Barlow and Bear did not respond to Wait in the Wings when asked for comment Also quick clarification: Barlow & Bear are the youngest to ever be nominated in the musical theatre album category for the Grammy Awards
I'm not going to deny that the songs are indeed catchy since i found it on RUclips. But the thing is the album that they did create is technically fanfiction in musical form yes (I'll say that is rather a neat idea), but how is it possible that a fanfiction album got nominated for a Grammy at all? That is like saying/seeing a fanfiction novel being nominated for a Pulitzer Prize or some sort and winning it. Netflix has every right to sue them and for the show runner and the author herself to express their disappointment about creativity issues about it. You'll figure that the two girls will understand that, but I guess not though. Sigh.
I love their unofficial musical as everyone but they were stupid not accepting Netflix's license to perform the live concert, now they have to face the consequences, the license would've given them permission to do all the stuff they wanted to do without legal actions and they just refused it? I mean, can't blame Netflix for this lol
The license isn’t just a “go-ahead” thing, it may have included smth money related that the girls probably didn’t like. If I were them, even though if it was a win-win situation for Netflix, I would’ve accepted that license still, given that it would open a lot of doors for me. So yeah, the girls do not just get to refuse the deal and then still profit off of someone else’s IP. Shtty move.
@@damsapollo I've seen discussion that maybe the licensing deal was poor financially, which, fair. But also Ariana Grande pays 90% of royalties to R&H for the license to use the tune of My Favorite Things in her song.
Licensing can be really expensive. Theres a chance Netflix was charging a completely unobtainable amount to get the musical officially licensed. What I don't understand is why they continued after they refused, that should've been the sign that they couldn't persue it anymore.
@@ClioThayerIsACat oh true and yeah after this info I agree with you on that last part, I think they were more than capable to make something new and cool
@@ClioThayerIsACat and probably they felt like, why i have to give so much money to a big corporation when they didnt help to build their success, thats why most independent artists fail
I was on the girl's side, I mean who the hell wouldn't be when it's about two independent artists up against a huge megastructure like Netflix? But then it came out that Netflix offered them basically everything they wanted, permission, a golden ticket to make the unofficial musical part of the whole shebang, no questions asked. And they turned it down and started to charge for profit ticket sales at their shows. You don't get to ride the coattails of someone else's story, especially when they TRIED to work with you.
Honestly, i was never on their side. Can you imagine if they win? Next this happens it will be a corporation ripping off an indie creator, but since now there is a precedent to profit out of someone's intellectual right the indie creator will have no chance of winning.
I was never on their side. Even though Netflix is a huge company, we can’t forget that many creatives work for them. They spent time and energy writing the show and designing the set that gave B&B ideas and inspiration. Additionally, this is all based off of the words of Julia Quinn and they disregarded that. Netflix is right to protect the works of the artist who create for them.
This whole situation has me thinking that Netflix was trying to be the cool divorced dad and gave permission for his daughter to spend the night at her friends house on a school night, and the daughter took that as going with said friend to a rave to do drugs and go wild, even when he said not to go. Like, Dad didn’t give permission to do that and has the right to discipline them for doing something dangerous and frankly self destructive
This is such an apt analogy! When I first heard about the lawsuit I was ready to throw hands with big baddy Netflix. Then I actually read about it and was like "girls, this is just consequences to your actions. You made a mistake and things like this happen."
I kind of get the feeling Barlow and Bear expected the internet to be on their side. I wouldn't be surprised if they saw themselves as "the little guys" versus the big bad Netflix. Which probably would have happened... if Netflix hadn't been the surprisingly reasonable party.
