. Pinterest is nothing more than a bulletin board for what people like--it’s not supposed to deal in copyright protection like YouTube or Instagram where you are actually legally protected by copyright law. If they were, a lot of stuff they still allow would be subject to lawsuit against them--not the pinners. They blame pinners to keep themselves from being liable for allowing copyrighted properties. I’ve already deleted my Art page of potential artists for The Kingdom of he Woodland Realm Trilogy. I’ve gotten blocked on Pinterest by people here on Pinterest over pins I re-pinned years ago over what they don’t know--probably out of spite. I don’t mind and don’t care. My job is to finish my work to the best of my ability and move on to the next.

Writing has been my life since the age of two. Only an act of GOD is going to keep me from doing what I love. I write because I love it. If it’s liked, I’m happy. If its not, that isn’t a deterrent for me to stop. Like any artist, I want to protect my work--but I’m going to do it the right way and I’m going to give credit due when credit is due if I eventually use an artist for The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy. Full Stop--end of sentence. There is nothing left to say. I have to do it right because I have a too many people in the business watching me and if I’m not doing what is right, they aren’t going to want to work with me and that lessens the work I put in to write this and it will not be able to help a fellow artist along the way. My attorney acts as a free attorney for artists that can’t afford to hire expensive attorneys for protection because he believes in protecting the rights of artists and we often work together on helping artist connect with attorneys that work for free for all artists (Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts).

I know, that won’t keep some people from being jerks--I just wanted to put it out there.

*HERETIC: THE LEGEND OF AKHENATEN by Jaynaé Miller (me) is copyrighted by the U.S. Copyright Office. Any unauthorized use is strictly prohibited without prior consent for the next 100 years. In other words, I could sue a major studio if they don’t buy it from me. This is a wholly LEGAL and Recognized (and stamped) copyright. It doesn’t make the original copyright less potent, it just makes your work recognized by law and gives you further protection for your works. This includes photography, visual art, books, film, plays, videos, logos. Being a copyrighted work, it is also subject to the Berne Agreement (World Copyright Organization) guidelines for international use. With this, it wouldn’t matter where you work is posted, if someone said it was theirs, it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. Once you put a stamp on it, by law, it is already protected by the government as it is being sent via the federal government--and it is protected from loss of materials sent as well (USPS is good and finding it, too; get a tracking number and it is found faster).

I know all this stuff because I work with copyrighted and trademarked things since I wrote my first opera and lyrics for which my music teacher taught me about this in fifth grade. I’ve written adaptations with permission of the original writers. The More You Know depends on how much you care to know.--J.

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thejohncamp3ablog · 7 years

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Donna Dickens on the MCU vs DCEU debate

This article will focus on what is to come in the future and why I think DCEU will own it.

Now let’s start with MCU’s popularity, they were the first movie studio to share 2 or more separate movies in the same cinematic universe, specifically in the comic book genre successfully. Why do I say successfully, because we have had cinematic universes before as you might or might not know

- from Universal in 1931 with Dracula and other monsters;

- Daredevil (2003) and Elektra (2005) sure look like the first MCU attempt to me, released 2 years apart and both have Kevin Feige as producer and same cast in the titular characters. While I realize that he might have been added for color here, he might have tried this idea a long time ago and ended on his ass with both movies not doing good.

- All Quentin Tarantino movies are in the same universe apparently

Now in one way or another their popularity in the times of Phase 1 is part of the fact that some of the founding characters of the MCU have never been in live action films before (well they have but in 1978 Avengers TV movie, which was to say the least not even Batman and Robin level worthy, and Iron Man looked very much like an iron), and the thirst for that was big back in 2008, when the genre was already solidified by Batman Begins and the Dark Knight ruling the worldwide box-office. It was their time to shine, and they did.

I do understand the pure joy of a Marvel comic book fans seeing Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk unite together with Hawkeye and Black Widow in the Joss Whedon directed The Avengers in 2012. The idea was fresh, 5 solo movies for 4 characters that lead into an event movie, never before seen in this age. I am happy for those fans of comic books, they were also happy and they deserved it. This can’t be argued and twisted, it was a success.

In the years to come the conversation however turned from “We are happy for Marvel, to DC sucks!”, which is mostly pushed by bloggers and Youtube “stars”, and when I say stars I mean random failed actors, directors and failed writers. Now don’t get me wrong, some of them belong on some sort of geek related show on the tune and are doing a good job, but somehow they have become very confident in their business expertise in the hallways of Hollywood and are throwing scoops and opinions that turn to news headlines and when you repeat one lie a thousand times it eventually becomes truth to the masses that don’t fact check everything they read on the internet everyday related to Entertainment news.

Most of these type of nerdy Youtube shows are related to a website that writes for movies, games, entertainment in general and having in mind how many of them are now circulating, you can see how your daily Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Tumblr news feed is full of the same “news” told in a different perspective or pushed to sounds much different than the actual fact.

Now why do I bother you with this, well because I have been seeing the same pattern in most of them, for the same type of event or release, like let’s say a re-shoot for a movie. We have the following examples:

SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING GOES INTO SCHEDULED RE-SHOOTS!

