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EXCLUSIVE: I've obtained a shocking official ABC Studios memo written by EVP Howard Davine to showrunners and executive producers with deals there. Those who've seen it are shaking their heads in disbelief. "I'm stunned that they would have done this," one insider tells me. "I can't believe they actually put this down on paper." That's because the memo blesses anyone who brings foreign formats to ABC Studios first so that the studio can steal the idea without paying the fat licensing fees that would accompany an up-and-up deal. Obviously, ABC Studios doesn't want to repeat what happened with a show like Ugly Betty, which is the American version of the Latin telenovela. This now proves they would rather just rip it off.
Here's the memo:
Bombshell ABC Studios Memo Is Blatant Blueprint To Rip Off Foreign TV Series
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first, how is a studio memo a network blueprint?
second, would someone please tell me what’s so exceptional about this? doesn’t it simply explain the legal need to differentiate between an inspirational source and a direct influence?
regarding ugly betty, besides the fact that they use the title, the logline “ugly girl works in fashion industry” would raise a red flag to any US rights holder ready for a suit. its sister show, the office, is a more relevant example as a workplace sitcom isn’t a unique pitch (except with its style, which again would raise a red flag).
no need to fear-monger, nikki
First rule of crime: DON’T GO AROUND MAKING EVIDENCE AGAINST YOURSELF!
If this memo is accurate and I was the CEO of ABC/Disney, that fellow would be fired, possibly out of a cannon at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
It leaves the company wide open to possibly gazillions in litigation from any foreign network with a show that even remotely resembles an ABC production. All they have to do is wave around this memo because it’s practically a confession.
And no doubt anyone with an unsold pilot with a passing resemblance to running ABC shows can probably also jump on the litigation bandwagon.
This behaviour is not only unethical, but writing it down as a memo passed all over town is damn stupid.
“An unnecessary layer to the creative process”? If that’s their reasoning, they should fire the majority of their executives, too.
Hahaha! What a pack of weasels!
Why don’t they just do what they used to do in the 1960s — and just run *the original series*? Secret Agent (Danger Man), The Avengers, The Prisoner — all ran as was.
In fact, if they want to actually RAISE their ratings, they could re-run THOSE series from the 1960s!
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are pissing their pants laughing.
This is a very informed decision by business affairs. This town is filled with vultures looking to file suit, claiming you stole an idea when you have not. It is not a crime to be inspired by others. It is not neccessary to license rights to show if your plans make your show fundamentally different. Nothing in that memo proposes ripping anyone off, they are simply trying to protect themselves from over-zealous agents and attorneys. Good on ‘em.
Can’t say I’m suprised that TV execs may rip off foreign TV programmes. Let’s face it – this isn’t exactly an unknown in the TV industry.
But I am completely floored that someone at ABC would tell showrunners to rip off non-US shows in writing.
That’s all kinds of stupid.
There I thought that Ugly Betty was a rip off of a German soap called Verliebt in Berlin.
It is set in a fashion house and the lead for a few seasons was a spit for Betty.
You mean that Ben Silverman’s whole career is redundant?
“Verliebt in Berlin” is another version of “Yo soy Betty, la fea,” which is the source for “Ugly Betty.”
You tell people that are not in the biz and they think you’re crazy when you tell them even the big guys rip people off of their ideas. They say stuff like “But their so big and they’re so creative. Why would they have to do that?” I assure them that they do. I know it, I felt it. Ten or more years ago I got burned by a Big Guys wife who wrote her first script, that was produced by the Biggest Guy in town. It was obvious when the movie came out that they pilfered my script. I even had an agent at one of the Big 3 tell me I should sue. I should of, but I did want to sue the Biggest dude in town, and anyway he did steal it it was that Big Novelist/screenwriter Guy’s wife. Looking back I should have. Too late now.
But one of these days, I’m hoping this rip-off’s assistant, or somebody close to her at the time, comes out and tells the truth.
This really just looks like an attempt to avoid the unpleasantness of promises made by producers/showrunners to foreign rightsholders before networks approve everything.
Plain and simple, producers/showrunners should either fund the checks that their mouths write or STFU and pass everything to those who actually do.
This memo could save a lot of legal costs and headaches, but it won’t because producers/showrunners are some of the dumbest business people on Earth.
For example, producers/showrunners will claim that a gently worded memo that basically says their ignorantly impulsive behavior commits/costs money that they don’t even have is, instead, a memo outlining a process for “stealing” shows.