plus actual creators of fanworks (from what ive seen) are geniunely concerned as to how this could affect their own works and how ip holders could punish them for work that isnt going to the same level as the bridgerton musical
@@NapsAreBetterThanSex tbf i think netflix was trying to avoid a pr shitstorm by going after them even when they pushed the limits of fair use and basically just broke copyright infringement laws, which is understandable, but even then they were super nice ab this
@@iwakeupandboomimarat yes, they were quite lenient when it was just a tiktok and charity thing, probably since it was boosting the series. but monetizing it is a step too far. fair use has 4 prongs and B&B have clearly failed on 2 (commercial vs nonprofit; harms profit potential for rights owner), and seems to also fail on the other as well by just translating it to another medium which is not transformative enough
@@AllTheArtsy oh yeah absolutely, i think netflix is gonna beat them easily or theyll just settle out of court and we'll 'mysteriously' never seen the bridgerton musical again lol
Netflix is right. It was fun when it was a fan-made musical to celebrate a love for the show/books; when they decided to monetize it, that's where it went too far. Not to mention if in some crazy world B&B were to win, what a dangerous place it would put fan-made content. Their argument is, "why didn't they stop us sooner?" It would be companies would have to start going after people not making a profit to ensure their IPs aren't stolen and put fanfiction and other works in jeopardy. It also puts small creators who aren't Netflix at risk; they don't have the legal team of such a big company if someone takes their work and begins to profit off it; without a licence, who's gonna protect them?
the statute of limitations for copyright infringement is 3 years. This lawsuit was filed less than a year after the album was released. The argument "why didn't they stop us sooner" is nonsense.
I agree, the fact that they let it go on for as long as they did is a GOOD thing. There are many small creators and businesses that survive on that small amount of leeway they get.
@@disgruntledcashier503 that honestly might be what they argue tho, essentially that they were doing this for months and netflix didnt do anything before. idk how well it would stand up in court but they might just throw it out to see if it works
@@iwakeupandboomimarat Netflix will immediately retort by framing it as them being overly generous with latitude towards Barlow and Bear, and Barlow and Bear taking advantage of that generosity
I think the big red flag for what their intentions were was when they shut out and ignored all other tiktok creators trying to participate. They didnt want it to be a wholesome community grown hobby project like Tiktok!Ratatouille, they wanted to monopolise the concept to get fame for themselves, and that morphed into a delusional entitlement to monetary gains from it.
That’s what annoyed me the most. They took something that was the community event and try to profit off of it. That’s disgusting and I hope they get sued for as much as possible.
So were there other Bridgerton the Musical creators out there? How did B&B shut them out? I'm more interested in legal things, so don't know about this story, but all the recappers say B&B were the only contributors.
im sorry but being so touched by a scene about a queer man saying how his love is basically impossible because of society prejudice and making it the basis of a song about the straight couple is just so wild to me 😭 she totally missed the point of the ocean metaphor that she liked so much
came here to say this. That was the moment she lost me. I don't understand how straight people think that's ok?! Being gay was literally illegal, violently so. Big difference.
@@KaelWritstraight people have been misinformed for decades about who gay people are and their experiences in this straight viewed world. It is actually no wonder how a straight person would twist a gay romance to fit their personal narrative into a straight romance. It's not to difficult to understand unfortunately but it certainly is baffling.
I haven’t watched Bridgeton, I listened to the songs first. I fell in love with it immediately because I thought it was sapphic, it made me so emotional hearing how beautiful it was but then I heard he/him pronouns, I was like WHAT??? It didn’t help that I thought there were two different women singing. I thought it was a daring story about two lovers of the same gender who couldn’t be together but we’re in love and they were both married or promised to a man and they were secretly intensely in love with one another. Especially in the oceans away song, it made no sense to me that they were straight 😭 I’m still not over it, I just imagine she/they pronouns whenever they say “he”
IDK that it's really much of an underdog tale when both of these women clearly came up from positions of privilege, I mean Bear literally being a child prodigy aside, just the detail that Barlow's parents were able to financially support her *at all* while she was in LA is kind of telling. Also the fact it all started with a song co-opting a gay man's dialogue for the straight leads' romance is just ??? It's a no from me, they should have either taken the licensing deal or moved on. Great video as always though, I don't have TikTok so had no clue about the backstory. That ratatouille musical sounds incredible
Yeah, hearing that Barlow was unemployed and funded by her parents the entire time completely reframed the narrative for me. She's not a poor, struggling independent artist, but a trust fund baby who thinks getting an actual job is beneath her.
