Angry at PBS

U

Umera

New member
Okay, I just got done watching Good Morning America and I found out that PBS and Schoolastic made a new show for PBS kids called Word Girl. http://pbskids.org/wordgirl/

Usually, I wouldn't give PBS kids the time of day, but this new show is very similar to a show, one of my instructors, Chuck Herring, pitched to them in 2001-2002 called Grammar Man.

http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20020219grammarman0219p4.asp
http://www.connectforkids.org/node/543
http://www.jefftobe.com/chuck_readmore.html

Now, I'm not saying PBS ripped him off (sure am thinking it) but at the very least, he pitched them an idea of a grammer based superhero five years ago and they shot him down, only to to this? That's messed up.
 
It always cracks me up when people misspell the word "grammar".

They should probably credit your friend's pitch as inspiration, but maybe this actually a pretty common idea and PBS has finally decided to pick up one of the people's pitches.
 
Sadly, if he never bothered to copyright his idea or seek legal protection against potential thieves, there's not much your friend can do about it, if they the idea was truly stolen. (This is why I never reveal any of my ideas to anyone else before talking to a lawyer.) Anyway, it's not like this is such a unique premise; lots of people have employed superhero characters as a 'fun' way to teach kids grammar and math and such. Anyone remember "Letterman"?
 
Maybe, but it dosen't really feel right to me. To hear of a reletivly intresting idea then to turn around and see somthing exactly like it makes you wonder.
 
It sure looks like they took your frienda idea. Did he copyright his stuff? If he didn't then there's nothing anyone can do.
 
Honestly, superheroes are a popular concept-- and I've seen them used to promote the oddest things, including tractor trailer safety on the highway.

If he registered his concepts, great--- otherwise, I don't know what to say. It might be a coincidence, might not be.

Edit: He can always ask for some legal advice concerning this.
 
I would just like to add that if anyone here wants to pitch an idea to a network, a comics idea to a publisher, or a game idea to a digital media firm - COPYRIGHT IT FIRST. It's very easy to do. You can look up the U.S. Copyright Office's address, mail in a request for a copyright form, fill it out, include all relevant materials (character designs, etc) and mail it all in for a small fee. The Copyright Office will then mail you a certificate that declares that what you have created is legally yours. Then if you believe that someone you were pitching to stole your idea, you'll have a leg to stand on.

Now having said that, general ideas are very hard to copyright. If you create a character that's, say, a talking horse, the creators of Mr. Ed can't sue you on that basis. If you, uh, borrow the premise of that old show however in too much detail, then that could mean trouble.

I remember reading that the guy who "created" the Cabbage Patch Kids actually stole the idea off a woman at a craft fair. He didn't steal the name - and that's important - but the concept - dolls being "born" in a hospital with birth certificates etc. She might have been able to sue just the same but unfortunately...you guessed it...she didn't copyright her idea. Sad, sad, sad...
 
Hate to be the one to pee on your picnic, but cosmetic similarities do not a plagiarism case make. Not even the fact that your friend may have pitched the idea to PBS is as damning as you might think. The time frame is problematic; when a number of years go by, memories fade, and it's quite possible the person who took your friend's pitch may not even be working for PBS anymore.

Many years ago, I was assistant editor on a shared-world anthology fanzine whose creator (let's call him "Jeff") had unshakably convinced himself that J. Michael Straczynski had plaigiarized the fanzine's concept to make Babylon 5. Jeff had compiled a substantial list of similarities between the two, including one character with the same name as a B-5 character, and some circumstantial evidence (we had a deal with a comic-book distributorship that had placed our 'zine in at least one comic shop in Los Angeles -- practically in Straczynski's back yard -- and contributors to the 'zine had placed story excerpts on discussion boards on this then-brand new communications forum called The World Wide Web, never suspecting at the time that it was the literary equivalent of leaving your car keys in the ignition. Jeff wanted to sue Straczynski and, since I was the only person on the 'zine's four-man editorial board who actually had a real, full-time, weekly-paycheck-type job, guess who Jeff expected to pay for the lawyer. The problem was...I wasn't convinced. I worked on that 'zine for almost five years; next to Jeff, I knew it better than anyone, and I still didn't think it was enough to make a case. This repercussions of this disagreement eventually ended out friendship.

