Can anyone tell me if it is acceptable to mention a well known living person's name in a play, not in a derogatory way but as doing something altruistic but is fictitious.
Hi Moya, I feel pretty sure there's no problem with that. The device has been used many times in stage and TV plays, so go ahead. You are not intending to defame anyone, and anyway, I doubt whether anyone would bat an eyelid... that is, if my guess is correct, where you intend to employ this, and thus your prospective audience.
Best wishes.
Trev
Sorry Trev,
To be so late in replying. Thank you for your advice. I was not sure as I was referring to a living person but not in any disparaging way. In fact in my play the Russian Millionaire kits out an unknown kids soccer team so unless he gets inundated with requests for football kits...
Thanks again, Trev,
Moya
A while back I wrote about a character wanting to cut off Paul McCartney's head on live TV with a potato peeler, and when I worried about it some time after the horse had bolted I was told by the professional editor who formatted my book for Kindle that it was perfectly fine, it was a Pop culture reference and no one would say a word because it was obviously a fictional situation and I wasn't implying anything untoward about Paul McCartney.
Just look at the stuff comedians like Frankie Boyle get away with saying. Sure, some folk complain, but he's never been prosecuted for defamation of character or anything of that ilk. And trawl through YouTube, it's full of videos insinuating that Tony Blair is a war criminal and George Bush blew up the World Trade centre and blamed it on Muslim fundamentalists as an excuse to invade Iraq and steal its oil reserves. I don't know about the legality of such matters, mind.....
Some people will complain about anything, though. When Stephen King published The Stand he received a barrage of complaints about a fictional politician kicking a fictional dog to death, claiming that it encouraged or condoned animal cruelty, though the scene was crucial to the plot to illustrate what a piece of shit the character in question was.
And, mentioning a totally unrelated issue in passing, I once had a picture of a rather lovely topless mermaid removed from Facebook by the administrators because it was considered to be more objectionable than the extremely graphic pictures of gangland shootings someone whose name I won't mention had posted, plus someone else whose name I also won't mention posting a picture of his sweaty, rather undersized wedding tackle during a drunken moment. Publish and be damned, I say.
With reference to your last paragraph, Walrus, and your citation of the Facebook action (my God, amazing for them to take a moral stand), it has always amazed be why pictures and newsreels of beatings, killings and images of mutilated bodies etc. should be considered more acceptable to our eyes than pictures of people indulging in sexual acts. We have a strange culture in this country. This has always been a 'no-brainer' to me, the morally correct choice between the two 'exposes' (pictures of death and mutilation on the one hand; and on the other, pictures of acts that are in a large part, representitive of the circle of life). In fact the dual standards in the presentation of sexual subjects is the real obscenity in Britain. And your comment: 'Publish and be damned... I'm with you all the way on that one. Good comment.
Trev
We are the Walruses, goo-goo-ga-joob!
Trev
Hello Walrus,
Thank you for replying to my question and sorry I have been so long in acknowledging it. I was just a bit unsure and as I was about to take my play to see if local highly regarded AmDram Society might take it on I wanted to be sure.
Thank you once again,
Moya
I tend so sail close to the wind, Moya, especially when I was posting my diaries. I've given my personal opinions on celebrities, politicians and pretty much anybody that I had an opinion on. I only ever had one piece removed and that was about the bastard who cost me my business because it was very current and the Sun Newspaper were running an expose on him at the time.
As above, I think as long as you're not going for out and out slander or libel then you'll be okay. For instance saying that you've had wild sex with Simon Cowel would probably get you sued, but saying that, in your opinion, he's suffering from small penis syndrome is perfectly acceptable. well I think, anyway.
Sooz,
Does Simon Cowell really suffer from small penis syndrome? This has come as something of a shock. I thought he wore high wasted trousers to hold everything up because things unmentionable were in danger of being dragged on floor. Oh well, he has my sympathy if he's only got millions what woman will look at him?
Moya
Whooops, thanks for replying.
Exactly, Trev, you've hit the nail directly on the head. This silly country tries to prosecute women for breastfeeding in public - what could be more natural and beautiful than that? As for the Facebook post, it was a tasteful picture as far as I'm concerned, but I think someone complained about the nipples, shock, horror, disgust - as we all know, there's nothing more morally crumbling than nakedness and nipples..... I pointed out the gruesome images on other peoples' pages, particularly one of a young man with half of his head missing and his brains seeping into the gutter, and I said I'd like to make a complaint about it, but nothing was done and as far as I know the pictures are still there.
I've said all sorts of daft stuff about people in stories. There's one tale I'm trying to pluck up the courage to post here about a certain politician's adventures in hell, where he meets a grossly enlarged American politician who wants to hump his bones, but the devil has a different agenda - I haven't omitted the names out of coyness, it would just spoil the surprise when the story is posted. I reckon as long as it's made obvious that you're riding a fictional train and no malice is involved you won't have much hassle, and you could probably get away with bloody murder.
Legally fair comment or opinion is fine - gratuitous filth with no proof about a living person, allegations of illegal or perverse actions are not. Most things are fine so my advice is to just go ahead and include what you want - and we'll soon alert you if there's a problem.
Hello Tony,
Once again I must apologise for being late in thanking you for your help. But you need not have a care I keep gratuitous filth in the home. In fact I hold you responsible for that because since joining this site my housework regime now amounts to me opening both front and back doors on a windy day and letting the wind do its worst.
Moya
TVR
TVR