Thank you, these were my exact thoughts. They're both undoubtedly talented, but there are plenty of child prodigies who don't have parents that can throw them full time into music lessons before they can talk or fund their life in one of the most expensive cities in the world so they can more easily network with the entertainment industry. Barlow crying "Is this all my career is going to be?" shortly after one of her songs became an overnight success felt especially myopic.
Yeah. I did find it weird that they used a gay guy's dialogue for their straight protagonist who does not face anything like the obstacles the line was meant to reflect.
Excuse me but when was Bear ever been an industry reject!? she's a literal child prodigy (I remember her Ellen days) and was mentored by Quincy Jones. Just because she wasn't where she wanted to be at 19 (!!!!) doesn't mean the end of her career. She got an advantage literally no one gets
It was like a drug, you nailed it. They took someone else’s creative property and used it like it was theirs to profit from/take credit for. There are plenty of musicals based on tv and movies and books who didn’t have to steal to make them. Hell, the Evil Dead Musical was a BLUEPRINT on how to do this right. I don’t even think the UBM is all that good. It feels so unfinished and childlike. It’s just quotes from the show and overplayed rhyme schemes and themes we’ve all heard before. People were making videos where they played music to popular movie/television scenes long before this, and they weren’t acting like they had written the next big musical. The way the girls preform it you’d think they thought it was on level with Sondheim lyrically. People were even saying that ALW was going to help them write and it was going to be on broadway (eh, not like he’s got the best track record with being kind to peoples dreams right now) it all just feels delusional. If I wrote a broadway musical, sure, I’d want to put in references; it’s good to have call backs to the original work organically, it’s fun to spot them and it encourages listening more than once/makes fans feel seen. I wouldn’t just take direct lines and put a few cliches in after them and call it a day. It’s like if Game of Thrones was a musical and Jon sang “Winter is coming, the North Remembers and it’s For The Watch and I will not stop till I know who I am!” Or how about a duet with Cersei and Daenerys “I’m not a man, but I have a plan! No penis between my legs but I’m taking a stand! They say I can’t but I say I can!” which is all the Louise song amounts to. Just a simple, repetitive, childlike song that acts like it has something to say we haven’t all heard a million times. It doesn’t matter how I feel about it anyways. I just think it’s ridiculous for them to act this haughty and unashamedly entitled over something so basic. The Ratitouille musical was collaboration at its finest. It helped a lot of people both involved and witnessing feel alive and inspired in an unprecedented time of solitude and pain. I’m not saying any of it was any less basic than the UBM, but you could tell it was coming from a place of fun and good intentions. The UBM has rubbed me the wrong way for awhile;It was fine back when it was just a fun thing and I think it’s cool that a fan work could win a Grammy, there are so many great fan works that deserve recognition! It’s just turned sour. I think it just boils down to them acting like they laid the golden egg when they were Jack the whole time. They took someone else’s work (I won’t defend the Bridgerton novels as high art but she wrote them and they are hers), took direct lines from the show that the show writers( who already don’t get enough credit and attention) wrote and created, and said “yup, look how clever we are!”. Then, when offered a legal way to keep going, they said “nah, we want all the credit and money” and spat on the people they were blatantly ripping off’s olive branch while jeopardizing future fan work. Fans are the reason this got big, and no matter how this lawsuit goes, it will set a precedent for all future fan works. How dare they act this selfish. How dare they act this stupid and entitled. They are ACTUALLY GOING THEOUGH WITH THE LAWSUIT LIKE THEY HAVE SOME RIGHT TO THE MATERIAL. Fuck. It’s so fucking infuriating. I hope they are put through the wringer, but then I have to accept that by doing that, the precident will be to harm fan works. If they win then people can just take your work and do whatever they want and you won’t be able to sue them because lawyers will say “well the UBM won so you will probably lose”. If (when) they lose it means that more companies will be quick to squash and fan works to keep this from happening again. It’s bullshit either way and they are selfish, pathetic cowards for what they are doing. Screw the both of them.
