Those of you furiously polishing your meticulously researched and beautifully written Gossip Girl fanfic novel, rejoice — Amazon has created a platform whereby you can not only publish it, but possibly make money from it. Whether you’ll want to use that platform remains to be seen.
Yesterday, the House that Bezos Built announced the launch of Kindle Worlds, a digital publishing platform where writers can publish fan fiction under official licenses. Right now, Amazon’s deal is limited to Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and The Vampire Diaries — all from Warner Bros.’ Alloy Entertainment — but it promises more to come.
On the surface, it seems like a sweet deal. After years of conflict over the copyright issues and ethical conundrums of non-licensed works, fan writers finally have an official OK to not only write, but possibly profit from their work.
Which means, of course, that there must be a catch — or catches, as it turns out. Author John Scalzi was quick to voice concerns about the publishing agreement and the program’s potential impact on professional writers working in the media tie-in market. Wired spoke with attorney Jeff Trexler, who expressed similar concerns, pointing to a clause in Amazon’s contact that grants Amazon and the licensor rights to the text of the stories and any original elements they might contain.
“In short, if your fan fiction includes new elements that catch on with the general public, it’s likely that you’ll not be able to profit from them outside of the stories that you write,” he said. “For example, Time Warner could launch a movie series based on a character you created and not owe you a dime. While the terms state that you retain the copyright, you also give Amazon an exclusive license to your original work and Amazon in turn licenses your work to Time Warner in a license that provides nothing for you.”
Furthermore, says Trexler, if you decided to keep using that character outside of Kindle Worlds, you’d be violating the terms of your contract.
But what do the fans have to say? Betsy Rosenblatt is a professor at Whittier Law School, and chair of the legal committee of the Organization for Transformative Works, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing access to and preserving fan works and culture. She said the Organization is pleased to see Amazon taking an interest in fan works, but, like Trexler and Scalzi, she has reservations about the rights writers would be signing away, and about the restrictions on content: Amazon’s list of content guidelines nix pornography and crossovers, as well as some more nebulous and subjective qualities like “offensive content” and “poor customer experience.”
To Rosenblatt, those restrictions underline the importance of unrestricted fan platforms, like OTW’s Archive of Our Own, which “allow fans to express the full range of their creativity and appreciate the creativity of other fans through fair use.”
Indeed, given the limited licenses, draconian content guidelines, and dubious contracts, it’s hard to imagine fans abandoning open platforms for a far-from-guaranteed paycheck. While Kindle Worlds is sure to attract a fair number of fan writers excited at the prospect of working under official license and maybe even making a buck or two off their stories, for many, the most appealing route to publication will remain the one taken by Fifty Shades of Grey author E. L. James: just file off the serial numbers.
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Read the whole interview here.
In stark earnestness, what made Gossip Girl a show you found worth giving your time to? I’m not talking guilty pleasure territory here, I’m asking what genuinely quality factors do you feel it had?
STC: As one of those obnoxious people who says things like “there’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure,” I have to go with stark earnestness regardless. In that light, I think it’s starkly, earnestly a fun, soapy, sexy show about attractive young quasi-sociopaths getting involved in crazy hijinks. That’s either going to float your boat or it’s not, but it certainly floats mine.
Thinking about it more specifically in terms of its place in my viewing trajectory, maybe Gossip Girl was the first television show I was able to watch with the new appreciation for glam decadence that had opened up the music world for me a few years prior, I don’t know. Looking back, I think it was the first soap I ever really watched, opening the door for The Vampire Diaries and True Blood and The Young and the Restless years down the line.
But GG always had that deliciously incoherent mixture of celebration and satire of the lifestyles it was depicting, giving it an is-it-or-isn’t-it edge that most of those other shows, however much I enjoy them from time to time, can’t really match. This was especially the case when the characters were all supposed to be 17 years old—what can I say, I’ve been a sucker for teenage sensation since I was one myself. But the decision to go full-on pervy with the love interests in the final season—Nate goes jailbait, Ivy goes Oedipal twice over, Serena and Lily have both been to seventh heaven with the same guy, etc.—showed that the show never really lost its knack for being dirty even as the kids grew up and the show lost its must-see-tv buzz. You never knew when GG was going to pull something as shiny and sleazy as a mid-’00s Goldfrapp single out of its sleeve.
