Here's the backstory. A couple of weeks ago a company here in town bought a script that was described as a spoof of a popular TV series from the 70's.
Allegedly, an executive at the company which controls the rights to the original character decided to send a letter to an executive at the other company asserting his belief that this new script infringes upon rights held by the first company.
He wrote:
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Executive X-
Please give me a call about a spec script called XXXX. As you know, along with XXXXX, we control the rights to XXXX. My understanding is this spec includes characters we own.
Best- Executive Y
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Well the response he got is PURE comedy gold. Enjoy!
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Executive Y-
Good news. As you may know, The United States Supreme Court has affirmed the right of Parody as an unassailable First Amendment Right. This has enabled you to make movies like XXXX and XXXX in which you parody many films which (your company) does not own or control.
The script is a parody and if you have any problems I suggest you hire a Constitutional lawyer and file a brief with the US Supreme Court. This will be an uphill battle - the court voted 9 to 0 when this last hit the docket and those stubborn justices all believe in Stare Decisis!
And if you succeed at the Supreme Court - you will have to stop making XXXX and XXXX.
This will take about 5 to 7 years...and lawyers are an expensive breed but I wish you good luck on your journey to deny our First Amendment rights.
All the best
Executive X
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Genius!
* Because I have no first-hand knowledge that these e-mails are real or even accurate, I have decided to remove all the names of the people, companies, and projects involved.
Sorry 'bout that, but this is a fledgling blog offering "how-to" information most Hollywood folks would rather you didn't have, and I don't need that kind of heat.
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