Nikki, your “insider” is clearly a douchebag who runs his/her mouth and commits money that he/she doesn’t have. He/she was probably gently asked to STFU in the past. Now, it’s recommended policy to STFU based on the memo. As per the normal SOP, it’s still not mandatory. Heaven forbid, someone insults one of those producer/showrunner douchebags.
There is nothing remarkable about the memo – except the stupidity of the people who attempted to interpret it differently. They know WTF it says.
It says, “Stop spending our money with your mouth. You want to upfront license some foreign show? You f*?king buy it. Otherwise, STFU and let us look at it first. Don’t try to commit us to something we haven’t even seen.”
Robert,
The German version was a legitimate adaptation of the original Colombian show.
There are versions of Ugly Betty all over the world that were based on the original: Mexico, India, Thailand, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, Israel (their version is fabulous), Russian, even Japan.
So…why the hell go to all the trouble to rip off foreign shows when American writers have a bazillion ideas to sell…oh yeah, you’d have to PAY them. My bad.
This may be bitchy, but check out the typo in the “To:” line. Does this mean that it’s STILL ABC Studios, or is it different enough to be its own ABS Studios? Hmm, let’s ask some showrunners…
This is no big deal. Just a standard memo (and correct legal analysis) pointing out that certain material is not protected by copyright and therefore no need to pay licensing fees. For example, you see the movie Kiss Me Kate and get the idea to do a show about a man trying to “tame” a willful woman and the complications that arise. No need to pay a licensing fee to the Cole Porter estate since he borrowed/used/ripped off the idea from Shakespeare and Shakespeare is in the public domain.
I had friends head in before me to pitch their take on writing assignments. Then when I walked in, the studio exec pitched my friends’ ideas, claiming they where his.
Friends also heard my ideas coughed up by “creatives” studio execs.
Same old, same old.
Slimes.
Maybe ABC wouldn’t have to write a memo asking us writers not to bring them actual foreign properties but a “spin” on the foreign properties if they weren’t so GD enamored with foreign properties!
Stop buying the foreign stuff! SHOP AMERICAN WRITERS!!!
“WGA” has it right.
Also, “Harold” has a major axe to grind. Failed showrunner?
We would like to officially call an end to use of the word “douchebag” or its cousin “douche.” It’s past its time, never was witty, and is now only used by mindless parrots who can’t express themselves except by mimicking stupid slang and unleashing an endless torrent of profanity.
Oh, those are war time tactics. During WW2, the studios considered any german film fair game for ripping off and remaking here.
Well, it was war!
This might explain why they told Youtube to take down the video by the producer’s of Spike TV’s “Most Extreme Elimination Challenge” which claimed that ABC’s show “Wipeout” was a ripoff of MXC (people falling mud or water while going through kooky obstacles-comedic commentary, etc..)
this happens all the time. it’s why this town sucks so much. i hope it burns.
“It’s no secret that a conscience can sometimes be a pest
It’s no secret ambition bites the nails of success
Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief
All kill their inspiration and sing about their grief”
From “The Fly” Words and Music by U2
Confusing fiduciary responsibility with artistic responsibility is the downfall of many creative people. Agents buffer or exploit this reality, depending on your POV. Mr. Davine has one interest with this memo, accountability to fiduciary responsibility. He has served notice to the artists/agents who hinder profitability.
Art is not free, someone has to pay for the process and assure its ability to pay for itself. Is this not what our creative community is clamoring for? A better deal and a bigger share of the profits.
Mr. Davine is addressing a situation and saving his company from the loss of income and the grief of irresponsibility that artists are notorious for. He negotiates deals and artists cash the checks (less 10%) that are defined by these deals. Pretty simple if you stop and think. It’s no secret.
I LOVE THIS. YOU ROCK for posting this.
- T
Ideas are not copyrightable, only their expressions are so if someone steals an idea then there is little recourse. The memo explains the difference between being inspired by an idea and general premise versus stealing a rights-controlled property, this is something about which all development people must be vigilant. I see no shock value in the fact that creative people see what works then copy it, this is as old as the business itself.
Underlying ideas don’t necessarily deserve copyright protection. I think the memo is fair in reminding showrunners that it’s safe to look for inspiration in similar formats. Ugly Betty was a successful foreign transplant, but the fundamental concept itself, “Fish-out-of-water”, is old as dirt. When I saw the original Spanish version on TV I thought they’d ripped it off from ‘The Devil Wears Prada’….
Perhaps Mr. Davine can walk across the lot and ask a few Disney legal attack dogs about how they have treated some poor foreign schmucks who have dared to produce under the “general underlying premise…no reason to license” rules. I’ve seen it. It is not pretty.
Also missing in Mr. Davine’s manifesto is the statement: “and the poor bastards won’t be able to afford the legal fight, anyway”.