You are so right in this. If someone took “their” work and created the UBM Adult Coloring Book (for example), how quickly would they shut that down claiming copyright infringement? They never would have shot to stardom with their own writing. I’m sure many people supported the effort because it was the creation of someone they perceived as a fellow lover of the work and saw in them a reflection of themselves. It’s already so hard for creators not to get screwed by spurious copyright claims and now this will make it so much worse. Win or lose corporations are going to learn a lesson from this. They’ve made millions and can use their success to fuel other projects. If they had played nicely and gone the licensing route, they could have pursued other lucrative partnerships. So even if they didn’t want to do the right thing from a sense of ethics, they’re stupid not to make the right choice for their own preservation. Do they really think Netflix can’t outspend them in a long, protracted case? These things can take years. For their selfishness, I hope Netflix ruins them.
Why are you the only person I’ve seen admit that the UBM is not that good, I think there are 4 songs that are fun to sing but almost all the words are directly stolen from the show and it sounds like robots are singing it? It’s actually kind of hard to listen to, the fact that they won the Grammy is kind of bull puckey
@@goatpie882 haha I was worried I’d come across as an ass, and maybe I am. I have written fan fiction, o write a lot actually, and I don’t think I’m good at all either. I just find it so pretentious how they song these songs like they are poet laureate of the musical world, then turn around and pretend Bridgerton is cheesy and beneath then and to make sure they aren’t labeled “the Bridgerton girls”. It’s so laughable. Also, taking the Ocean Away line and putting it to the heterosexual couple? I thought it was a nice way to say”hey, atleast you could marry check your privilege” but nope, let’s make it about the leads. Rubs me the wrong way.
reading your comment somehow kinda reminds me of stephenie meyer/e.l james. meyer made the world and characters of twilight and was apparently, not just chill about it, but also thrilled when people make fanfics of it. james made a twilight fanfic, took its serial numbers off, and acted like it was always hers and apparently isn't too thrilled when people make 50 shades fanfics??? which, lol. lmao. rofl, even. there's that theme of entitlement and perhaps to some extent insecurity with both b&b and james: their own works were based off other people's works but they don't act like it.
So a woman who didn't become a "star" after doing a handful of local shows in one year and then had delays in her notable opportunities due to (0V1D (and whose parents were paying all her expenses) and another who has been achieving high-profile success since she was 6 want people to feel sorry for them after snubbing the actual creators of the material and owners of the copyright that they were infringing upon, even when offered a fair offer from said parties? How entitled, greedy and hubristic can two people be? And lazy! They are complaining about "hardship" after one year of light effort?! They seem the type to want to be singers for the fame and money, rather than the actual creative aspects (not that arts people shouldn't make a fair living-they should, absolutely) but that that is the main reason they were trying to achieve their dreams-money, and to make themselves more "important" than others and their reactions and handling to this seem to align with this. The world doesn't need more selfish, fame-hungry "talent" that will do anything, legal and not, so long as it's the easy way, to get money and be known.
Much as I loathe Netflix and Bridgerton, B & B are in the wrong now. Maybe it's me, but lately there's an attitude around IPs and Fair Use: play the "little guy" card and steal as much as you can until lawyers break in the door.
honestly i think barlow and bear WERE expecting support by being the 'little guy' in this situation, and have now basically gone silent bc they dont have that support lmao
So many people have the kneejerk reaction of being against Netflix. And with reason- it's a giant company seemingly coming for creative independents. But that's the reason intellectual property rights exists- so that rights holders can monopolize the ability to profit on their IP. Imagine if this was the other way around. Intellectual property is intellectual property and they dun fucked up. They didn't use uncopyrighteable concepts and situations- they straight lifted dialogue. Screenplays are copyrightable. I don't know what they can have on their side to sway this. Maybw the fact that Netflix weirdly allowed some performances instead of filing for an injunction right away, but that seems thiiiiin.
You don’t need to imagine it. The Bridgerton TV series is based on a series of books, written by an author. I don’t know which rights Netflix bought in order to make their TV series, but by creating a Bridgerton musical, B&B have infringed on the rights of the original author.
I'm a paralegal for intellectual property and I've seen so many companies sueing each other for less, but still with good reason. The laws exist for a reason. And I agree, Netflix is definitely in the right. This is blatent infringement of intellectual property.
@@bebel9 I clearly meant imagine if two women created a story... and then Netflix made a tv series based on it without licensing. I know Bridgerton is based on a series of books, but in this case Netflix is the rights holder and therefore the aggrieved party here.
