Jay Leno ripped me off

I've gotten some good emails in my day, and last week I received one of the all-time best: Sean O'Rourke, a research coordinator for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno reached out to me for permission to show my Taylor Swift Is Surprised video during an upcoming sit-down interview with the pop star. "Duh! Squee! Duuuuuh!" I said (not really, but I did go, "HA!" in a quiet gym locker room when I initially read it off my Blackberry). Sean assured me I and/or my blog would get credit. Duh squared, that wasn't even a concern. How silly I become when I'm excited! In my response, I stressed how important it was for my friend Kate Spencer (who came up with the idea for the video in the first place) to be credited, too. Kate and me/fourfour and The Fab Life/both attributions -- however they wanted to do it, I asked that they somehow mention us both. Sean warned me that he couldn't promise any specific mention from Jay, but at the very least, our names would appear in the show's credits -- at least our names would be down somewhere. Great! Since Jay Leno tends toward the diabolical, I wasn't going to get my hopes up that he'd actually say my name on air. I didn't even know if they'd end up showing it at all. Sean and I went back and forth a few times about getting him the highest-resolution video possible (a tall order, as my video was a compressed compilation of already compressed source material, since so much of it came from YouTube).

Fast forward to last night:

 

Taylor's on his couch and he talks to her about winning awards (this is where the clip above begins). After (unconvincingly, I think) explaining that she refrains from being presumptuous while sitting in the audience of awards shows, Jay tells her, "We put together a little montage of you being surprised." What follows are four clips that appeared in my supercut, clearly cut from HD sources (they're 16x9 and look infinitely clearer than what I used) but put together in the same order that they are in my video (clips that originally appeared between the first and the second of the reel shown on The Tonight Show were removed, but the second through fourth appear in the exact succession with almost the same rhythm as my original video). And that's it. Taylor (after letting out a wonderfully appropriate, surprised, "Oh!" right before Jay rolled the clip) explained herself without a shred of irony or a seeming understanding of how silly all the instances of gaping mouth come off: "It's so exciting! I never thought I was gonna be at awards shows and nominated, and then you win them. It's just like, 'What?!' It's always fun!" The interview continued, so did the show. At its end, there were no credits in sight.

What surprised me the most wasn't so much that Kate and I weren't mentioned, but that the video wasn't credited as having originated on the Internet. This is not an obscure work -- it's racked up over 200,000 views in a week! I thought at the very least, he'd give and indication of this thing's preexistence so that his viewers could hunt it down if they were so inclined. That was, apparently, expecting too much.

This post is to reclaim due credit -- that is one very tangible function of this blog that I appreciate very much. As with my NPR/cell-phone supercut feud, I am grateful that I don't have to stand by and watch when someone's going to be so rude as to swipe something I worked on just because it was made for the Internet. Newsflash to the mainstream media: just like you have actual human beings making you work, so does the Internet! A little respect for the people providing your content would be nice! I understand that ownership is a dubious concept these days, and that I'm claiming ownership of a series of clips that I never owned in the first place, but an idea is an idea. They're so hard to come by and so, so valuable.

But really, the way all this went down is almost as good as if we'd been credited: a chance for righteous indignation is a gift, and I did get to see Taylor Swift's reaction to my video of her reactions, which is deliciously meta and very satisfying in its own right. Her seeming inability to see the humor in her behavior makes me feel like Kate's and my point is even more resounding. She is naive and lacking in self-awareness, it turns out without surprise. What is Jay's excuse?

Update: I heard from Sean, who chalks the matter up to the chain of communcation and says that this isn't the first time that a non-Jay Leno creation has been credited as such. Go figure. Credits throw TK, perhaps.

Update 2: Justice is served!

Or whatever! Frankly, it was served immediately via the overwhelming support everywhere I turned yesterday. I wasn't even that mad! I feel like people got mad for me. That was nice. I highly recommend getting ripped off (provided that you have a blog where you can tattle about the misdeed). Yesterday was amazing (the Times Arts Beat piece was a highlight), so much so that I passed out before I could catch the credits (thanks to Dave Itzkoff and Matt Cherette for catching this for me). Lots of fun, everyone. Let's do it again soon. (Or not!)

Comments

[Charlotte]

"this isn't the first time that a non-Jay Leno creation has been credited as such"

Is this supposed to make it better?

Fuck them.

[Parker]

'Credited as such'. Does 'as such' now mean 'not at all' in the English language?

Let's assume that Jay didn't know about the origins of the video being outside his staff (he did, fuck him but let's assume anyway), he still knowingly goes on air with material that is not of his creation in any way whatsoever and is very at ease with that. There is no way Jay thought 'You know, for my Taylor Swift interview I'm going to make a joke out of her surprise face, something I for sure have noticed over the years because I'm that good a comedian'. Granted, all talk shows feature material not made by the host but it's apparent Leno's handlers aren't 1. funny and 2. above stealing material and passing it on as their own because they aren't funny.