So be careful. The world of intellectual property is filled with ideas that might seem to have been separated at birth. But these judgements are usually made by people who only know (and are only williing to hear) one side of the story.
 
Absolutely! "The Adventures of Letterman", with Gene Wilder (!) voicing the title character, and narrated by Joan Rivers. Guilty pleasure back in the day.:D
 
I know in 2001-2002 someone pitched to PBS Kids a Sesame Street/Electric Company/Square One TV style show aimed at music terms called "Superconductor" but never was sold. A number of clips from the unsold "Superconductor" pilot can be seen on YouTube.
 
While copyrighting protects an individual concept, it does not make the total idea exclusive. When any property is submitted, a disclaimer is signed before any pitch is made. In every standard disclaimer is the phrase admitting that there is the possiblity that a similar idea could be under consideration or could ultimately materialize in the future. By signing such a disclaimer, you agree to these terms, and forfit any right to sue. The only gounds for suit would be the outright copying of your concept including characters, types of characters, and show format, which would fall under the copyrighted script and characters as "designs."

As for being angry with PBS, there is a much larger issue. Eight years ago, The Screen Cartoonists (now known as The Animation Guild) staged a protest in front of the Los Angeles PBS affiliate, KCET over the use of goverment subsidies and viewer donations to support exported production. This was in reference to certain animated shows produced by PBS that contract with non-U.S. production companies. While PBS has the right to accept the lowest bid on contracts, the point was the several qualified U.S. production companies were not allowed in on the bidding process. In this action, PBS contributed to the exportation of American jobs, and actually discriminated against qualified American producers who could have done the work equally as well for the desired price. This is something to be angry about.
 
Hmm... on the other hand, if they went with mainly or only American producers, PBS would get yelled at by the anti-PBS crowd for "wasting" our tax dollars on expensive US workers, when outsourcing to cheap foreign animation labor ("the global economy" and all that) to save money at any and all costs is "supposed" to be the way to go, regardless of the effects on the US economy of exporting said money overseas/the US animation workers' jobs/etc.

Sarcasm aside, PBS doesn't exactly have NBC-sized funding, so I can see why they'd go with Nelvana and other foreign studios for shows (though the US dollar's value isn't overly strong these days, making exporting such labor to Canada less attractive than it used to be I'd imagine).

Can't win for trying if one's PBS, I suppose. ;-p


-B.
 
The thing that continues to amaze me is that while PBS is always running their Pledge Drives, they never shrink away from having the latest technology, which is not cheap. Add to that, attaining Broadcast Licensing to some major motion pictures. This is also not cheap. Then to compensate, they outsource work to foreign companies, and produce cheap boring shows like those antique collector's programs.
 
Tell me about it. That episode "Rats Off To You", where Tom's design gets ripped off by some sleazy greedy guy who never gives him credit and exploits his idea, never giving him any sort of real credit?

....friggin story of my life. I also remember emailing one of my character designs to a manga artist that lived in the land of the rising sun, through her website, wanting to get a critique. Swear to god, not much time later, artwork of hers appeared on her website with an illustration of what basically looked like a Japanese anime/manga version of my own character, that looked clearly inspired by mine, but it never mentioned my design anywhere, even though it looked like a manga-fied version of it. Seriously, it was shocking how similar her drawing was to mine: The same costume, the same lighting effects, the same body structure, the same hair and face. The only real difference was that it was more detailed (less cartoony) and the pose was slightly different, but those seemed minor compared to everything else. I guess I always wanted to do conceptual work for an anime one day, but that didn't work out quite like I expected...Weird is all I can think to describe the whole thing.

What can I say, hey it happens. If I'm getting my designs ripped by anybody, I look on the bright side, at least it's manga and/or anime people that can draw well. But yeah, it really is a good idea to get your work copyrighted.
 
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