I'm really curious about B&B's careers after this. The arrogance and lack of tack feels like its gonna close alot of doors for them. I've seen comments on other videos that they've pretty much blacklisted themselves. I'm interested in what this will cost them.
I never watched Bridgerton or heard about these ladies and the unofficial musical. But the fact that Barlow took a line by a gay man about not being his love not being accepted and rewrote it for a straight woman does not sit right with me.
Wow. The sheer hubris of these people. Netflix was throwing them bones left and right, actually willing to help them out, and they just said "Fuck you Netflix" to their face.
It was a foolish move to decline the license. I’m sure Netflix would’ve taken a big chunk of the proceeds, but that’s how it goes. Now they will have a much tougher time getting their next piece off the ground.
This is a simple case. Netflix gave them a chance and the opportunity to buy a license that would include the rights to produce their shows and songs. Both girls did not want it. Therefore, they are stealing. Just as clearly as if they had gone up to a waitress and taking the tips off the table. The fact that it’s a large corporation makes no difference. Some of the things they are stealing such as direct dialogue from Julia Quinn, were made by independent creators just like them. It’s not OK. They made a poor choice and now they’re suffering the consequences of it.
I feel Netflix is in the right here. Barlow and Bear stopped acting in good faith, and Netflix is well within its rights to take them to the mat for it. One way to avoid problems is to parody something that has long since lapsed from copyright. I made a parody musical of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar where Caesar and his fellow Romans are modern day high school kids.
Once it's in public domain, it doesn't even have to be parody. Look at Jorge Rivera-Herrans writing a pop musical about the Odyssey. SO HYPED for that concept album to drop.
@@margaret_adelle As a defense to copyright, you're absolutely correct. I merely mentioned parody as an example with my Caesar musical. I've heard a bit about the Odyssey musical...I'll have to check it out more in depth! Thanks for the recommendation.
Honestly, I'm feeling anxious just thinking about their audacity and what might have been running through their heads. Oh, and thank you for starting the story from the beginning! I'm not on TikTok and am not a Bridgerton fan, so I had no clue this was going on until articles about them getting sued started popping up
They even offered them a license and they declined? That is just stupid. How did they think they could get away with that when money was entering the game? As if Netflix or ANYONE ELSE who would have held that copyright and trademark would have allowed them to continue without at least getting a share out of it.
When a company as big as Netflix can sue you and chooses not to and then pretty much goes above and beyond in giving you what you want, take it. Don't abuse the kindness.
The fanfiction community has only recently found protection from original authors sending direct email threats in the last decade or so; that protection only exists on the foundation of it being completely free. The moment you put up your PayPal or Kofi or GoFundMe in association with your fanfic, the author has legal right to come after you. So if someone is going to call their unofficial musical “technically fanfiction”, my hope is they would already know the do’s and don’t’s of what that entails.
Lol. It’s 100% NOT fair use. It’s a direct adaptation with lines lifted from the show. I love the energy and spirit of Barlow and Bear but if they win it will set a terrible legal precedent where giant companies will just take the work of small artists and turn them into shows. Imagine if the lady who wrote the Bridgerton book was given nothing because the actors and directors of the show were “big fans” of the book!
They weren’t thinking long term at all. Were the performances really worth a massive lawsuit, being shamed by the producer of the show and the author in which their ideas were taken, having their names associated with legal battles, losing respect, and being on bad terms with Netflix? Did no one on their team think that short term monetary value was not worth it.
These girls are just beyond prideful, entitled, and ignorant. I’m surprised Netflix, Shondaland, and Julia Quinn have been like the parent that wanted to support their deluded child. But said child, even with all the warnings and several callouts, still decided to commit the crime! What they did was clearly not fanfic, because they used lines and scenes from the show by Shondaland, used the names of Julia Quinn’s characters, and used capitalized on the fame/name/concept of Netflix’s show. I have no sympathy for them when they raked in money ignoring the actual rights of Julia Quinn, Netflix, and the team behind Bridgerton.
B&B are so entitled they must have thought they could use their small creator card, play the victim, and get away with it. However, they got so much press they are not small creators anymore. Now not only they ruined themselves, but they could ruin the party for the rest as well.