Did I mention it was sexy? I mean, I sincerely appreciate that, I truly do. For squeezing Blake Lively into all those toothpaste-tube dresses, for playing lingerie dress-up with Leighton Meester time and time again, for crafting a dandy-of-the-underworld look for Ed Westwick, for every glimpse of Penn Badgley’s chest hair, for every close-up on the inhumanly beautiful face of Chace Crawford, Gossip Girl did humanity a great service.
Finally, Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf are terrific characters, as memorable as any on TV. It took them a while to get a handle on Chuck, obviously, but once they figured out what they had with him and Ed Westwick, a simultaneous Batman-and-Joker that would make “Batdance”-era Prince jealous…hoo boy. And Blair’s manic perfectionism as expressed by Leighton Meester’s chirpy caffeinated porcelain doll face—hoo boy again.
The Secret Origin of Chuck Bass is one of the comics included in a Gossip Girl zine that premiered at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (May 11-12, 2013). Created by Sean T. Collins.
Would you like to own a piece of Gossip Girl? Have some money just burning a hole in your pocket? Interested in donating to a good cause?
Then check out this auction featuring one-of-a-kind reproductions created by APF artists especially for Gossip Girl sets (Lily’s stairwell, Chuck’s kitchen, Serena’s bedroom) and benefiting the APF (Art Production Fund):
http://www.paddle8.com/auctions/apf
The online auction runs through April 23rd, and all proceeds benefit the APF’s public art initiatives, which endeavor to reach new audiences and expand awareness through contemporary art.
At last night’s From Scotland With Love’s annual Dressed to Kilt celebrity charity fashion show, I ran into the amazing Eric Daman—former male supermodel (no, seriously, he’s starred in Calvin Klein campaigns alongside Kate Moss and has appeared on the cover of L’Uomo Vogue) and costume designer for Gossip Girl and The Carrie Diaries.
Anyway, apropo of the occasion, Daman was wearing a kilt—and he paired it with a pleated tuxedo shirt, camouflage jacket, and a jaunty scarf. When I asked him if he had already been a kilt-owner or whether he had to procure one specially for the event, he confessed that the kilt was actually from the set of Gossip Girl—it was what the waiters wore in the episode where Blair Waldorf launched her clothing collection at Barneys! AND to top off his outfit, his jaunty scarf is THE Chuck Bass scarf.
Is Eric Daman’s Gossip Girl IRL outfit the best TV-referential look ever? I think so.
![Mexican Gossip Girl Coming to TV
Gossip Girl may be over, but Gossip Girl: Acapulco is just beginning! Yep, Mexican Gossip Girl starts up in July, and it looks great. There are some slight changes to the character names, but it appears that the sulky stares and perfectly mussed hairdos are in full effect.
In the back row, from the left, we have Vanessa (now named Vanessa García), Serena (now Sofía López-Haro), Jenny (now Jenny Parra), and Blair (now Bárbara Fuenmayor), and in the front, Dan (Daniel Parra), Nate (Nico de la Vega), and Chuck (now Max Zaga).
Again, Vanessa, Blair, Serena, Jenny. Headbands know no language.
Dan, Nate, and Chuck. Bow ties, too, know no borders.
[Gossip Girl: Acapulco]
[via AV Club]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/7409a195c0e518ab821b0bedbdd85f52/tumblr_mgslldg8QC1ql7hulo1_500.jpg)
Mexican Gossip Girl Coming to TV
Gossip Girl may be over, but Gossip Girl: Acapulco is just beginning! Yep, Mexican Gossip Girl starts up in July, and it looks great. There are some slight changes to the character names, but it appears that the sulky stares and perfectly mussed hairdos are in full effect.
In the back row, from the left, we have Vanessa (now named Vanessa García), Serena (now Sofía López-Haro), Jenny (now Jenny Parra), and Blair (now Bárbara Fuenmayor), and in the front, Dan (Daniel Parra), Nate (Nico de la Vega), and Chuck (now Max Zaga).
Again, Vanessa, Blair, Serena, Jenny. Headbands know no language.
Dan, Nate, and Chuck. Bow ties, too, know no borders.
Kelly Rutherford Talks Gossip Girl Movie!
Kelly Rutherford interview 2013 - Gossip Girl best memories, movie, series finale, Dan being Gossip Girl, and staying in touch with cast-mates!
