So did anyone steal from anyone else?
SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE was in development for several years before FRASIER was conceived, but here is a true case of coincidence. Believe me, the creators of FRASIER were not stuck and said, “What is Nora Ephron up to?”
But it does highlight that
ideas do originate coincidentally.
You’ll notice that no lawsuits were ever filed by anyone. And that’s because there was no one to blame. (although that rarely does stop Hollywood from litigation)
And it explains why I, and most writers in the industry with a reputation and track record won’t read unsolicited material. We need to protect ourselves. If I’ve been working on a spec screenplay set in the dangerous world of contact lens grinding, I won’t want to read your pilot because chances are 90% you’ll have contact lens grinding as the centerpiece of your project. And my screenplay becomes a huge summer tent pole blockbuster (how could it miss?) starring the Rock and Gal Gadot and yours doesn’t sell and you sue me for stealing your idea. Obviously, I’m being facetious (write your contact lens grinder movie with no fear I will be coming after you), but you get the point.
I went through a period where I was writing spec screenplays. At the time, specs were in demand and a sale was worth well over six-figures and sometimes seven (although never for me). I sold a few; a few I didn’t.
But the scariest day of the year was the third Sunday in January. That was when the LA TIMES “Calendar” section laid out thumbnails of all the movies that were slated to come out that year. Close to 300 films.
I would read each synopsis with my heart in my throat just praying that the movie I’d been writing for the last four months wasn’t coming out in June starring Clint Eastwood. It was like walking through a minefield.
At least FRASIER and SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE were for different venues and featured different tones and styles. Remember when there were three Amy Fisher TV movies developed at the same time? Or two SNOW WHITE features? Or two WYATT EARP movies? I’d say “great minds think alike,” but it’s hard when I use Amy Fisher movies as an example.
"If I’ve been working on a spec screenplay set in the dangerous world of contact lens grinding, I won’t want to read your pilot because chances are 90% you’ll have contact lens grinding as the centerpiece of your project. And my screenplay becomes a huge summer tent pole blockbuster (how could it miss?) starring the Rock and Gal Gadot..."
ReplyDeletePut away everything you've been writing or planning. Get to work on this right away. This can save the movie business, Theatres will re-open expressly for the purpose -- no, privilege -- of showing this. The Rock can finally anticipate winning that Oscar. This is the closest thing to a sure bet I've heard about in months.
I recall all three networks came out with their own ANIMAL HOUSE-inspired sitcom around same time. None of them lasted very long.
ReplyDeletePeople have way too much time on their hands to see any similarity between the two that is more than coincidence.
ReplyDeleteSeattle was very "in" at the start of the 1990s so it's not that surprising that there were multiple things set there. Off the top of my head there was also the Cameron Crowe movie "Singles" around that time.
ReplyDeleteIt's additionally improbable that "Frasier" cribbed "Sleepless In Seattle" because, as I'd originally heard the story (and as you, Ken, would be able to confirm), "Frasier" was initially conceived as having Dr. Crane return to his family roots... IN DENVER.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened, according to legend, was that Republicans in the state of Colorado passed one of those obnoxious culture wars laws they were so fond of planting during that era, in which some aspect of gayness was yet again made illegal. This rightfully incensed the project's Hollywood creators to the extent where they just gave Colorado the finger and upended the locale to Seattle.
What I'd like to know is: is it true, as I'd heard, that Denver was once actually referenced on "Cheers" as being whence the Cranes hailed (minus the nonexistant Niles, who had not yet been invented)?
This is not exactly news. Every once in a while, Hollywood seems to go through a copycat phase. Remember when Tom Hanks' BIG came out, and there were movies with similar "young again" premises that starred Dudley Moore and George Burns? Or when the Dreamworks cartoon ANTZ was released, shortly to be followed by Pixar's A BUG'S LIFE?
ReplyDeleteKind of reminds me of the whole RHAPSODY RABBIT/CAT CONCERTO debacle.
ReplyDeleteSo Denver was left for Tim Allen and "Last Man Standing"...where one of the show's settings is a (legal) marijuana dispensary run by the husband of one of his character's daughters.
ReplyDeleteTrying to imagine a Denver-set "Frasier," with a mountain backdrop in his downtown high-rise and Martin complaining about the Rockies' perennial lack of pitching.
Hey, there were two "Lambada" movies, and they both came out the same day!
ReplyDeleteBoth Frazier and Friends had coffee shops. Anyone remember the name of each?
ReplyDeleteI see cross-influence as a constant not only in film and television, but in music and other creative forms of expression. To be more be pretentious: there is sometimes a Zeitgeist where many smart, creative people are thinking the same processes.
ReplyDeleteSee, for example, the late night shows --Colbert, Kimmel, Myers, Noah--they so often make the same points and tell the same jokes, it's almost hard to remember who was first.
This one is in my wheelhouse.
ReplyDeleteI'm a history professor. And when I was writing my dissertation, I discovered that two other people were doing similar topics--not exactly the same, but close. We all finished and published our books, and we're all close friends.
But while I was writing my dissertation, I had what I thought was a really original interpretation of something, and wrote it in my draft and kept going. Before I submitted the whole thing, a major scholar in my field came out with a book and had the same idea, which he mentioned quickly and went on to the next subject. So I spent more time on it in my work, but I cited him, thinking, I had the idea first! But he published first.