I'm sure this video is great as always but I just want to point out that the Bridgerton book series, which the Netflix show and the musical are based on, predates both Gossip Girl AND 50 Shades 🤣
The musical is not based on the book series, it's based on the Netflix show based on the books. They didn't even license the books separately, and couldn't as Netflix has the rights to create stage content from the books too.
This whole thing is wild. What the hell were they thinking? It’s a copyrighted work. If you don’t get permission, you’re going to get sued. If you don’t follow their demands, you’re going to get sued. This wasn’t a parody at all, this wasn’t free, this wasn’t for charity. It was just as it said, an UNOFFICIAL musical. I do not understand why you would cut off communication. I do not understand why would wouldn’t accept the licensing THAT NETFLIX OFFERED YOU! If it’s about creative control then fair enough, back out and make something new and original. If it’s about the “independent spirit” then that’s just arrogant. Especially when you continue to push on as if you won’t get repercussions. Regardless of why you can’t just keep going. As I said, you make something new that your now huge audience can support. You have the fans, you have the idea, just change it to not SPECIFICALLY BE ABOUT BRIDGETON and go again. You can only go your own way for so long. If you do it in that situation, you’re just naive and stupid. It started nicely, but then became kind of arrogant and kinda greedy (charging $150 for pedicures). They had their cake and tried to eat it too. It just stinks of naivety, inexperience, and immaturity. If this is how they and their team are, then they desperately NEED some industry heads that have experience to come in and guide them.
i admire their spirit, but these two women were in the complete wrong to go this far with the concept. nobody in their right mind would do this and not expect the copyright holder to sue them for this.
I really doubt Barlow and Bear didn't realize they were... poking the bear on this one (*badumtsh*), and especially not with the team they had. But I agree with the assessment they went ahead thinking the Internet would be on their side for this one, given people have it in for Netflix for several reasons (not that I disagree with a lot of the criticism). Except it led to the Internet going into "poor little rich girls" mode, a pissed off Shonda Rhimes (that alone would not make me sleep well at night), and Julia Quinn, an author in a genre that gets too often dismissed as "housewife porn" getting dismissed of her rights as a creator. It's sad, really.
Them rejecting the license was the single worst mistake either of them could have made in their entire careers. Even if Netflix gave them all kinds of crazy stipulations.
I haven't watched the video yet, but I can't help wondering, is Bridgerton really such an epitome of originality that the composers couldn't alter it slightly and sell it as an original story? It has worked for a couple of authors before.
It’s not about originality but more on the copyright. I’m not sure about the specifics of their copyright, but most producers/networks/authors have specific rights to their characters/shows/series. You can’t earn money by using the names/scenes/events based on copyrighted materials. These girls not only capitalized on Bridgerton fame, characters, scenes uniquely written for the series that they are in essence stepping on so many lines (Julia Quinn’s, Shondaland, Netflix). An example of fanfic that was actually allowed to exist is Fifty Shades of Grey which was originally a fanfic of Twilight but the difference is the writer of FSoG changed the title, name of the chracters, and the scenes - which these girls did not.
Yeah, they could have done that - heck, E. L. James wrote 50 Shades as a Twilight fanfic and avoided getting sued for everything by just changing the character names before publishing it, and Bridgerton is a pretty formulaic regency romance, but I think B+B were specifically trying to capitalize on the popularity of Bridgerton to advance their own careers. A "Regency musical" likely wouldn't go viral as quickly as something using the Bridgerton brand name. What got them famous so quickly is now their downfall, and for a good reason - they were basically profiting not only off of the Bridgerton IP, but also Netflix's marketing from the show, because every time someone looked up something related to the show or books or online, they were likely to come across the musical, which wouldn't necessarily happen if they just changed all the recognizable names.
the whole appeal of it is the association with the existing IP, Brigerton itself is not that innovative of a story and people like it for the vibes and characters, besides taking full lines from the show the music is just not special outside of being a fandom thing, it doesnt have bones to stand by itself. Like yes, I think its jukeboxy enough that if they made a whole new different story around these songs it would not be difficult, but unless they are secretely script geniuses I dont think anyone would be interested if not for the Bridgerton association, they didnt actually "make a fanfic" (toom existing characters and made their own story) and wrote music for it, they just made the music following the canon of the show but make it even more straight i guess
Your content always delivers - I've been seeing snippets of this on TikTok for the past couple of weeks but have been waiting for you to really give us all the tea! Well done!!