I don’t think this is just about “Ugly Betty.” ABC just shot a pilot they bought from TIger Aspect called “Roman’s Empire.” (Kelsey Grammer as the lead)
We won this country from Britain because we didn’t like their tea tax and didn’t think they could rule this country better than we could. Now we’re going to watch their shows and rip them off because we don’t like what their charging for their product and we don’t think they can produce better than we can. You’ve been warned, UK. Stop charging money for things that belong to you!
Dear Mr Davine.
Hey this is GREAT News!!
Using your model it take it that we can all safely strip-mine the entire DISNEY catalogue and not seek permission nor recognise nor pay for it!!
Love your work big guy.
ps – are you related by chance to “Harold” above?
Bottom line, if you are importing formats, make sure the rights holder isnt a cocky bastard trying to rip you off, at the end of the day, if the format kicks ass, then any studio would buy it, specially if you bring a big writer attached! Foreign rights holders, be prepared to give up your big back ends, and over priced license fees!!!!!
WGA-
What you should have done when the exec pitched your friends’ ideas back at you was said, “Hey, I know so-and-so were thinking along those same lines. You should talk to them.”
Might not have gotten you the job, but it would have put some fear into that exec.
Christy: “Yo soy Betty, la fea” premiered on Colombian television in 1999, four years before the novel “The Devil Wears Prada” was published.
you know what, on second glance at this… they’re just protecting themselves and it makes sense. to often an agent will send crap over, you like it then it becomes a waste of time as it gets all tangled up in business affairs. i’m suprised other *cough* networks haven’t sent a similar memo to their development executives who are reviewing such material like crazy these days.
New series in development at ABC:
“Dr. What” – A time-traveling Time King who comes to earth in a time machine disguised as a newspaper box to battle an evil race of cyborgs called the Darthleks. His ever-changing cast of sidekicks help keep casting costs down by replacing them whenever they ask for raises.
“Montgomery Snake’s Aerobatic Carnival” – a sketch comedy show with a group of comedians who specialize in verbal satire and physical humor.
“Front of the House/Back of the House” – a weekly soap opera about rich people who live in the front of the house and the servants in the back of the house who work for them.
“Are you Being Waited On?” – sitcom about the odd people who work the sales floor in a failing department store.
“Erring Towers” – about a hotel owner, Mr. Erring, who tries to do his best but always screws things up. Helping him is his demanding wife, a saucy maid and an immigrant waiter.
“Mr. Pea” – a series of weekly skits about Mr. Pea who is a child in a grown man’s body. He usually gets himself in a bind and then has to get himself out of it in an ingenious fashion. He barely speaks, and when he does, he mumbles, which could reduce dubbing costs when selling the series abroad.
More series to come…
Here’s what copying a forgien format get you –SOLD!!!!
No writer I’ve ever met is eager to copy a forgein show. It’s actually slightly soul crushing. But network executives are so scared of taking risks that they’ll only approve something if they know its derivative. Their sole goal is to cover their ass. Doing something interesting or new is not on their agenda. Many writers I know have toyed with the idea of pitching an original show and claiming it’s a foregin (sorry, I really can’t spell that word!) format, just to put the corporate lackeys at ease.
Network TV by and large sucks, and it all goes back to when the gov’t let networks buy studios. Before then, you have about 100 different studios, often run by people who actually liked creating stuff. Some small studios took risks, so they could stand out from the pack. Sometimes that stuff made it on the air.
Bureaucrasies aren’t designed to do anything but perpetuate themselves. Big governments never can do anything. Radio became unlistenable when consolidation hit.
Based onteh comments, excuses, rationailzations of others in the field on the art of plagiarism, i would be totally surprsied if there were EVER a memo or a phone call demanding that heretofore concealed “sources” of a movie be credited and paid.
I would benefit greatly were honesty in crediting and paying “sources” the prevalent culture, but alas it is in the black hearts of many many successful players.The honest ones never demand honesty from o0thers, either. Rememberit is NOT plagiarism if one dos acknowledge the real authors of the piece, and allows them to benefit from your use of their creations.
congrats for at least posting this evidence of one ripoff.
That is a start.
Funny comments all. I worked for Disney for a decade until 2004. The heads of some of their divisions would shock the hell out of the ABC/Disney fans with some of the hate-filled language they used to describe their customers. Friends of mine who are still there regale me with similar stories today.
Every time someone I know says he or she is taking the family to a Disney park or Broadway dreck, I want to upchuck knowing that the highest level producers think most of them are idiots, dislike children, etc.
