(Meta) Some background information
Some of you may already have seen a big interview that Scott Allie of Dark Horse Comics gave to Ain't It Cool News recently... but if you haven't, he gave the clearest statement I've ever seen about the copyright and licencing situation regarding 'Buffy' and Joss's other creative works. I thought it might be interesting to repeat it here:
SCOTT: ( Read more... )
From my own perspective, I know that Fox owns the copyright so they have ultimate control, but I've seen enough people in official positions - including Fran Kazui and Gail Berman - saying that "we need to run this by Joss first" that I wondered if he had some terms in his contract with Fox giving him right of refusal or some such. But it appears he doesn't, it's just professional courtesy. (Under EU copyright law, the artist's "moral rights" over their creation - such as the right to object to derogatory treatment of it - are separate to the actual copyright, but I don't know if US law follows that principle.)
I do wonder whether the quietness on the film front means there is some behind the scenes maneveuring going on.
Maybe the almost universal outrage, not only among fandom but from the industry professionals involved with the original 'Buffy' series, made the Kazuis realise that so much bad publicity would cripple any attempt to relaunch the show? It all comes down to numbers, and if they were banking on a halo effect from the original show attracting larger audiences from existing 'Buffy' fans as well as the new teenage Twilight crowd, they may have had to revise their cash projections radically downwards.
Besides, as I understand Hollywood, people float ideas for films all the time, and only a tiny fraction of them ever get greenlighted.
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But it could just be professional courtesy of the kind that isn't written down but would ruin your credibility if you violated it.
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