Michael, I can do you one better: While I was writing my dissertation somebody else published a paper that was basically the same idea done better. I cited it, I think, at some point, but never did anything else with the dissertation after I defended it!
ReplyDeleteNewton and Leibniz independently invented calculus at the same time.
ReplyDelete(Also your yesterday column was brilliant. Thanks for that)
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteToday is the 112th birth anniversary of the lady in my avatar, who reminds Steven there's a proper way to use dirty words. This wasn't it.
ReplyDeleteAs a writer, I suppose you are aware of the lawsuit involving Paramount and Art Buchwald. Buchwald wrote and sold a script for a movie involving a African King coming to America on an official visit and being deposed while he is away. He has to fend for himself in America. Apparently the script was written with the idea that Eddie Murphy would play the King. The script went through development hell and was never filmed. Except of course Coming To America.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of questions for you. First, if you are familiar with it what are your thoughts?
Second, is there ever a point where your original idea has changed so much it isn’t your idea anymore? In this case Buchwald’s idea was changed so much it was hardly his at all. Yet the writers wouldn’t have gotten started without the original concept. He got no credit or money he believed he was owed via a profit sharing contract so he sued. Was he, in your estimation, right?
I don't understand how the moderation works here. Why has Steven's vicious and nasty post been published?
ReplyDeleteSteven, why don't you stick to the Chuck Norris comedy Sidekicks? That's probably more your speed.
Steven Sleepless in Seattle was based on An Affair to Remember. I like Sleepless but it is not a classic. Frasier and Cheers will be running for ever because it is a great show
ReplyDeleteWith so many reboots and remakes, there's clearly a market for seeing a well-known story told again in a slightly different way. (How many films have there been based on Spider-Man's origin story, or Batman's?)
ReplyDeleteWhile "Groundhog Day" is one of my favorite movies, I've also enjoyed films and TV shows that took (you could say stole) the basic idea and ran with it -- for example, the sci-fi film "Edge of Tomorrow," the Netflix hipster drama "Russian Doll," or the recent romantic comedy "Palm Springs." I've heard that "Groundhog Day" itself might be rebooted, which would be a travesty -- but it might appeal to young people who probably think Bill Murray is Sofia Coppola's grandpa.
And two of the Amy Fisher TV movies aired opposite each other on the same night; one on ABC with Drew Barrymore, the other on CBS with Alyssa Milano.
ReplyDeleteDr. Strangelove, followed closely by Fail Safe with a Jewish Senator played well by
ReplyDelete...Boss Hogg!
Hi Ken,
ReplyDeleteJust a slight correction--the lead characters in Sleepless are a Baltimore Sun reporter and a Seattle architect. There is a talk show host character but she is never seen and is in two scenes--so, as you ably pointed out--not really similar to Frasier.
Eddie Van Halen rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteWhat a truly shitty year this has been.
Even though there has been several years between the series I'm interested in seeing the similarities between the new FOX drama, "NEXT" and CBS's "Person of Interest." On the surface the premises are fairly dissimilar. Yet one of the main components of both is the rogue A.I./Big Brother type computer that is watching all of us.
ReplyDeleteI've got to start getting up earlier. I miss all the good stuff.
Off Topic: I watched a large chunk of the DECADES, "CHEERS" binge this weekend. I laughed out loud several times. It has been long enough since I watched it that most of the jokes were new again.
Less "ironic" and more Greek tragedy. "...the central characters should come from the upper echelons of society and that their downfall,...should be caused by a combination of their own flaws and the workings of fate." The New Penguin Dictionary of the Theatre.
M.B.
I may be wrong on this, but I believe another weird Sleepless/Frasier connection is the Sleepless radio host(never seen) is Peri Gilpin, soon to portray Roz in Frasier. She's not listed in the cast. Can anyone confirm this?
ReplyDeleteWho is Amy Fisher (he asked)?
ReplyDeleteLooked it up - sorry that I did.
The Sleepless in Seattle/Frasier connections are greater and odder than Mr L lets on:
ReplyDelete1. Rob Reiner, Rita Wilson, and Victor Garber - a perfect name for a prize winning fashion designer - were all in Sleepless, and all guested on Frasier
2. Bill Pullman was in Sleepless, and Woody Harrelson, who guested on Frasier, BOTH STARRED IN THE FILM “LBJ”
3. The real-life JFK — LBJ’s BOSS ! — had a secretary named Lincoln, and Abraham Lincoln died in a ‘65 Lincoln !!
FQ: I know I sound like an old fart and yes It's clichéd but they really don't make comedies like they used to. I feel like the last sitcom that knew it was a sitcom and had fun with it was The Middle. I understand ambition but just as a comedy fan I miss having sitcoms that knew what they were. Do you know how lucky you are to have worked on real comedies not passing themselves off as comedies but really aren't?
ReplyDeleteFriday Question:
ReplyDeleteAs a professional, do you see this leading to a possible way for writers to get representation? It's pretty much the way Trey Parker and Matt Stone wound up with "South Park," but that was 25 years ago. A woman on Twitter wrote a short, spec current episode of "The West Wing," and she absolutely nailed the tone of the show, the voices of the characters and current events.
https://www.facebook.com/craig.gustafson.666/posts/10225175463634009
30 Rock and Studio 60 not only came out the same year, but they were both on the same network! Nevertheless, Lorne Michaels wouldn't allow Aaron Sorkin to sit-in behind the scenes for background information.
ReplyDelete