We’ve always thought of Gossip Girl as a love letter to New York City. So it was wonderful to get some love back from New York journalists when the show wrapped in December. Below, three of our favorite farewells:
VULTURE (Stephanie and other insiders flip the script on GG’s most fervent recappers)
http://www.vulture.com/2012/12/gossip-girl-insiders-pay-tribute-to-the-reality-index.html
NEW YORK TIMES (Josh and Stephanie talk about what makes a satisfying series finale)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/arts/television/30-rock-and-gossip-girl-say-goodbye.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
NEW YORKER (writer Emily Greenhouse offers a thoughtful tribute)
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/12/farewell-gossip-girl.html
Thanks for the love, NYC!
“You’re nobody until you’re talked about.” - Dan Humphrey
Friday, January 11 will be the center of Thailand major events happened again.Siam. Launched with a new look, which is not only an exciting new cutting-edge design. But the revolutionary shopping. With the new concept of “Ideaopolis” or “City of trendy ideas.
In December Preview Day on January 9, 2556 for a very special guest has an invitation to join as part of the historical record, major Be The First find new phenomenon never seen before.
• Start with the exhibition Pop Culture. Art is a real piece of Masterpiece’s’ Andy Warhol’s and Roy Litchfield Mountain Stein artists pop art, world-renowned for the people of Thailand to watch closely and Fashion Exhibition class. The fashion world’s master piece ‘Yoji Yamamoto’ and ‘kombi pack de Cartagena’ championships with the designers Thailand.
•. Thump and scream to the world’s leading artists, led by Nikki Minneapolis and rappers ultra fashionable young, Kim Bum Korean handsome face. One of the F4 and Angel actresses such as Thailand, the mountain landscape and the new Ken Davis Lake and enjoy the concert of Burin.
Open for grand standing. Friday, January 11, 2556 Open to the touch Thai people love the new look in from 18:00 hours onwards.
• Meet Hollywood actresses Hollywood to direct this particular work. The British star of Gossip Girl’s Haven, CT (Leighton Meester) and Queen B. Blair and Ed started with West Vic (Ed Westwick) and Blair and Chuck casting the gods.
•. First time in Thailand, the Tai O Cruises (Taio Cruz) Artist Best Electro Dance New York. A song Break Your Heart.
• a scream closely with train Soup Star Thailand led by the Edchns, Bologna Bologna, Boy Pakorn, Mario, New Davis City, ferns type progenitor, Munich look McNamara, Amy. Emerald, Iceland and many more meta human Asada.
•. Enjoy music from artists Tattoo Colour and fill it with DJ Soulflower and DJ Onra.
Siam was …. I miss it. With a major part of the historical record.
This Jan. 9 for the day with special guests tickets to visit the new models before anyone else.
, and. Grand Open Day This Morning Jan. 11, beginning at 18:00 pm, open to all, with great views of the phenomenon. Siam. City of trendy ideas.
As many of you know, this week saw the end of an era — the culmination of our work on our Reality Index, in which we followed each episode of Gossip Girl like an army of headband-wearing, undermining minions, slavishly collecting details in service of … a special scientific experiment, the details of which can never be revealed. Over the past five-plus years, we (Chris Rovzar, Chris’s Boyfriend, the Commenter Formerly Known as Jessica’s Husband, and I, accompanied by a mostly merry band of commenters) have spent hours questioning the decisions of the creators of the Greatest Show of Our Time, alternately praising them for their sensitivity and chiding them for their crazy-ass plotting and seeming inability to control certain actors’ irrepressible hair and cleavage. Now that the Reality Index has come to an end, It seemed only fair to give the people on the, er, “Inside” of Gossip Girl a chance to talk back. Herewith, their comments on theGossip Girl Reality Index.
More Real Than Mayor Bloomberg’s Gossip Girl Fandom
Stephanie Savage, writer/co-creator: I heard the writers talking about it in the room after the pilot aired. Josh Safran sent me a link. I remember reading, thinking it was clever and funny — cooler than a recap! obsessed with New York, just like us! — but I didn’t really lock in until I got to: “Dancing on tables at Bungalow.” After its steady decline in recent years, the high-school crowd is right about where that place is at these days. +8. And that was exactly our rationale for picking it! Literally, Josh Schwartz and I were musing aloud about who was letting in the hot high school girls and we were like, Bungalow! Hahaha. And you guys got it completely. But then came: Formal invitations — on paper — are issued for the “Kissing on the Lips Party.” -2. Real kids use Evite. Evite??? You had me, then you lost me. But you immediately (re-)got me with your self-deprecating retraction/correction: “Update: A very alert (and very correct) young reader e-mailed us to point out: “Evite? Please. Real kids use Facebook.” So true! We have never felt more old or irrelevant.” And thus reading the Index and the comments became a Tuesday-morning ritual.
