Has anyone here written anything, in any form, that resembled something else?

I just read through the In Bruges screenplay, man what a quick and easy read, but I noticed some similarities in something I've been writing.

So I'm curious, if you realized that something resembles something else, something slightly unique, do you stray away from it? Or do you turn it into an homage, and when does that homage turn into a ripoff?

A great example from something recent would be Mr. Robot, the TV show on the USA Network. I think most people who watched it were on board, and realized the Fight Club nods, but by the end were somewhat disappointed in the massive similarities. If you haven't seen Mr. Robot, it's worth checking out, but it really does turn into Fight Club for the new generation, or Project Mayhem more specifically.

Quoted from Steven A great example from something recent would be Mr. Robot, the TV show on the USA Network. I think most people who watched it were on board, and realized the Fight Club nods, but by the end were somewhat disappointed in the massive similarities. If you haven't seen Mr. Robot, it's worth checking out, but it really does turn into Fight Club for the new generation, or Project Mayhem more specifically.

Mr. Robot is great. Similar to the Fight Club journey, far from a rip off. The show makes it pretty clear about halfway through season 1 that a "Fight Club" scenerio is to be expected, and that's pretty much where the similarities end in my opinion.

I'm not only talking about the "this character is in the other character's head" aspect of it. I'm talking about Mr. Robot and Fight Club sharing the same "Project Mayhem" type of plot.

Also, what about the reveal that Mr. Robot was in Elliot's head? The montage of scenes where we originally saw Mr. Robot but now he's gone, and we see what really happened? That's taken directly from Fight Club.

Not to mention the storytelling itself, which was voice over in the middle of on screen characters speaking.

True, Project Mayhem type plot is another similarity. I couldn't tell you about the reveal because I don't remember that being lifted from Fight Club. I just remember watching Mr. Robot and never thinking about Fight Club. You could get technical and say the structure is similar to Dexter, especially in the pilot. And the voice over.

That's true about Dexter. Voice over is one thing, but it's when the voice over is breaking the fourth wall.

I didn't mean for this to be a thread on Mr. Robot and Fight Club, I just brought them up as something recent.

I think on average there are 2600 movies made every year. If I recall correctly, I think over 600 movies are produced a year in the US. IMO this is a low number, considering a ton of low budget movies are made that never get distribution and never see the light of day. I think near 300 movies a year are made in the UK alone.

So when you factor in all these movies, plus add TV shows, really everything you write will resemble something else. No getting around that. One lucky factor is that people tend to write the same stuff over and over again.

But I would not put an homage intentionally in a script, unless it's super obvious that you're doing the old - wink, wink, nudge, nudge. This is however just my opinion.

I get what you're saying.

When writing a script about a hitman, you can't help but think of movies like In Bruges or Grosse Pointe Blank.

I've rewritten The Birds by Daphne duMaurier, much like Ed McBain did for Hitchcock. I've also recently rewritten Oliver Twist, but set it in a dystopian future. It's more Oliver Twist meets Mad Max. I've remixed them so they are stories in their own right, but there are lots of nods toward the original works and authors. If you're going to do something like that then make sure you have researched exceptionally well.

There are probably about 10,000 films that in some form or another could be viewed as a homage to Shakespeare

Quoted from eldave1 There are probably about 10,000 films that in some form or another could be viewed as a homage to Shakespeare

Interesting concept, Dave. I believe scholars that study Shakespeare state he tapped into every (form of) conflict known to man one way or another and, most stories today are just revised adaptations of his works.

There is, however, a shroud of mystery surrounding his works. Manly P. Hall proposes an interesting or alternative view of this mystery for those who are interested… to be taken at face value of course.

Internet Sacred Text Archives/ Sub Rosa/ The Secret Teachings of All Ages/ Bacon, Shakspere, and the Rosicrucians

Direct link…

http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/sta41.htm

Interesting read - thanks