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Topic: Stolen idea or standard practice?
| Author | Message |
| sasha31583 | Posted – 6/12/2007 9:03:38 AM | show profile | email poster So I pitched an idea to a magazine (one in which I have a story in their upcoming issue) about a new restaurant. The editor responded that they generally to restaurant features in-house, and thanked me for the idea and said that she would definitely be looking into the restaurant for a future piece. I feel a little miffed, but is this just standard practice? |
| Collier | Posted – 6/12/2007 11:00:06 AM | show profile it sounds like she was interested, but practice is to do these pieces in house. good news is she liked your idea, and she'll remember that. plus, now she may feel like she owes you another assignment. remind her of the restaurant idea next time you pitch. |
| paula_vergara | Posted – 6/12/2007 1:07:56 PM | show profile Maybe she just said that to imply that you're on the right track with your idea, but that section just isn't open to freelancers. Find out which sections ARE open to freelancers, and pitch to those editors. |
| sasha31583 | Posted – 6/12/2007 1:08:47 PM | show profile Thanks for the advice! |
| Village Gal | Posted – 6/12/2007 2:49:14 PM | show profile why would you feel miffed? sounds like the editor was very nice and explained their policy. I doubt very much they "stole" your idea since something like new restaurant is not exactly an original idea, although you may have been the first one to bring it to the editor's attention. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 6/12/2007 3:16:43 PM | show profile Email here and tell iher if she is interested in the restaurant, to contact you about doing the story, but understand that you'll be pitching your idea elsewhere. Then very nicely tell her to have a nice day. |
| sasha31583 | Posted – 6/12/2007 3:57:04 PM | show profile I stress that I am a novice, so my naivete is my excuse for being "a little miffed." It's good to know that I shouldn't be! |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 6/12/2007 3:58:25 PM | show profile I don't know about this. For one thing, the markets for stories about a local restaurant are limited, and there might not be anyone else to pitch it to. If this is a local magazine that routinely covers new restaurants, they'd probably get around to it eventually. --Posted ? 6/12/2007 3:16:43 PM | show profile Email here and tell iher if she is interested in the restaurant, to contact you about doing the story, but understand that you'll be pitching your idea elsewhere. Then very nicely tell her to have a nice day.-- |
| seeattleme | Posted – 6/12/2007 5:45:53 PM | show profile that's not really the point. This is a cutthroat business. You let her know--sweetly -- that you pitched an idea you intend to shop around if she doesn't intend to move on it, because you're in business for yourself, you're not in business for her. There are many local venues--including web sites --you could pitch it to. I don't care if the restaurant is in New York or Nebraska. Oh and if it gets published? Frame a tear page and send it to the restaurant to hang up on their wall. I've seen that done here and it works wonders--for the publication, for the resturant, for the writer, everyone involved is happy. Except the competition. |
| WordyBird | Posted – 6/12/2007 7:48:25 PM | show profile I don't see why you couldn't pitch it to someone else now. Sure, she was polite about it, and if restaurant features are handled in house at that publication there's not much you can do about it. But that doesn't mean that you can't take the rejected idea elsewhere. Who knows--maybe someone else will snap it up, pay you more, and print it first! |
| arewrites | Posted – 6/17/2007 7:38:16 AM | show profile Actually, she was very clear that she's not going to move on it, or at least, that she's not buying this story from this writer. Telling her you're moving on with it would look snotty and amateurish. I absolutely agree with those who say that she seemed to be interested in staying in touch with you in the future; sending her some idiotic "well, screw you, then" note -- which is essentially what "well, then I'm going to pack up my toys and go to someone else's house" is -- would only hurt you. Thank her for responding so quickly and then throw a new idea at her as soon as you can. |
| Mr Media | Posted – 6/24/2007 2:53:34 AM | show profile It happens all the damn time! Today I just picked up a publication to read and SURE ENOUGH their writer copied my ideas and even some of the thoughts I had for my article. I pitched my article to the paper and yet the paper STOLE MY IDEA. It happens all the damn time! Thank goodness I was able to get my article published ANYHOW. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 6/24/2007 3:25:30 AM | show profile Ha Ha Mr. Media. it's all fun and games tell the landlord wants his rent and you gotta explain to daddy, "Daddy, I got these great ideas out to all these editors who SAY they're interested in them but never get back to me!!! I'm REALLY REALLT trying!!!! WAAAA!" That or you can't pay your rent, and have to leave the city all those editors keep saying they're SOOOO interested in your writing about... ANyone hear anything about that case from the woman who said KNOCKED UP was stolen? How about those gals who bitched that My Sweet Lord was the actually He's So Fine? Gotta phat cash settlement there, right? It--it truly being shit in this case--happens. Laugh all the way to the bank if you can prove it. And it's not always so impossible to prove, There's always a paper trail, if you're smart. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 6/24/2007 3:26:37 AM | show profile And no, telling her you're moving on with it wouldn't look snooty or amatuerish, Ask a man. |