Zuzanna Sadowski, a.k.a. Dorota: I have actually been known to get to the NYMag site too early on a Tuesday and to have to refresh, refresh, refresh until the recap comes up. I know perfection can’t be rushed.
Eric Daman, costume designer: My team and I read it aloud every Tuesday morning, almost religiously, usually with giggles and smirks, sometimes with scowls as our fabulous fashions were scrutinized.
Brittany Griffin, assistant costume designer: Cleavage Rhombus was all of a sudden a term we used with frequency.
Eric Daman: The Cleavage Rhombus really had a mind of its own and would show up unexpectedly, but definitely gained more attention once NYMag named it. We totally tried to push the Rhombus Index beyond its original Herve Leger traffic-stopping appearance to the ultimate, “can’t-go-any further-without-an-R-rating,” perfectly framed in a Maxime Simoens cut-out tux jacket.
Jessica Queller, writer/producer: I can’t remember which episode the pierogies were in — I think it was Handmaiden’s Tale — but they gave negative points about the veracity of Vanessa going all the way to the East Village to Veselka to get pierogies and then BACK to Brooklyn. They are totally right!! The Veselka reference was so true to my experience of being young in NYC in the early nineties. But that was before everyone I knew migrated to Brooklyn. Totally unrealistic that Vanessa would have schlepped to the East Village.
Amanda Lasher, writer/producer: Graham Collins was the name of my real-life unrequited crush in high school. Awesome getting it into the script, weirdly more awesome seeing it in the Reality Index: “Eric knows Graham Collins because he went to Camp Suisse with him. Plus 2, because there’s even a hot-dog ski tube on the homepage for this camp, which apparently Graham and Eric both spent some time riding. (“What happens at Camp Suisse doesn’t stay at Camp Suisse!”)” P.S.: I wound up stalking Graham on Facebook when I wrote this episode and learned that he is still crazy hot. If we are giving out points out, then Plus 10 to Graham for staying so hot and Minus 20 because he never even gave me a drunken pity make-out session in high school and I was cute enough for at least that. Also, I had a lot of fun researching Camp Suisse. It’s real! I want to go!
Jessica Queller: In the “Age of Dissonance,” they subtracted points for Blair’s Chekhov line: “I’m an actress. No, I’m a seagull.”!! They wrote: “Holy crap. Jessica Queller was clearly a double drama major in college. As in drama and DRA-ma. Minus 2.” They nailed me perfectly!!!
Dawn Ostroff, former CW president and namesake of the Ostroff Center: “You changed our life, I want you to know that. You put us on the map in a lot of ways. I can honestly tell you that you had a huge influence on that show being a success. And I always thought you were very fair. There weren’t many times I thought you were that far off. But Stephanie and Josh will have things to say. They’re so particular, and they have excellent memories. Good or bad, they’ll carry the grudge.”
Natalie Krinsky, writer/producer: They are a gossip girl to our gossip girl and it’s just so STRESSFUL (as Serena might say) to have them follow our every move and report on what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong. It just feels like someone is ALWAYS watching us … waiting, looking over our shoulder … judging us! (Sarcastically/tongue in cheek of course … but … that’s kind of who they are — hiding behind their computers — commenting! Encouraging others to send in THEIR comments) …
Faker Than Our Knowledge of Vietnamese
Stephanie Savage: As much as we loved when the Index or commenters mentioned something we felt the same way about, it was incredibly vexing when something we’d done was misinterpreted or didn’t come across. There were a zillion times I wanted to explain or clarify, to defend with documentation or at least narrate the process as to why we made a certain choice. The Dumbo-Williamsburg debate of 2007 (a.k.a. the Most Obnoxious Real-Estate Conundrum of Our Time) made me so ashamed that couldn’t keep silent, and I broke down and wrote a lengthy, sweaty reply to your query about the location of the Humphrey loft. Because it wasn’t like we didn’t talk about this stuff. We had giant fights in the scout van about Dan Humphrey’s transit route to St. Jude’s. We made the writer’s assistant call a marina to find out how people get their mail delivered when they are traveling around the world on a yacht. Asked a doctor what a bullet wound would look after a year of healing. And debated the characters’ astrological signs (B is a Scorpio, S is a Leo; which is why we always got to see B’s birthday but never S’s, which happened over the show’s summer hiatus). It is totally realistic that Chuck Bass would take the bus like he does in the pilot (weekday mornings, all the real-life CB’s gather in front of the Ralph Lauren store on Madison, waiting to ride to the Nineties). But we also kind of loved that somehow a 16-year-old being chauffeured around in his own stretch limo ended up seeming more realistic, because of who Chuck became as a character.
