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Topic: Continental mag stole my idea. What to do?
| Author | Message |
| ISR | Posted – 5/10/2008 1:09:37 PM | show profile Back in October I pitched a very specific story for the Go Eat column of Continental's in-flight magazine. They turned it down, specifically saying that "X chef doesn't meet out needs. And since I'm writing a cookbook with this chef, I was collecting press articles for the book proposal---and they said they had a piece in Continental. I looked and found the very same piece, in the very same column, in the very same month (May 08). How do I pursue this legally? I'm furious. |
| InsomniacNOT | Posted – 5/10/2008 3:01:53 PM | show profile You can't steal an idea -- and thank goodness you can't. The implications would be horrific. However, there are certain codes of conduct for editors and if you feel they ripped off a specific story proposal, you can certainly try and get reasonable compensation. Pursuing it legally is probably a stupid idea though and the costs would almost certainly quickly rise far higher than the payment for the story you wanted to write. Stop, think, and ask yourself what your goal is here and how much it's worth to you in time, money and aggravation. |
| ISR | Posted – 5/10/2008 3:36:45 PM | show profile I think it's wrong to steal a story proposal, therefore I do want to pursue it. It's worth what they would have paid me, $1K-1.5K. Anyone else? Is there a freelancers association that will help? |
| InsomniacNOT | Posted – 5/10/2008 4:25:14 PM | show profile Well, no, that's the thing, it's not worth what they would have paid you. Just because you sent them a proposal doesn't obligate them to buy the story from you. The custom in publishing in a case like this --if you like the proposal but don't want the writer -- is to offer a finder's fee. The reality of this situation is that the most you can ho[pe for is a finder's fee and the only way you're going to get that is if you can absolutely prove the proposal came from you. Given that your post says the chef in question had a number of press articles, that might not be a slam dunk. |
| RockinRonD | Posted – 5/11/2008 11:06:12 AM | show profile | email poster Bill for Finder's Fee I would cobble an invoice for a story idea fee and send it on with a note reminding them that you pitched this exact idea at such and such a date at such and such a time, in an email and/or conversation with the editor. Wait and see if they send you a check. If they don't, there's not much you can do except out the editor either here or at some of the journalist organization websites like ASJA or FLX. But you certainly have no case against them for stealing a story idea. |
| pamelabeth | Posted – 5/11/2008 1:17:19 PM | show profile the problem here (and this has happened to me, too, in various ways, and to many freelancers) is that they seem to have told the poster specifically that they were *not* interested in this chef/this pitch--and then used it, without paying the poster a dime. my guess is that a staff writer wrote the piece, so they didn't have to pay anything extra: usually how these things go. i have been so frustrated in those cases too. i wish i could say i've had great success resolving them. but people who do this are not generally gracious about resolving the problem--if they were very gracious and fair, this wouldn't have happened to begin with. however, i have gotten "oh, our wires must have crossed" apologies and future assignments, which is something. maybe: resend your original pitch, and the rejection you received, to the editor you pitched, with a note stating that you see they *did* cover that chef after all (and after your pitch). the tack you take will depend on whether you want to work with them again. if not, you can say as curtly as you want to that you are owed an explanation and a finder's fee at least. but if you do, say something like, "we must have run into some kind of crossed-wires misunderstanding [right...]. would a finder's fee be possible? and since we are thinking along the same lines, what other assignments might you have for me?" good luck. so annoying, i know! oh, and pitch your idea elsewhere of course. no reason you can't still be paid to write this piece. |
| onmyown | Posted – 5/11/2008 1:20:44 PM | show profile C'mon. Here we go again! Pitching an idea about a chef is not worth pursuing. Perhaps they already had the story in the works. Perhaps the chef's PR people contacted the magazine before you did. Perhaps the fact that you are writing a book WITH this chef disqualified you from writing the story--you wouldn't be very objective, would you? |
| Canadiana | Posted – 5/11/2008 3:19:49 PM | show profile I'm not saying they DID steal it but... I work p/t as an editor of a magazine now (just started) and just the other day, a senior editor was reading out pitches sent in by freelancers. There was a consensus that one idea was valid but the writer needed to tweak it. However, by the end of the editorial meeting, the group decided that an in-house writer would use that same pitch (it was fairly general idea but still...) so that the pub could save some $$. |
| InsomniacNOT | Posted – 5/11/2008 4:05:07 PM | show profile But still, what? Should they have given the "fairly general idea" that they wanted tweaked to the writer just because? I don't see that the publication has any obligation to the writer whatsoever under those circumstances. However, if you take a specific idea submitted by someone else that you likely would not have had otherwise, that is exactly what a finder's fee is for. |
