26 Screenplays

We here at 26 Screenplays are huge fans of the Creative Commons initiative. The screenplays in the book are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license and exist to have derivative works created from them.

Creative Commons offers a Catalyst grant, and we have applied for it. To see our application page, go here. You will see what 26 Screenplays has planned for the upcoming year as well as how this project aligns with the larger goal of Creative Commons.

If you believe in the Creative Commons initiative and would like to contribute towards future grants, I strongly encourage you to make a donation. The easiest way to donate is to go here and contribute until your heart is content.

We will certainly keep everyone posted, and if we get the grant, you will see a lot more activity here and on the website.

This weekend’s On the Media had not only one, but two stories about copyright.

Here they are:

You can’t copyright jokes, just like you can’t copyright cooking recipes.

You can, however, copyright performances and comedic personalities and collections of recipes. This means that people can steal jokes as long as they are not copying comedic personalities. This makes for a more robust and thriving creative environment. Even if someone “steals” another person’s work, the creative community enforces standards and keeps people honest.

Which leads to the discussion about Carlos Mencia. The reason comedians seem so upset with Carlos Mencia is that he doesn’t not give credit where credit is due. There are dozens of comedians who crib from each other, but they are honest about where they got the jokes from. Some comedians, like Milton Berle, even make jokes about cribbing.

This is one of the reasons the book was released under Creative Commons Attributions license is that I want people to steal the material in the book. Just put my name in the credits and everything will be fine. Don’t be a Carlos Mencia; be a Milton Berle.