Why the hell wouldn't they accept the deal of a lifetime from Netflix to make their work official with production and distribution rights? Were they hoping to get more out of Netflx?
Barlow and Bear seem incredibly selfish to me, like they must know the consequences that will come if they win. Barlow and Bear are small artists this time, but what happens when a big corporation decides to make a film out of a book they don't have the rights to? Then there will be a precedence where "fan made" material can profit out of someone else's work. What happens when it's a corporation like Netflix doing what Barlow and Bear are doing? Profiting of someone else's intellectual property without permission. It would put small creators everywhere at risk. Moreover, if Netflix wins, it now puts fan made content at risk. It sets a precedent that massive corporations may want to prevent a similar situation, and so they will shut down content such as the Bridgerton musical, which is a work of art, and similar things deserve to exist. Talented artist should be allowed to take inspiration from other's contents. Either way, it's messy. I am hoping Netflix wins, but overwhelmingly, this should have never been taken to court there is no good outcome, only one that isn't as bad as the other.
I'm only part way through but it seems like what the pair were lacking was creativity on the story side, they clearly had the talent to get somewhere if they had been able to come up with a musical idea that grabs people's attention without stealing it from someone else. And the fact that record labels didn't give them the time of day no longer really matters when you're talking about a musical, you're wanting producers for that, and I'm sure between them they would have had enough contacts to call on to eventually get a bite. But they tried to cut corners.
I don't think a lot of people realize how much of a luxury it is to even make fan work now. Before fandom was such a powerful force on the internet, fanfiction in particular was hidden away, it wasn't something you acknowledged, and the original creators usually saw it as stealing. The fact that people fanfiction and fan works can be talked about openly, and people can even make money off of certain things, is amazing. Barlow and Bear have risked all of that. If copyright holders see this as a reason to crack down on fan works, we're gonna see some big changes.
It honestly seems like B&B were surrounded by vultures who gave them bad advice because they saw an opportunity to make a bunch of money, and B&B took that bad advice without understanding the consequences of doing so. Whatever you might think of their motivations, at the end of the day they *did* create something special, albeit with the benefit of an existing IP they could base everything on, and it's not unreasonable for them to want to take ownership of those things they created. It seems absolutely insane that they rejected the licensing offer from Netflix, and I can only assume it's because whoever was advising them gave them an incredibly poor explanation of how the license would work, and they felt that Netflix was trying to take away everything they'd built. In the end I think this is a lesson about being very careful who you surround yourself with, taking the time to fully understand the legal implications of everything you're doing - including getting multiple opinions from people who have no stake in answering the question one way or another - and about recognising where the true opportunity is, because it's not necessarily in the thing you see right in front of you.
I think it's worth noting Bridgerton the show being the brain child of Shonda Rhimes, a Black woman, and these are two white women here infringing on this copyright. But I also don't understand, getting a licensing deal would've given them longevity AND legitimacy, maybe being blackballed is a thing of the past but I can't imagine a smooth or easy up road.
You're the only person I've seen say that they recorded the album before getting Netflix's permission. Everything I've seen said Netflix gave them permission to release the album online so I thought they sought licensing for that correctly. That's wild that they recorded it first!
@@171QAOn one hand, I get it. It's such a powerful line that one can't help but want to give it to the most important character. But it was still bad form and idk how they thought that no one would notice and get upset about it.
I started out this video expecting to be fully on Bear and Barlow’s side against the giant evil corporation. But ended thinking Netflix was fully reasonable throughout. Boggles my mind why they didn’t accept the license they were offered.
I know I will make a lot of people mad with this statement, but the worst part of this thing was the fact that the album won a grammy. I'm sorry but next to the other musical theatre albums that were nominated they seemed like the LAST choice, yet somehow they won. It just shows how these award shows only look for potential PR benefits rather than actual talent
I watched this video essay and learned a lot about copyright in musicals that I didn't know before, Wait In The Wings is a must see channel for aspiring creatives.
