ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) (08/04/87)
[ Hurry up and eat me; this is important. ]
First, some background. On the Thursday before SIGGRAPH, I was
invited to attend a pre-screening of Pixar's latest accomplishment, "Red's
Dream." It's about a unicycle's dream on a rainy night. In one scene, a
unicycle juggles three balls around.
After arriving home, I started thinking about the film. I had just
been given a copy of VideoScape (legit!), and started thinking about the
structure of unicycles. I decided that I could probably do a reasonable
animation of a unicycle juggling three balls around.
So, Friday morning, I started work on the project. I took most of
Sunday off for rest. By 2:30 AM Tuesday, I was finished. By 5:30 PM the
same day, I was at SIGGRAPH showing it off. Pixarians started noticing it
Wednesday. None of them seemed terribly amused.
It suddenly occurred to me that I probably inadvertenly stepped on a
*lot* of toes at Pixar, and fired off a letter of apology to Craig Good.
Good's reply seemed understanding, and courteous. I thought that was the
end of it.
Today, I got this letter in my mailbox:
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From: r2d2!pixar!good (Craig Good: Pixar Music Video Division)
To: r2d2!unicom!ewhac
Subject: Amiga animation
I heard a rumor at lunch today that your animation might be
available as public-domain software via a bulletin board or some such.
I trust that this won't happen as it would be a clear copyright violation
and could put somebody in legal jeopardy. A few people here haven't taken
quite as mellow an outlook as I on it. Again, no hard feelings as long as
you keep it to yourself.
--Craig
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I seem to have this remarkable propensity for getting myself into
spectacular messes.
I happen to know that copies of my Red's Dream spinoff exist outside
my control. Therefore, to anyone who comes in contact with this monster
I've created, *PLEASE DO NOT REDISTRIBUTE IT ANY FURTHER* until I can get
this worked out. Personally, I'd like to see it get the widest possible
distribution. However, there will have to be many negotiations and arrivals
at understandings with Pixar before I can let this go any further. It is,
after all, 98% their creativity.
*PLEASE DO NOT FLAME PIXAR ABOUT THIS!!!* This is my problem, of my
own manufacture. The people at Pixar are good people, and I wish to remain
friends with anyone I managed to favorably impress. I will deal with this
mess.
In the meantime, please help me save my legal rump. Don't
redistribute my work until you hear otherwise from me. OK?
Thank you very much for your understanding.
P.S: Please replicate this request on any BBS's you may frequent.
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Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape ihnp4!ptsfa -\
\_ -_ Bike shrunk by popular demand, dual ---> !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o But it's still the only way to fly. hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR? I don't work FOR anybody! I'm just having fun." -- The Doctor