First of all thank you for all you've written here Paul. Will stated, well communicated and very true.
I've had "colleagues" "borrow" huge portions of my show, original material which I personally wrote and whuch had evolved naturally from other shows I've done. Sometimes even very well-known named hypnotists. Some have even claimed they wrote it first. Some also do this to my Inductions, proofs and Ive head my books are being translated into other languages. It's like hyenas fighting over a carcass.
This "borrowing" has happened to me from colleagues all over the North American continent, even from Europe to Australia. This is why I rarely post on YouTube anymore.
What's amazing is how I will occasionally get a message or an email that says, "I just thought I'd use this routine of yours and it didn't work, so what did I do wrong?" Hello! BTW, no video nor other details. Each time this happens, I think, "if you would only come to me and asked me first and gave me credit for the routine, I wouldn't have minded." Some have.
But you take it first and then ask me afterwards, I've always found to be of low integrity and quite insulting. Some of these skits have taken years to evolve.
Others of these skits I see me getting out of bed at 3: 00 in the morning and writing them down.
So, no it is not okay to borrow or in some cases outright steal my work, or anyine else's.
At a large Conference of hypnotists I found out after the show was over there was at least 18 video cameras on tripods shooting the show I was doing without my permission. My camera that night malfunctiined. For the next 3 years, almost all the shows they had used strong elements of mine, including music, and some doing outright impressions of my voice, laughter, mannerisms. A bit creepy.
After one of those shows I was approached by a fellow audience member, Terry Stokes. With a large smile he said, "hey John how did you like the show?" My response was, "Terry quite frankly, I like my show a lot better when I'm doing it myself." He laughed and simply told me "take it as a form of flattery kid because if you don't, it'll drive you crazy. Just remember they only steal from the best in the world. They've been stealing from me for over 50 years."
You're right Paul this needs to stop. Each of us has our own innate creativity, performers need to find that within. To take blatantly the intellectual property of a colleague is not only nasty but does not address the unique creativity and talent each of these colleagues they may inherently possess. It begins to turn each performance into a giant cover band version. It's like copying someone's homework or dissertation.
Each show performed this way creates some lower impact copy and over time like duplicating videos on VHS over and over years ago, those shows entirely degrade not only the performance but the profession as well.
I've heard stories of hypnotists who get down right indignant and had to be ejected from arenas by security because they bought a ticket and felt they were entitled to shoot video of someone else's life's work.
You absolutely correct Paul when you stated it's time that this come to a complete stop. Thank you!
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, John. We are certainly aligned on this.
It's a challenge that will probably be difficult to overcome, as it's so entrenched in our professional culture at this point, but hopefully some of us can make some efforts to support better practices, and perhaps even provide some develomental opportunities that help shift the way things get done.
First of all thank you for all you've written here Paul. Will stated, well communicated and very true.
I've had "colleagues" "borrow" huge portions of my show, original material which I personally wrote and whuch had evolved naturally from other shows I've done. Sometimes even very well-known named hypnotists. Some have even claimed they wrote it first. Some also do this to my Inductions, proofs and Ive head my books are being translated into other languages. It's like hyenas fighting over a carcass.
This "borrowing" has happened to me from colleagues all over the North American continent, even from Europe to Australia. This is why I rarely post on YouTube anymore.
What's amazing is how I will occasionally get a message or an email that says, "I just thought I'd use this routine of yours and it didn't work, so what did I do wrong?" Hello! BTW, no video nor other details. Each time this happens, I think, "if you would only come to me and asked me first and gave me credit for the routine, I wouldn't have minded." Some have.
But you take it first and then ask me afterwards, I've always found to be of low integrity and quite insulting. Some of these skits have taken years to evolve.
Others of these skits I see me getting out of bed at 3: 00 in the morning and writing them down.
So, no it is not okay to borrow or in some cases outright steal my work, or anyine else's.
At a large Conference of hypnotists I found out after the show was over there was at least 18 video cameras on tripods shooting the show I was doing without my permission. My camera that night malfunctiined. For the next 3 years, almost all the shows they had used strong elements of mine, including music, and some doing outright impressions of my voice, laughter, mannerisms. A bit creepy.
After one of those shows I was approached by a fellow audience member, Terry Stokes. With a large smile he said, "hey John how did you like the show?" My response was, "Terry quite frankly, I like my show a lot better when I'm doing it myself." He laughed and simply told me "take it as a form of flattery kid because if you don't, it'll drive you crazy. Just remember they only steal from the best in the world. They've been stealing from me for over 50 years."
You're right Paul this needs to stop. Each of us has our own innate creativity, performers need to find that within. To take blatantly the intellectual property of a colleague is not only nasty but does not address the unique creativity and talent each of these colleagues they may inherently possess. It begins to turn each performance into a giant cover band version. It's like copying someone's homework or dissertation.
Each show performed this way creates some lower impact copy and over time like duplicating videos on VHS over and over years ago, those shows entirely degrade not only the performance but the profession as well.
I've heard stories of hypnotists who get down right indignant and had to be ejected from arenas by security because they bought a ticket and felt they were entitled to shoot video of someone else's life's work.
You absolutely correct Paul when you stated it's time that this come to a complete stop. Thank you!
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, John. We are certainly aligned on this.
It's a challenge that will probably be difficult to overcome, as it's so entrenched in our professional culture at this point, but hopefully some of us can make some efforts to support better practices, and perhaps even provide some develomental opportunities that help shift the way things get done.