| Homer | Posted – 5/11/2008 5:57:43 PM | show profile I once pitched a story to a well-known national magazine and the editor said she liked it but didn't have the budget to have me write it, could she buy the idea? Because it was a very well-known national magazine, I offered to write it for the finder's fee because I desperately wanted the clip. She agreed (said she liked my business sense), it ran -- unedited! -- and I got lots of jobs because of that one clip. I only made a couple hundred dollars off it but it was worth it for what it did for me. Point is, there are fair and honest editors out there but, from what I've seen posted here, they're few and far between. Stolen ideas are rampant in this biz and there really is nothing legally you can do about it. It's happened to me once or twice so I know how really burned you feel. So I might take the tack that others have suggested: call or e-mail the editor, say you noticed your pitch was written by another writer, that it looks like your ideas are on the same page, could you pitch more. This lets them know the theft didn't escape your notice, but that that's just the nature of the biz, it's ugly, unfair, mean, etc. etc. but you'd still like to work within those smarmy perimeters (not in those words, 'course). If the magazine's worth it, maybe it's better to just play the game, how ever dirty it is. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 5/11/2008 9:34:08 PM | show profile | email poster I tossed out an idea for a piece on an actor to a particular inflight I had done a number of stories for -- but just one profile type piece. They said flesh out the proposal and asked if I could get the interview. I had a contact with the actor's agent, I've had good luck getting interviews, I said yes. since the actor was a golfer and I knew they had celeb golf pieces coming up according to the calendar, I pitched it. I said are you interested? My editor said 'Not as the proposal's written.' I was grateful for the feedback, frankly. As I was getting busy with other projects, I blew it off, and several months later saw a cover profile of that actor in that mag. I felt like I had first dibs, but I had underestimated what his place could be in the mag, so I still had more to learn about what the editor wanted/needed/liked. Just because you spot the idea first doesn't mean that editor knows you have the chops to carry out the project. No hard feelings -- I've done stuff for that mag since. And learned things since, too. |
| Jen480 | Posted – 5/12/2008 12:02:45 AM | show profile Man, I hate when that happens! I pitched a story idea to a magazine about a year ago & the editor rejected it. Now it's a regularly occurring FOB department in that magazine. |
| arewrites | Posted – 5/12/2008 1:53:31 AM | show profile This is why I often think that there should be a license requirement for writers/journalists, as there is, say, for dentists and lawyers -- one that involves passing an exam. And one question on that exam would be: Is there such a thing as "stealing an idea"? Answer: Nope. Another might be: If an editor uses an idea that you have suggested but does not ask you to write the article, do you have any legal recourse? Answer: Nope. If you don't know this, you shouldn't be in this business. Get over it and move on. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 5/12/2008 1:44:27 PM | show profile arewrites you're missing the point. This may not be illegal (although if it is written and the story runs very similar, you can sue if you find an attorney willing to do it for a small amount. Like a friend or a relative...I've seen it done. You'll never work for the mag again, though, but most wouldn't want to); but it is unethical and frankly, there are top editors who don't like this happening, and will reprimand a senior or lower level editor for doing it. You don't pass someone else's idea off as your own. Freelancers make money for their ideas. If you are an assigning editor and you've never worked with a writer who has a great idea, off the assignment on spec. Or turn the writer down and let he/she go elsewhere with the idea. If you happen to be working for an editor who abhors this "lega" practice, chances are pretty good once he /she gets wind of it (and he/she will, eventually if you piss enough freelance writers off), you better clean off your desk and start looking for another job. |
| DQ102 | Posted – 5/12/2008 2:14:33 PM | show profile I pitched an idea for a feature article to a magazine, and the editor loved it and assigned me to write the article. He didn't need it until a few months down the road, so I emailed him a few times to nail down the due date. Finally, he wrote back and said the section my story would have run in had been canceled. Cut to the month my story was due to run. There it was. My feature story written by an in-house reporter, using all of the sources I mentioned in my pitch. I was livid, but I decided not to say anything. I had my original email pitch, and I had originally gotten a yes from the editor who was enthusiastic. But I had no way to 100 percent prove it was intentionally stolen. The reporter who did the story has a good rep, and I think it is entirely possible my story idea may have wound up in a future feature file sans my name, and maybe that's how he wound up doing it. Maybe I am being too forgiving, but again, I couldn't prove the story was intentionally--with intentionally being the key word--stolen. So what did I do? After stewing for a day and ranting and raving to friends, I pitched the story to another magazine. I got a yes, wrote it, and it was published. That made me feel a lot better! |