Not only that, but the video (which I'd say is viral) came days before this show aired, so the staff should have known that tons of people already saw the idea and would notice the rip-off (I actually think Taylor's 'oh' was her surprise at having to see this again on a show she didn't expect to see it on because the original wasn't Leno-related). Either they really are that disengaged from reality or they assumed no one would notice/care as Sean's comment above would help support. Since we apparently can't fire Jay from TV no matter how much, someone should at least fire Sean.

[Crystal]

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/tonight-show-says-it-will-credit-bloggers-for-taylor-swift-montage/?hp

Still too little too late! You made my distain for Jay Leno greater.

[Kathy]

Everyone thinks anything found on the internet is free for the taking (without attribution). Shame.

[Got here from the Times article. WTG. Glad this is getting good press.]

[Boffman69]

Thteve Allen invented this.

[sean]

Taylor Swift is so irritating.

[Masked Marauder]

It should be said that Sean O'Rourke used to work where I'm currently employed and was fired for plagiarizing. And now he works for Jay. Go figure.

[Rkitty]

I live in a different Universe - why is Leno still on TV?

[Lara]

Jay Leno only knows how to steal. Sorry you were Leno'd.

[Chris L.]

So then what of your "How to Be a Snap! Diva" video, which took exclusively from an independent source--Marlon Riggs's groundbreaking documentary Tongues Untied--without really doing anything to it? That video is essentially the same scene that is in the movie, if not exactly the same. Despite this, you put your signature at the end of the video.

[Fred]

Here's his twitter. http://twitter.com/orourkesean

[cactuar]

He's a complete douche, I'm shocked by how he took all the credit. The idiot, he's not even funny. Letterman has more charm too.

[Pat]

I'm sorry that people are ripping you off but congrats that it's people like Jay Leno who's doing it and not some net noob.

[caroline]

You definitely deserve credit. I love your words in this post!! Way to stay classy and speak your mind. XO

[Kris]

Sorry to hear that. I do media research, and I know at least four public intellectuals, all women, who were on Oprah. She sends her producers around ahead of time to get "pre-quotes" from guest experts, and then essentially steals their comments to form her commentary, as in, "Isn't it true that research on epigenetic factors influencing childhood obesity shows that..." -- so the researchers are, like, "Uhhhh... yeah." Stole my thunder. Thanks much. I doubt Jay himself had anything to do with this. Supplying the supreme boss with good material is their job. The boss doesn't question its origin. Which I realize does make him/her responsible, ultimately, but their days are structured such that they don't have enough time to fact check. Again, sorry it happened to you.

[SmooshfacedCat]

Rich, I'm glad you are making a huff about this. Main stream media gets away with sourcing so much content from the internet without giving creators any credit. While the "content" of your supercut has it's own ownership issues, the concept is the collaboration with you and Kate. That's curitorial credit at least!

The ownership is in the innovation and application of an idea, these squares think that people online don't count as real people.

Get a grip weirdos, we are onto you.

[Jim V]

Jay Leno pays people to come up with ideas. Obviously someone "came up" with your idea. Jay is not a thief, he supports dozens of writers with big fat paychecks every week. You've come up with a cute idea. You were wronged, and now you got some press over it. I would have tried to get a job out of it. I bet Jay would have hired you or at least let you submit more ideas, which he would pay you for if he used. Instead, you trash Jay and now you have to wait until you get another 'IDEA'.

[Kirsten]

And that would be another reason why I think Leno is scum... between that and the whole "OK my new show sucks, so Conan, give me YOUR show back..." thing...

[samm]

um, sue for copywrite infrid, assholes have sued for less

[sean martin]

Bud, given that you scrounged YouTube and put this together -- without attribution to ABC, CBS, or any of the other networks -- you are hardly in any kind position to whine that Leno "ripped you off". Just be glad that you arent finding yourself sued by the networks.

[Amber Honeycutt]

Rich, this is such an amazing example of plagiarism and ownership of an idea! I teach 12th grade English and would like to use this blog entry as an example of such when I teach research papers in January... with your permission, of course. ;)

[cam]

I actually laughed out loud when I saw the second update- Well done Rich!

[K]

I am so sad that your new format of videos doesn't work on my computers...potentially because I'm in Canada.... :(

[Dubstep]

I still think they stole your idea and didn't give proper credit. I know you said they asked, and you said okay, but there were terms to that agreement which were not met. I don't think putting a brief text overlay qualifies as proper credit at all.

I enjoyed the video and thought it was funny. I've now bookmarked your blog. You're entertaining to say the least.

[CCGuy]

Leno has been ripping off Howard Stern and other shows for YEARS with no come-uppence. In fact, his most notable bit, Jay Walking, comes directly from the Stern show. I am glad you got your due from that big chinned a**hole