WONDER WOMAN IN TROUBLE, GOES BACK FOR RE-SHOOTS TO ADD HUMOR AND LIGHT!

Rick Famuyiwa leaves the FLASH, movie stuck in development hell!

Edgar Wright leaves Ant-Man probably for the better because Kevin Feige is out lord and savior!

(I added a bit of drama on the last one, so you can get the point faster)

Now probably people that love MCU’s approach will blame this to Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad’s critical reception, but let’s be honest in the age of the millennials, I can’t say Rotten Tomatoes is the place I will check for a movie score and base my opinion on it. I see a lot of modern movies that are pretty much crap with 10 % better scores than classics from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s and movies made for retards with 90 % positive reviews.

(I am looking at you Ghostbusters 2016, YOU large piece of movie vomit that got away because it’s an all-female cast blah blah, the movie sucked end of story)

Now let’s slowly get the point, most of these Youtubers and bloggers discuss movies like its baseball or investments, which for many fans of cult cinema sounds a bit like Game of Franchises and Monopoly, not cinema art. I do agree with the fact that a Studio CEO is interested mostly in profits, but I am sure deep down they also want to leave a legacy of movies behind them. Cult movies, movies that transcend decades and are loved for years to come. So if we play along with the Youtuber’s modern logic and interpretation of movies being sports and mathematics and you are pushing the agenda that the DCEU is losing some sort of a game, let’s see the score board and try to understand why DC is losing, shall we.

First 5 MCU movies have grossed around the 2.3 Billion mark, the same as the first 3 DCEU films.

Coming up from DCEU is Wonder Woman and Justice League, two movies that got some negative headlines from the same old same old fake news outlets a year before they were even released in cinemas. Random example: Sasha Perl Raver with internal knowledge of Wonder Woman and that the movie is a mess, something that doesn’t really fit with the narrative of what people saw at Wonder Con 2017 and other more official outlets. Justice League is attacked just because it’s Zack Snyder, and Cyborg is apparently too CGI for Marvel fans and bloggers, the same who embraced so many Iron Man movies, Abomination (The Incredible Hulk), Hulk himself, Ultron and much more CGI characters. They are attacking something that is clearly 7 months away and in pre-production, which means visual FX are still being worked on.

Now based on these constant attacks, let’s see the worst case scenario - Wonder Woman and Justice League get the DCEU treatment. They get attacked by those who can’t do, (the internet critics) and end up with underwhelming scores on Rotten Tomatoes. In that scenario, if you believe it or not, as any movie with negative scores, opening weekends are affected hugely (see Ghost in the Shell). We had the same issue with the previous two DCEU instalments and they still made good business for DC money wise, especially in the after cinema life where they both performed great on Digital release (Suicide Squad has now added 63 Million from that alone, making it over 800 Million). In that scenario we are looking for a Wonder Woman box office around the 450 Million (worldwide) and 900 Million (worldwide) for Justice League. I say that because Justice league will not do worse than Batman V Superman, with a lighter narrative, a straight up story and brand new characters like Flash ,Aquaman, Cyborg, Mera and Gordon. I just don’t see those same BVS fans not returning for Justice League and doing repeat views. Wonder Woman on the other hand can rely on the same fans and comic book female fans that have been waiting for 70 + years for this movie, so worst case for her is 450 Million. I just don’t see how even bad reviews take her below that box office performance.

Now let’s discuss the better scenario, they get for the first time some realistic critic scores. That will mean that those critics will needs to exit their little Marvel centric lives and see the diversity, how a company is unafraid to put women and minorities front and center of a major franchise. Yes, Marvel have black lead movies we haven’t seen yet, yes they have a female lead movie coming as well and they do have black sidekicks in all of them, but neither Falcon, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch or War Machine have been the center of a movie or a story, have they?

If Wonder Woman and Justice League get good scores, I expect the following numbers in the box office, 750-850 Million for Wonder Woman and a 1.3-1.5 Billion for the Justice League. This will put the DCEU first 5 movies in a whopping 4.35 Billion to 4.65 Billion worldwide gross, which is about 2.3 Billion more than their counterparts from the MCU.

How is that TROUBLE? How is that failing? In a mathematical driven conversation, a sports driven conversation, which is what Screen Junkies, IGN, Nerdist, Collider Movie Talk, ComicbookCast, Views from the Cave and many other do all day/365.

They say it’s doing bad based on their personal opinion, not facts.

And just to be fair to MCU fans, I will add The Avengers as the MCU’s 6th movie which made 1.518 Billion and add it to their total gross of 3.8 Billion, now add the possible Aquaman take which I will put relatively low just to prove a point and make it an even 600 Million Worldwide (I bet with what I know it will make 750 Million). This will make a round number of 4.9 to 5.1 Billion for the first six DCEU movies. I don’t see losing here, I see hard first steps in making a shared universe, something Marvel can relate to with their underwhelming phase 1 in terms of Box Office success. They had the hearts of the critics, and DC have the hearts of their fans.

