Plagiarising?
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Topic: Plagiarising?
Posted By: Guests
Subject: Plagiarising?
Date Posted: 1/17/02 at 9:09am
I have a question: our theater group is contemplating a classic play for which we
cannot find a decent script (the story is in the public domain). We'd like
to write our own, but we like certain elements in one of the available
scripts. How many ideas can we use without it being considered plagiarizing?
The ideas are actually sort of old: beginning the scenes with the actors
frozen in place, using sepia-toned lighting to make the frozen scene look
like an old photograph, having a narrator to fill the audience in on certain
things. The order of events would be different, we would create more and
different characters and we wouldn't refer to the existing script when writing the new one.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Susan
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Replies:
Posted By: Mike Polo
Date Posted: 1/17/02 at 9:25am
Susan --
This doesn't sound like plagiarizing to me, at least based on what you have described. The staging ideas, as far as I know, really cannot be copyrighted. However, if your narrative or dialog bear too much of a resemblance to the original, then you may have trouble.
If you are really worried, I would toss the script you are refering to aside, write the piece your way and then try to find an objective person to compare the two. If the scripts are different, perform... if not, put it away and learn from the experience.
Having been involved with writing a few pieces, I can tell you that you worry less about copyright when writing satire and comedy than in trying to produce a drama.
Mike Polo
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