| snappiness | Posted – 5/12/2008 2:22:08 PM | show profile Ouch! In your case I definitely would have called the editor and said, politely, "I'm confused, I thought the section was cancelled? But here's a story that looks exactly like what I pitched. What gives?" Yikes. |
| Canadiana | Posted – 5/12/2008 4:54:27 PM | show profile I agree with snappiness: me too! |
| HisGirlFriday | Posted – 5/12/2008 5:07:38 PM | show profile jen480: The exact same thing happened to me too! I pitched an idea (let's just say it was Unicorn Magazine and I pitched to do a profile on a famous unicorn collector.) Editor says "we don't do profiles." Six months later - there's a new FOB feature "Profiles of Famous Unicorn Collectors." Oh well. ISR's incident seems particularly nasty, given that they specifically said they didn't want Mr. Chef X and then profiled Mr. Chef X. This is why I've mostly given up on major mags - not worth the agita .... |
| arewrites | Posted – 5/13/2008 12:49:31 AM | show profile >>This may not be illegal (although if it is written and the story runs very similar, you can sue if you find an attorney willing to do it for a small amount. Like a friend or a relative...I've seen it done. You'll never work for the mag again, though, but most wouldn't want to);<< If *what is written? I'm not sure what you mean. Obviously the story has been written - that's how the OP knows about it. But if you mean that if you write a piece and submit it (which no professional should be doing anyway unless we're talking essays) and the magazine turns it down but plagiarizes, yes, obviously that's a legal issue. But that's not what this is about. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 5/13/2008 1:51:22 AM | show profile I meant a detailed, written pitch--where they've used sources, even the first paragraph or two as a lede, followed the structure, the title suggestions, etc. This actually did happen to a friend of mine at a parenting magazine. Her husband (a lawyer) wrote a nasty letter with a bunch of the back-and-forthcorrespondence attached; she got I think two grand from the magazine. (It ran as a staff-written piece after they talked to her about doing the story and then blew her off when she asked for a contract, I seem to recall) And [she got] an apology from the editor involved, but she never wrote for them again, of course. |
| pamelabeth | Posted – 5/13/2008 1:54:03 AM | show profile saying you *do not* want something, and not paying for it; then using it = lying, at best. how is that ok, in business or in life at large? "editorial wrongdoing is not possible in this scenario" is not correct. |
| recovering_jersey_girl | Posted – 5/13/2008 11:42:11 AM | show profile This has happened to me in the past (pitched a travel destination with very specific activities/highlights) that turned up in the mag some six months later, after I'd received a rejection. I wrote the editor saying I enjoyed the article and that it hewed very closely to what I'd pitched her earlier. I said I was happy my sensibilities seemed to dovetail with what they were seeking, and that I'd like to work with her in the future. Yeah, I was initially ticked off to see the story. But when I weighed the "get mad vs. get work" equation, I figured I'd benefit more from using the story they ran as a platform for my own skills. |
| snappiness | Posted – 5/13/2008 12:02:58 PM | show profile And did you get more work from them? |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 5/13/2008 1:13:50 PM | show profile Personally, I'd let it go. You have no case legally. No press organization will get involved with this. At most, I'd write a letter to the editor in question. In all likelihood, the letter will be ignored or you'll get a response that says: "I don't remember your query. It's possible I saw it and turned it down because I didn't like the writing and forgot about it since I get dozens of queries a day. I idea for the chef article came from a newspaper article we saw. Best, editor." The odds of an editor feeling guilty and admitting they stole from you and offering a few hundred bucks for the idea are close to nil. But if you decide to go that route, I'd wait at least a week to see if your passion for going after this remains. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 5/13/2008 1:19:27 PM | show profile I can tell you why: The only countries that "license" journalists are totalitarian and communist regimes who want to control who can be journalists. If anything, with the Internetm, the definition of who is a journalist is becoming looser, not tighter. I mean, heck, do you think someone should be forced to get a license before they can post something on an Internet blog? --This is why I often think that there should be a license requirement for writers/journalists, as there is, say, for dentists and lawyers -- one that involves passing an exam. And one question on that exam would be: Is there such a thing as "stealing an idea"? Answer: Nope. Another might be: If an editor uses an idea that you have suggested but does not ask you to write the article, do you have any legal recourse? Answer: Nope. If you don't know this, you shouldn't be in this business.-- |