Personal opinion for what Marvel are releasing this year and in the future on their big screen, in terms of excitement on my behalf.

Spider-Man Homecoming, which might be a very popular movie for MCU fans, but all I see is the 6th Spider-Man movie, no risks are taken from what I saw in both trailers released, still in high school (in the comics he doesn’t stay a teen 99.9 % of the time), the scene where he encounters the bad guys dressed as Avengers looks like the scene with Andrew Garfield (brilliant actor) talking to the car thief in terms of approach and humor, the main bad guy (Vulture) reminds most audiences not of a brand new villain, but of a bad guy flying on some tech wings for the 4th time in 6 movies, weird teen moment in the high school cafeteria reminds me of Tobey’s scene from Spider-man (2002), so what is so brilliant and new here?

What has your “lord and savior” Kevin Feige done, that I haven’t seen before? He just inserted gently his best seller Iron Man to shift the focus on him as he does every time (ask Captain America), with Spidey wearing his suit, fighting villains more or less created by Stark(as explained by the trailers and quotes from Keaton) and I bet he has more than 4-5 scenes in there as well. I don’t see new here, I see the same old tired formula.

Avengers Infinity War, we have The Russo brothers coming from a great start with the Winter Soldier, to a generic Civil War (that neither matched the epic comic book story line, neither concluded a great solo trilogy for Captain America, no one died, the consequences were comparable to watching a Disney XD cartoon not a live action movie), and now IW and i need to believe that they will make a 3rd movie better than Winter Soldier?

A villain (Thanos) that has been sitting on a chair for 14 movies, looking like he is enjoying an episode of Friends. Yes, I know, the epic conclusion of the 18 movies they were building to, is here. Well this has been hyped so much, that if they don’t do something super epic (like kill some Avengers that mean something, or deliver a dark and well-rounded villain, or not be funny and put one liners every 3 seconds), they just might sink their own ship on this one. Since The Avengers, their movies featuring the entire case have been bringing in less money each time and I don’t see this as a win for them at all. I don’t know about you MCU fans!?

Captain America and Iron Man are the ones to die and make MCU fans care for their death.

Thor won’t be as impactful for MCU fans, Hawkeye, Widow, Vision, Witch, Falcon are all possible deaths. Hulk is hard to kill, but he isn’t solo movie material for them, so he can go too.

Point is, if they go light, funny, expected and as per the formula - they might blow it big time for not delivering on the huge HYPE built for 18 movies prior. If they kill their cash cows, life can get difficult for them.

Spider-Man might be off the MCU after their deal with SONY ends, and he is supposed to be a huge player in case the original line up is killed off before they re-boot. If SONY see that he is popular and they need him they might use the positive reactions and just use him for their own cinematic universe or want better conditions for the sharing rights. Dr. Strange on the other hand, as much as MCU fan boys are trying to push him as something great, made less than both BVS and SS (and they are considered bad movies critically, and he had a FRESH 90% score on RT) and hasn’t solidified his place as a leader yet.

Black Panther we haven’t seen yet, but he looks to not be as funny as his other colleagues in the MCU, not sure if this is Marvel material. Ant-Man I believe will be better than the first one they did, but will not be able to carry the Avengers franchise as Iron Man and Captain America did. Question is who will be the Chris Evans or the RDJR figure to carry the new Avengers once the old ones are dead or not coming back because of contracts being not re-signed? Would it be Captain Marvel, will they risk letting a woman sell their toys? Will they be embraced as the current ones?

With DCEU we have unexpected things left and right Nightwing, Batgirl, Black Adam, Shazam, Flash, Aquaman, Gotham City Sirens, Suicide Squad 2, Green Lantern Corps, Man of Steel 2, a new Batman, some might be PG 13, other R Rated, we do not know, and that is what is exciting.

I don’t want 5 solo movies followed by a Justice League, make 6-7 solo, villain, group movies before Justice League 2, I don’t care. Be original as you are now, with Marvel I know what I am getting - safe, kid friendly, light, over the top humor, bland visuals, bad music scores.

The future is more suited for DC than Marvel. In my opinion off course, in yours you might want to vote MCU and that is fine with me.

And to the weekly DCEU hate speeches by Jon Schnepp from Collider, no one has seen your movies dude, your IMDB average score is below 4 and you will never make a movie as good as Man of Steel. You can bash Geoff, Zack or Ben, but still they have more talent, knowledge and charisma than you will ever have.

if you don’t like the DCEU don’t include their movies in your HEROES or MOVIE TALK panels. When the cast of Power Rangers came to play their Movie Trivia Schmoedown, everyone on Collider was giving praise to that garbage movie in their reviews afterwards. How professional!

I guess you aren’t supportive of the movie getting 48% on Rotten Tomatoes in this case, are you giant nerd!

#DCEU MCU BATMAN WONDERWOMAN FLASH AQUAMAN CYBORG SUPERMAN JUSTICELEAGUE GREENARROW CAMPEA SCHNEPP

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