Asylum Films, Open Letter

[Scott Schroeder]

Big doings in the world of ripping off a smaller studio's creative power:

http://asylumfilms.co.uk/open-letter/

 

This brings up the interesting discussion of who owns the creative idea. The studio who created it or the person who hired the studio?

[matthewgriswold]

This brings up the interesting discussion of who owns the creative idea. The studio who created it or the person who hired the studio?

 

Probably the one with the better contract/lawyer$: the bigger corp. It sucks, but the original, smaller studio was hired to complete a task. Whether or not they realized that it was to be stepped-upon by the bigger guys later (which they probably never dreamed of), that's what happened.

 

Just think if "Leo" hired you to produce some work. "Leo" has no idea what he's looking for in the end, so he goes to a small animation studio. What "Leo" is really looking for is an idea...but, doesn't realize that until he is inspired by the little guy. He seeks out a different quality, to present "his idea", and basically takes the already produced work to the big house.

 

This awful circumstance doesn't seem original, but it still stinks. I'm sorry for Asylum Films.

[Nic H]

Well it seems like a case of sour grapes for asylum - they gambled with a job and hoped for more from it than eventuated.

leo burnett had reasons for getting it remade - who knows.

 

bringing this up in public makes them look unprofessional - as far as im aware they are a production house and produce other peoples ideas.

 

its an unfortunate situation but asylum come out looking bad, leo burnett are also awful as they ripped off Anton Tangs cardboard box characters and used them to advertise something.

 

http://www.antontang.com/

 

to me i don't care about asylum or leo burnett both of them are cogs in a machine that regularly rips of the ideas of artists and recycles them for commercial gain without crediting the original artist, they can go broke for all i care. the reality is that leo burnett are a huge organisation that is very difficult to take on for a sole artist and they know and act of this balance of power.

 

here is another recent example of an artist getting ripped off and a very good read on the subject.

http://blog.antivj.com/2012/inspiration_vs_theft/

 

id be pissed if any of my personal work got recycled to sell f*king chocolate!

[Scott Schroeder]

It's an issue that will never die or ever get resolved for sure. The music industry has dealt with "sampling" issues for a long time. Where is the line between using a work as inspiration and just a complete rip off?

 

Leo Burnett apparently released a public apology in which they stated they should have at least told asylum films that were going to recreate the video with a higher budget and another firm. Which leads into a follow up question. Why could Leo just hire Asylum to do the bigger budget film?

[salvador]

It's an issue that will never die or ever get resolved for sure. The music industry has dealt with "sampling" issues for a long time. Where is the line between using a work as inspiration and just a complete rip off?

 

Leo Burnett apparently released a public apology in which they stated they should have at least told asylum films that were going to recreate the video with a higher budget and another firm. Which leads into a follow up question. Why could Leo just hire Asylum to do the bigger budget film?

 

Influence? A guy who knows a guy who's friend of a guy . . . .

 

Not easy an issue to sort out, this intelectual property debate.

[Tommy L]

There's no debate here at all. I frequently get hired to do comps for the ad industry. They make 4 versions all with different vendors and then the end client sits with them and decides how to proceed.

Chances are Asylum were hired to do either the comp for client approval or the whole project. Either way, they did the job which was no doubt art directed and scripted by Leo Burnett. Once the project moves on Asylums part is played, they're done, finished. An open letter of grievance to a paying client of LB's stature? Very bad move. No-one else will hire them and chance their arm at the the bad PR.

[Scott Schroeder]

Here's Leo Burnett's response from their blog:

 

"We came up with the idea and the long, and highly-detailed, script for an ‘internal’ film to be played at the annual gala dinner held by Ronald McDonald House Charities. Obviously, there was a very small budget given that it was only going to be watched by a few hundred people. This meant we could only approach production companies at the cheaper end of the spectrum. Asylum’s Ben Falk did a great job for us. As a consequence, our RMHC client took the decision to invest a larger production budget to re-make the film with higher production values so that it could be aired on public media (cinema, if you’re interested). The higher production budget meant that the creative team could now interest production companies beyond the cheaper end of the spectrum."

 

Burn!

 

It's a hard pill to swallow for Asylum but it's all part of the business. They busted their butts hoping for a repeat client, and instead they got left behind. Calling them (Leo Burnett) out and creating such a media storm is either going to bury Asylum or make their name known.

 

The whole article can be read here: http://motionographer.com/2012/08/31/asylum-vs-leo-burnett-london-where-do-you-stand/

[Scott Schroeder]

Reminds me of Roger Meyer's Jr.'s quote from the Simpsons episode "The Day the Violence Died."

 

"Okay, maybe my dad did steal Itchy. So what? Animation is built on plagiarism. If it weren't for someone plagiarizing the Honeymooners we wouldn't have the Flintstones. If someone hadn't ripped off Sergeant Bilko, there'd be no Top Cat. Huckleberry Hound, Chief Wiggum, Yogi Bear? Hah! Andy Griffith, Edward G. Robinson, Art Carney. Your honor, you take away our right to steal ideas, where are they gonna come from?"