Writers as Strikers

I used to think of strikes in the Norma Rae-industrial sense. It's interesting to note that writers strike too--and encouraging, considering writers tend to be the least appreciated professionals in most productions. Kudos to the striking writers who fight for fair pay!

Hollywood Writers Go On Strike After Talks Fail

Nov. 5, 2007, 10:38 AM EST

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Noisy pickets appeared outside the "Today" show set on Monday as a strike by film and television writers got under way.

Writers' demands for a bigger slice of DVD profits and revenue from the distribution of films and TV shows over the Internet has been a key issue.

The strike is the first walkout by writers since 1988. That work stoppage lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry more than $500 million.

A giant, inflated rat was displayed Monday morning near the NBC studios as about 40 people in Rockefeller Center shouted, "No contract, no shows!"

Read the rest of the article here.

Plagiarism in the News

With the recent accusations of plagiarism against Kaavya Viswanathan, Publishers Weekly interviews Judge Richard Posner, U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, on plagiarism from Shakespeare's day to present.

Copyright and intellectual property laws do not protect ideas, but merely the words used to express them. This is how so many genre fiction books, and sometimes literary fiction books, that seem to follow the same formula remain safe from legal prosecution. The danger comes in using another author's words without due credit and permission.

Some authors encourage aspiring authors to use plots already on the market to get their creative juices flowing. It can serve as a writing exercise until you build a plot of your own. The movie Finding Forrester features an author encouraging his student to use the first lines of his own short stories to serve as a starting point. While these are indeed great exercises to break writer's block and keep the words coming, it's important to realize that these are simply exercises. Aspiring authors must return to these plagiarized passages and make them unique before passing them on to the public. And while using an existing plot as an outline is not technically plagiarism, the lack of originality will prove a hindrance in seeking a publisher.

Posner touches on the fact that many schools and universities are using software such as Turnitin to scan academic papers and discipline plagiarists. Most schools administer a failing grade to students who are caught plagiarizing, and Posner recommends that publishers begin using a similar software to verify originality of manuscripts before accepting them for publication.

"We may be entering the twilight of plagiarism," he says.

Read the article preview at publishersweekly.com and watch for the full article in the November 27 issue of Publishers Weekly. Take a moment to check out Posner's book, The Little Book of Plagiarism, as well.