ErinLaing.com

We just found out that we are not allowed to use Scrabble in the film. The game was at the center of a very important scene where the playing of the game between two of the characters revealed a lot about their relationship. Because we are working on a very low budget, we could not afford what is called E & O’s (errors and omissions) which distributors require if they are going to broadcast your film. The only way around this is to be absolutely certain that we do not use or show any brand names or copy written material. If we did go ahead and use brand names, companies could technically sue us and we would have no insurance to protect us.

Normally you can get away with this by covering up or slightly modifying recognizable labels. Not so with Scrabble. Everything from the board, to the stars on the board and the little wooden plates that you keep your letters on are copy written. Which means that I can’t use the game. At all.

I despise the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, along with numerous others that restrict creativity rather than encourage it. But that’s a debate that’s been going on forever and which is not likely to be resolved any time soon.

Instead of scrabble I’m going to use a crossword puzzle. (Has anyone seen Wordplay?) Sometimes these bumps force you to think of other creative ways to tell the same story.

I think this might work even better.