MovieChat Forums > Godsend (2004) Discussion > Oh my god! They stole my idea!

Oh my god! They stole my idea!

posted 21 years ago by thetitanicvoyage
35 replies | jump to latest

Hey there,

Well well well. This is interesting. I found out about this movie a while back, and I decided to watch it...only to jump out of my seat in shock!

He he. Well, why you ask? Well...while you are all going on about how original this film is...let me tell you something. Ages ago, I wrote a short film screenplay, about a wealthy couple who want their son 're-cloned' (he was genetically modified to begin with) because he died. They are adamant that the new son not find out about this, but the son discovers his 'old' brother, and starts to hallucinate and in the end kills himself. I have just recently got it made, but this short script was floating around cyberspace for quite a while before it got picked up.

Coincidence? I wonder? Well...if you look at it from my point of view...Hollywood seems to be tapping into my brain at the moment. I have written screenplays...only to go to the cinema and find my ideas on the screen! Let me break it down for you:

Secret Window (I know...it's Stephen King...but seeming as I actually pitched this one to a mid-exec in HW, I start to wonder.)
My idea was pretty much the same, about a writer who's literary creation comes to haunt him when he kills him off. Hmm...

Alien vs. Predator. Lost cities of Antartica...metal below the ice sheets...well. When I saw the trailer, I...again...nearly died. But...then the monsters came on, and frankly, I'm glad I'm not involved with that crap. But the beginning is so similar to a script of mine...it's scary!

Godsend (as I said)

Thirteen (again, obviously a coincidence...but still weird). The first script I wrote (back in 2000) was about..a young teenage girl who wants to get with the 'cool girl' and ends up taking drugs and falling into a downward spiral. I even had the recovering alcoholic mother in there...so similar to my script, it's starting to get on my nerves.

Make your own mind up. If you're a HW exec (perhaps the one who tried to seduce me at the Beverly Hills Hotel), you're in trouble. But...I really don't mind, after all, it's great to see my creations up on screen. Even if I don't get the money. What's money anyway? ;-)

Kim

http://www.kimberleydayle.com
...listen to my songs...

[–] fetMRish 20 years ago

Lost cities of Antar(c)tica...metal below the ice sheets...well.

This "story" has been done since they discovered the place. I think everyone has thought about what could be below all that ice.

And if Thirteen was based on a true story, wouldn't that have been your source, as well? They should be similar.
Secret Window was written in 1990 (or rather, probably before then since things aren't published immediately after writing). You say you are 19 now, so you wrote your version of the story when you were, at the oldest, what, 5? That's truly clever.

[–] Elfie-5 20 years ago

I think you're kidding, but if not...these things happen. In 1999 I finish writing a short novel, which, bore more than a passing resemblence to "Fraility;" the biggest difference being the people doing "god's work" were close friends rather than relatives. However, it was a silly book, so maybe all of a dozen people have ever read it, and I certainly didn't let it loose on the internet or pitch it to anyone. Short of convincing myself that the write somehow hacked into my computer, I think it's safe to say that the script's writer came by his ideas legitimately.

[–] thetitanicvoyage 20 years ago

Actually...I'm not kidding. Although some people seem to think I am! Your story is proof that I am not making things up. It's just so weird that I come up with these ideas.

For instance...

I wrote a short film (which I'm shooting next week by the way!) and I had an evil bomb which talks...and threatens to blow up. I had no idea about 'Dark Star'...and when I watched it, I nearly fell off my chair! Then I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey...and became a Kubrick fanatic. ;-)

Life moves in strange ways. Did you know that two people were working on the development of the H-Bomb at the same time...but had no idea about each other, and both thought their ideas were unique?

Hmm...

Kim

If you want to read the script...it's here:

www.kimberleydayle.com/interference.pdf

http://www.kimberleydayle.com
...listen to my songs...

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] uterus 20 years ago

i truely love the irony that someone "ripped off" your version of secret window. you're not bad at singing, but i bet you were devistated when alanis released "uninvited" and when sarah mclaughlan released "adia" before you could =P

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] lmoonl 20 years ago

Not a psychologist - a psychiatrist. One who has had clinical practice and who can prescribe drugs and electroshocks.

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] danchristman 20 years ago

Reminds me of the time I dreamed up this idea for a movie... I had this character who was going to be an archaeologist who, every now and then, would travel to exotic locations and search for artifacts. I decided to set the story in the 1940's, like the great old adventure serials from RKO.

I thought I would add realism by having this character search for actual "lost" items, like the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail... and I wanted to use Nazis as the main villains, and my archaeologist would get into amazing and dangerous situations and manage fantastic escapes.

But I ran into trouble when I was trying to think up a catchy name for this guy. It had to be something unusual and it had to invoke the thought of adventure whenever you heard it.

So then I gave up and played x-box the rest of the day.

[–] SungHero 20 years ago

Sounds really cool. If you ever decide to pick back up on that and let me know. I'd be honored to hear about it.

[–] SungHero 20 years ago

I know exactly how you feel. I'm a screenwriter myself and, while I have never encountered questionable coincedences as you have, I know how it feels to see your idea somewhere else.

I once came up with the idea of tiny remote control cars that have sensors on them so that when they bump into each other you gain points...making bumper cars into a portable game. Lo and behold a few months later, I was browsing through a magazine called "Things You Never Knew Existed" (coincedence?) and there it was sitting there on the page, described as I had envisioned it.

Another time, I had the brilliant idea of combining an eraser with a pencil sharpener. Stumbled upon exactly that in a, of all places, 99 cent only store...

So, I'm sure you don't really care about my experiences but I just wanted to let you know that I get where you're coming from. I wish you better luck on your screenwriting endeavors. And remember the power of copyrighting. An easy low-budget way, which probably wouldn't hold up in court, but it's better than nothing is to:
Put a rough draft or final draft or idea on paper, sign your name, write the date and copyright year that it is, pop it into an envelope and mail it to yourself and then don't open it. Now, you'll have your idea in a sealed envelope, processed and stamped with a date by the government (The U.S. Postal Service). I do it all the time!

Hope to hear from you again...under better circumstances.

[–] ctlfreak 18 years ago

well, if your a writer, do what i do, copywrite

then sue if they steal it

hope everything works out

[–] 18 years ago

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