| bjoconnorfla | Posted – 6/24/2007 12:25:57 PM | show profile oh for god's sake .... again. Yes, it is obviously a SUPER SECRET restaurant that no other writeror editor -- let alone one working at a publication that already does restaurant feautures in the very same locality -- would have EVER discovered. Surely, the restaurant does no marketing or PR whatsoever. And of course, you, as a hard-working freelance writer, poured hours of research and shoeleather and expense just to create this offhand comment that you passed on to an editor who could never have commissioned the piece anyway (which if you were familiar with the publication in the first place, you would already have known). Inded, you, sasha, have been wronged, rip-off, blatantly abused, You should email your editor, tell her to fuck off, insist on pitching the story elsewhere and never work for her again (guaranteed if you do so, in fact). Then you need to ring up doglady's lawyer husband and sue all their asses to hell for theft of intellectual property, guaranteeing that NO magazine in the area will even open your emails eer again. I believe the value of a passing notion casually mentioned is worth about ... nothing these days. Be sure to ask for treble damages. Inorder to avodi this kind of blatant and sleazy thievery, you should make sure to never, ever talk to an editor again, let alone pitch, under any circumstances. Problem solved. |
| argh | Posted – 6/29/2007 11:26:46 AM | show profile Don't listen to doglady -- he/she/its just being a troll. |
| onmyown | Posted – 6/29/2007 12:14:23 PM | show profile You're right, BJ Thank you, bjoconnorfla, for hitting the nail on the head. I can't believe how many freelancers think they are the only ones to come up with ideas -- especially when they pitch them to an editor whose full-time job is to cover a community, field, etc. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 6/29/2007 5:45:23 PM | show profile BJ, once again, either give us a list of the places you have been published in or shut the fuck up. At first I respected most of your advice. But you feel SO STRONGLY THAT this NEVER GOES ON that I now know that you are obviously an editor who regularily uses ideas that freelance writers pitch and think there is nothing wrong with it. This happens all the time. it's happened to me, I've suggested ARTWORK--suggested photos--that have wound up in print in the new york times and the washington post under another writer's byline. Sidebars. Sources. All quoted. I HIGHLY DOUBT it's coincidence since at least three ideas have been from personal experience with CPS . It may be LEGAL. It's not right. BJ, I'm not certain what benefit you feel you are doing here. So freelancers just keeo pitching ideas to editors, shrugging off the notion that they repeatedly get published under another byline (RW APPLE, in my case) assuming it's all COINCIDENCE? Unless youa re somehow benefitting from this, I dont understand your reluctance to admit that it happens. Ence a week, editors meet for "ideas meetings". At the pink ghetto (women's mags) everyone needs to come to every meeting with 15 story ideas, w/sidebars. it's a work requirement. Now you've read these magazines, they tend to regurgitate the same ideas over and over. Why? Because fresh ideas are a VALUABEL COMMODITY. So at these pink ghetto meetings, you HAVE to have freshy ideas. Where are you going to get those fresh ideas? Especially ideas that "Are NOT from the east coast?" (That was one recent edict that came down from a women's mag EIC.) Huh. Where would I get some fresh ideas from other parts of the country? Huh? PITCHES FROM WRITERS WHO ARE NOT EAST COAST NYC FAMOUS< MAYBE? Yeah. That's a real hard one. Others have posted on this board that it happens. Editord have posted that it happens. Writers continually complain--in detail--how it haapens and give a timeline that makes sense to those of us in the biz. WHY? Urban myth? Coincidence? THANK GOD YOU ARE NOT A COP, BJ. Thank God. Please tell em once and for all how many women's magazines you have written for. I'll make it easy. Just name two. TOW! If youcan name two, and give me an issue date and an editor's name, I will apologize profusely and admit this is urban myth and it NEVER goes on. if you can't please shut up and let those of us who write for these magazines contend with this issue that we dface often. |
| bjoconnorfla | Posted – 6/29/2007 5:55:45 PM | show profile down, girl! (besides, some vile editor will STEAL this post CAPS AND ALL! and use it for a cover story in Raving Lunatic Monthly.) |
| Marie | Posted – 6/30/2007 9:17:22 AM | show profile The point is, you pitched a restaurant review, which the magazine writes in house. So you can't write the review for this publication. What is the problem? Write it for someone else, or not. Is the editor not supposed to write about this restaurant ever because you suggested it and she can't have you write it because you're not on staff? So write it for another publication, or not. But don't make a big deal about informing her about it. This is a restaurant review, not an enterprise investigative piece. Does the restaurant exemplify some new trend in marketing (that's a possibility for a business pub), or cooking (those possibilities are endless). In both these examples, you'd of course have to report the story out, find other examples, find food and marketing experts, depending on your focus. You're certainly get paid a lot more for that kind of story. Since you can't write this review for this particular magazine, use it to further cement your relationship with the editor. When you're in touch with her again, ask if she's had a chance to try it. If the review appears in the magazine, tell her you're glad she agreed that the restaurant merited coverage. Maybe really go out on a limb and suggest having lunch there with her (often lunch is not that expensive) to discuss your other ideas. Stealing an idea for a restaurant review? Are you serious? |
| Mr Media | Posted – 8/1/2007 1:59:15 PM | show profile Yes its annoying and it happens all the time. All I know is the publication that stole my idea I WILL NEVER pitch to that publicaton again. |