Zuzanna Sadowski, a.k.a. Dorota: Often the writers of GG would give me, as an actor, a tremendous gift. I would have something particularly funny to do, a spy mission, some high-level meddling, or even a new piece of wardrobe. On these occasions I would check the recap hoping to see this highlighted and sometimes Jessica and Chris would leave me sadly wanting! Thank goodness for the army of astute commenters who would never let me down. If I was ever in need of Dorota love I just had to scroll down.
Stephanie Savage: Most of the time, the commenters would catch and correct stuff themselves. (I did think quite a bit about creating a false persona so I could log on and do it myself, but the best names were already taken. I’m talking to you, FEED_THE_DUCKS, CHUCKISMYPUPPY, GINSOAKEDCECE, MACARONSANDSCOTCH and SCHEMINGWITHSCONES. Plus you guys are really hard on each other’s spelling.)
Zuzanna Sadowski, a.k.a. Dorota: I want to give a plus 100 to my favorite commentator often featured in the recap of the recap — Nikole0602. Just always funny. More importantly for me, a plus 100000 goes to the two commentators with the best names by far — IamDorota and Feed_the_Ducks. Plus 500 goes to runner-up Monkeyandmacarons. I love you guys.
Amanda Lasher: I gave you guys Blair masturbating. You gave me this: “Blair would have never referenced having to “finish something” to Dorota after her interrupted sex dream. That’s way too embarrassing. Minus 2. An additional minus 2 for Dorota reminding her that “God is always watching.” Dorota would never be that judgy — or perceptive. She’s a nun, isn’t she?” I expected more from you.
Stephanie Savage: Come on:Gossip Girl never said that Blair shopped at Tally Weijl or Printemps in Paris. Just that it’s “chic and cheerful up on Boulevard Haussmann” (which it is)! And we did try to observe the time difference between Paris and New York! The sun rises earlier and sets later in Paris than in New York! The Bart Bass event in The Revengers wasn’t at the Empire Hotel (it doesn’t look anything like the Empire!!), and we really did shoot on the roof of that building — our “Batman backdrop” was the city where you live! Why did none of the characters have iPhones? Because we had a deal with Verizon, who did not have a deal with iPhone until 2011 (after that, they had iPhones). Serena’s tranny talons in “The Last Days of Disco Stick” and Dan’s mushroom hair at the beginning of season five were both courtesy of movies they were shooting at the time. Why did you never see Scott again? Did you honestly want to see Scott??
Eric Daman: It was mostly fun and cheeky, except when comparing one of Blair’s Oscar de la Renta gowns to curtain and couch tapestry … just jealous I guess. :)
Brittany Griffin, assistant costume designer: That gown was awesome, it did not look like curtains!
Stephanie Savage: Woke up in the middle of the night and realized: We did end up saying that B and S went into those stores on Haussmann!! It wasn’t in the original script (which is what I remember), but it changed before it aired. So apologies for my outrage and kudos to whoever picked that up. Because yes.
In Total:
Stephanie Savage: The last Recap of the Recap is the final GG ritual. After it’s posted, the show will be officially over for us. As will the unique relationship — equal parts narcissism and masochism (I want to see what they said! … So I can feel bad about myself!) — we got to experience with our very own Greek chorus of snark. Many thanks for the years of vigilance and vigilantism, and for keeping us real with your weekly index. A bittersweet farewell to the Humfro, the cleavage rhombus, the NJBC acronym, and tarantula sex.
Dorota/Suzanna: I am so sad to see this show end. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to play Dorota and to be a part of the zeitgeist of the UES. Thank you guys for pulling the show apart down to its very fibers, pointing up the detail, ultimately championing the whole and making it even more fun! I will miss you dearly. XOXO!
Brittany Griffin: P.S.: If you watch Carrie Diaries you’ll know why Vanessa was standing in a vintage-looking kitchen. Good eye.
Stephanie Savage: Oh, and also? That your own Vulture did not name you one of its Top 25 Most Devoted Fan Bases? We were all robbed.
