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INTEREST: BONES Asks Public Not to Submit Unsolicited Story Ideas


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Яeverse



Joined: 16 Jun 2014
Posts: 1135
Location: Indianapolis
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 3:14 pm Reply with quote
Please dont submit unsolicitied ideas that we may or may not read

BUT if we do read it

"Bones, Inc. is not liable in any way, including but not limited to liability for monetary compensation, should any submitted idea or proposal be identical or similar, whether in whole or in part, to any title, project, product, or service of Bones, Inc."

considering hard copies are trashed (though I guess they might open an envelope that piques their curiosity if it looks pretty or cool), I assume maybe people can just tweet them and whoever looks/monitors their account might get intrigued to look at the image...
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DeTroyes



Joined: 30 May 2016
Posts: 520
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 3:18 pm Reply with quote
I suspect this is a sign that the writing competitions some of these publishers and studios used to sponsor are now a thing of the past. Chances are if they do happen, they'll be run by a third party with no obvious ties to any publisher or studio.
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CrypticPurpose



Joined: 15 Jan 2020
Posts: 320
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:18 pm Reply with quote
Another one of those "This is why we can't have nice things" situations. The idea of getting discovered thanks to sending in your story has been a childhood dream for many, but if it results in crazy people setting buildings on fire, that's too high a cost.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13540
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:20 pm Reply with quote
It's not just anime studios. This is a similar practice that is freq. among major film companies.
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Lynx Raven Raide



Joined: 01 Nov 2017
Posts: 412
Location: Central Coast, AU
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 5:31 pm Reply with quote
DeTroyes wrote:
I suspect this is a sign that the writing competitions some of these publishers and studios used to sponsor are now a thing of the past. Chances are if they do happen, they'll be run by a third party with no obvious ties to any publisher or studio.

The question here, though, is would such contests fall under the solicited or unsolicited category. That being said the third party option may be preferable to prevent this.

Side note though, and not replying to the above, I wonder how many submissions may have been similar to the arsonists, too. It's hard to find a truly unique story these days, a lot of elements are found elsewhere, so someone could have independently come up with a similar story to him but flown under the radar cause they didn't perform the same actions he did
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AJ (LordNikon)



Joined: 14 Apr 2009
Posts: 502
Location: Kyoto
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 5:31 pm Reply with quote
PA Works has the same release on both their US and Jpm pages for several years now,. It was also for long time on company about web page. I last saw it on website in 2017.
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Florete



Joined: 21 Jan 2018
Posts: 363
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 6:14 pm Reply with quote
CrypticPurpose wrote:
Another one of those "This is why we can't have nice things" situations. The idea of getting discovered thanks to sending in your story has been a childhood dream for many, but if it results in crazy people setting buildings on fire, that's too high a cost.

This is not the way anyone should have ever been submitting their stories. You don't just randomly send your work to a company that isn't asking for it, you send it where it's supposed to go, like a publisher or a writing contest.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 6:23 pm Reply with quote
So, you're saying they won't be making I Can't Believe This Penguin Is So Cute: A Love Story? Damn.
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Cryten



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
Posts: 978
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 7:40 pm Reply with quote
Яeverse wrote:
Please dont submit unsolicitied ideas that we may or may not read

BUT if we do read it

"Bones, Inc. is not liable in any way, including but not limited to liability for monetary compensation, should any submitted idea or proposal be identical or similar, whether in whole or in part, to any title, project, product, or service of Bones, Inc."

considering hard copies are trashed (though I guess they might open an envelope that piques their curiosity if it looks pretty or cool), I assume maybe people can just tweet them and whoever looks/monitors their account might get intrigued to look at the image...


There have been many cases in the computer game and hollywood worlds of people having similar ideas and developing them at the same time. I suspect that circumstances around such ideas (Culture exposure and world events) can lead to similar new ideas.

Ill sight just 1 being the release of both Prototype and Infamous within a month of each other.
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Cutiebunny



Joined: 18 Apr 2010
Posts: 1746
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 11:10 pm Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
So, you're saying they won't be making I Can't Believe This Penguin Is So Cute: A Love Story? Damn.


Title isn't long enough. It needs to be Is It Wrong To Chase After Cute Slime Girls In The Dungeon Where I've Been Reincarnated As An Evil Penguin Boss?.

There you go Very Happy
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gpanthony



Joined: 18 Dec 2013
Posts: 241
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 11:35 pm Reply with quote
Cutiebunny wrote:
penguintruth wrote:
So, you're saying they won't be making I Can't Believe This Penguin Is So Cute: A Love Story? Damn.


Title isn't long enough. It needs to be Is It Wrong To Chase After Cute Slime Girls In The Dungeon Where I've Been Reincarnated As An Evil Penguin Boss?.

There you go Very Happy


That's a good start but still a little sparse.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6199
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:26 am Reply with quote
CrypticPurpose wrote:
Another one of those "This is why we can't have nice things" situations. The idea of getting discovered thanks to sending in your story has been a childhood dream for many, but if it results in crazy people setting buildings on fire, that's too high a cost.


I'm almost sure that never happens in real life, the way industry is structured would make it impossible. More likely someone will "Borrow" your idea, and you won't have any legal recourse to do anything about it.
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LadyKuzunoha



Joined: 18 May 2011
Posts: 91
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2020 10:56 am Reply with quote
Following on from Penguintruth, Cutiebunny, and gpanthony, how about:

PenSura: The Demon Lord Recruited Me After I Reincarnated as an Evil Penguin in Another World, But I'd Rather Court the Cute Slime Girls in the Dungeon I'm Supposed to Keep! Is That So Wrong??

(Had to throw in the punny reference to another light novel, lol)

In seriousness, though, BONES' statement may end up disappointing some fans, but I think they made the right call. I'm not sure of how Japanese law works in this regard, specifically how easy or difficult it is to bring forth a civil suit on a matter like this, but even still, it'll probably help their case some to have this public disclaimer out there. I'd like to say it'll help protect them from a repeat of the KyoAni attack as well, but probably the best prevention for that is for the prevailing attitudes to shift regarding mental health so that those who need it can access it without stigma, and that may be a while yet.
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AkumaChef



Joined: 10 Jan 2019
Posts: 821
PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2020 11:05 am Reply with quote
LadyKuzunoha wrote:
Following on from Penguintruth, Cutiebunny, and gpanthony, how about:

PenSura: The Demon Lord Recruited Me After I Reincarnated as an Evil Penguin in Another World, But I'd Rather Court the Cute Slime Girls in the Dungeon I'm Supposed to Keep! Is That So Wrong??


Brilliant.

I suspect that a lot of the reasoning may be entirely legal rather than just being related to the KyoAni arson. As others have posted there are other companies with similar policies which existed long before the KyoAni incident. Heck, I remember entering an essay contest in high school (more than 20 years ago now) which had similar boilerplate on the entry form. My guess is the main reason is that they don't want to be sued by someone claiming that Bones ripped off their ideas but really is just out to try and make money via frivolous lawsuits.
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simona.com



Joined: 20 Apr 2007
Posts: 330
Location: Tokyo
PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2020 11:25 am Reply with quote
they said "unsolicited" - that means stories that people submit to the company without being asked. i.e. nothing to do with contests. material sent to contests is not "unsolicited". animation studios and manga publishers regularly receive unsolicited plots etc. from individuals who would like to become anime/manga creators. that's what this is all about.
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