The Lion King was stolen almost ENTIRELY from writer Tom Disch, a science fiction writer who did a treatment for 500 dollars. He’s American; when he commited suicide recently, it was primarily because he was destitute. They do it OVER AND OVER AND OVER.
I am quite sure Harold above is one of their lawyers by the way. And just so those parent company zombies don’t think I am not bitter. I have worked for one of their rivals ever since.
It’s a very odd memo given that all the networks will buy these days are shows that are adapted from an outside country (Israel being the hot spot at the moment.)
A better idea, I would think, would to just make a deal with the BBC directly and help fund their shows in return for the right to remake them here.
Or of course, as someone above said, you could just play the British shows on American TV and allow people to (God forbid) have to hear an English accent.
As a production company owner who’s been pitching shows to the nets for the last few years, my question is:
WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND THINKS THIS ATTITUDE WILL STOP WITH FOREIGN PROPERTIES!!
If they want your idea, but haven’t worked with you, they’ll just go through the same process. We all need good lawyers.
F
It’s already happening: the Canadian show Cold Squad became Cold Case in the U.S.
Dan Zee – you forgot one…
“Life on Mars”
Boston Legal fans will remember the price Steve McPherson paid for the format rights.
Old news…. usually they steal British ideas because the British are smarter and more creative…
- “Steptoe and Son” became Sanford and Son
- “Man About the House” became Three’s Company
- “Till Death Do Us Part” became “All In The Family”
- James Bond became Matt Helm
- “Are You Being Served?” was turned into “Beane’s Of Boston” (it didn’t get picked up)
- Fox is stealing “Spaced”
- UK “The Office” became US “The Office”
…and on it goes.
Guys – ABC did nothing wrong. seriously… why pay for something that you don’t have to pay for… for instance, let’s say a hollywood writer comes in with a pitch – die hard on a bus. you don’t have to make it as DIE HARD 2. you could just call it SPEED.
“The Lion King was stolen almost ENTIRELY from writer Tom Disch..”
Or Kimba the White Lion?
Or Hamlet?
Amazing but not surprising as UK television produces the best series in the world (really… Don’t hurt, please! lol): DOCTOR WHO, PRIMEVAL, THE FIXER, SPOOKS, LEWIS… all the stuff that doesn’t go beyond BBC America or PBS in the US, which leaves some field to more network adaptations in the future.
To Dan Zee: Thank you so much for your humor! I’d kill to see a screening of the DOCTOR WHAT pilot…
What’s wrong with this?
It states a reality (foreign formats are popular) followed by the reasoning for avoiding unnecessary costs and legal issues (exact copy – pay / underlying idea – don’t).
Why doesn’t everyone blame NBC instead? They’re the ones ripping off foreign shows and resurrecting old ones.
About Ugly Betty: although they kept the title and the concept, they changed the story. In the original version, Betty gets beautiful and marries her boss, therefore becoming the boss herself.
As early as the 1830s deTocqueville was commenting on the lack of creative thinking in America. But he wasn’t entirely right. At the beginning of the twentieth century and continuing through the 1960s there was a flurry of unprecedented creative output in art, cinema, theatre, music, dance, and architecture.
That’s before MBAs, as opposed to largely self-taught, or self-made individuals, began to steer the course of capitalist enterprises, ranging from high tech companies to Hollywood. After 1980, if not before, there was widespread pressure not just to increase profitability – always a motivation of producers and sponsors of creative endeavors – but to maximize it at the expense of creative endeavors. Ideally, film moguls, TV producers, music producers, publishers, and sponsors aimed to combine art and commerce whenever possible. By 1986 that aim was exhausted.
This latest memo is merely one derivative objective stacked on a mountain of derivative objectives as America’s traditional cultural bases, NY, LA, Chicago, NO, including Broadway, the silver screen, the novel, and jazz have been run through a profitability mill that routinely turns out reruns, remixes, and smooth jazz (whatever that is). Hey, how ’bout throwing in Reality TV with those feeble efforts?
This Derivative Syndrome is also resposnible for the loss of true political leaderhip, in part as a result of Focus-Group politics, mediocre design out of Detroit, the fall of the novel as a key sociological compass, the lack of meaningful programming, the rise of “talent” shows, and the loss of overall direction.
Maybe that MBA-driven quest for hyper-profitability didn’t work out so well? Now what?
so top hollywood producers are sharp fellas who didnt get where they are today by writing cheques?
SHOCK HORROR
Behind every great fortune is a crime.
TV is not exempt.
TV producers and network execs? Really not exempt. In fact, if a phrase has a target market, this phrase’s target market is TV producers and network execs.