@@questworldiangreenknight7455 a church in Texas illegally performed the show and changed the lyrics/story to make it Christianized.. and then a pastor came on stage said some homophobic shit. Lin tweeted about it and said they've got lawyers on it now.
Does anyone have any updates?? Also, thank you for posting this video, I was so confused about what happened and you answered all my questions in one place!!
I posted this as a reply, but wanted to make it an actual comment: I was never on their side. Even though Netflix is a huge company, we can’t forget that many creatives work for them. They spent time and energy writing the show and designing the set that gave B&B ideas and inspiration. Additionally, this is all based off of the words of Julia Quinn and they disregarded that. Netflix is right to protect the works of the artist who create for them. Also, when you remove yourself from the idea of it being created through Tik Tol videos and about a fun show, the songs leave much to be desired. They’re not great outside of the context of the show. Also, you can tell how they literally used the set design and script to write them.
I don’t think this fair use imo 🤷🏼♀️ I’m sure Netflix deal wasn’t great BUT they own the property! Even if was bad it only meant that B&B could continue to sing the songs than gave them fame and success; it wouldn’t be an “unofficial musical” anymore not really and it could’ve opened the door to creating more original content. It saddens me because B&B got greedy (or the lawyers??) how could they think that they could just go on profiting for something it isn’t technically theirs it’s beyond me.
Really sad and such a shame as the music from bear is phenomenal and with barlows vocals is outstanding. Just wish they had taken the license from Netflix as this could of opened more doors for these talented ladies xxx
So basically once the first song blew up, they jumped way ahead without careful planning , got cocky and sabotaged themselves. The good chartings, the likes, share and following, the award, the recognition, the praises made them think they can get away with stealing someone’s IP and monetising it. And underdog story aint gonna help them that’s for sure. I understand wanting to make money and make the most out of it but everything abt this comes across as greedy. This whole ordeal was a facepalm to witness.
Oof, ngl the vibe changed for me when you said they took the famous line from a gay character describing how he can never be with the man he loves........... and gave it to the conventional-in-all-ways Daphne. It's not as if the story even creates that same narrative between her and Simon for being an interracial couple. That comes off pretty tone-deaf
I don’t care about Netflix. I care about Julia Quinn; the author of Bridgerton. This was her book series and she deserves credit and some of the cuts of profit since it’s her work they were inspired by and utilized. Bridgerton belongs to Julia Quinn and when it comes to creative people, their work needs to be protected.
Is it the ego these two creators have that made them refused Netflix's deal? They know what it feels like to be at the bottom and hit with rejection from producers and doubt from others. And because they love a show that inspires them to create and show how much they love it and backing it up are the fans that also love it, gave them recognition and validation that they made it. They deserve it, and rightfully so. But that spotlight blinded them from realizing the middle ground Netflix trys offering to them, because at the end of they day, in paper, Barlow and Bear don't own Bridgerton. The whole Barlow and Bear refusing Netflix's offer to me is like a child not wanting to be cared for when they're sick. For me Netflix might win, and worst case scenario a law will be implemented regarding this matter that mighty hinder other creators.
I don't like Bridgerton and I only heard a few songs from the musical. I want them to succeed in their careers, but them winning the lawsuit could hurt creatives. I hope it just gets settled. They're clearly talented.
I know it’s weird to latch onto one detail in the video, but does it bother me that they took a line said by the one gay man in the show and turned it into a beautiful song for a straight white woman? …a little 🙃
The tone of this video really makes it feel like we're supposed to be sympathetic to these women who were ostensibly just trying to rip off something that happened organically. And then they wanted to bogart the whole project because it wasn't meant to be a fan work, it was meant as a get famous quick scheme. From what little I know, it's not so much a musical as it is a concertization. There's very little musical theater actually involved. Frankly I think Netflix was smart. They gave them all the rope they needed.
The big piece that B&B were missing was that fanfic cannot make money. Netflix were very chill about the whole thing but B&B kept pushing limits. They weren’t just stealing from Netflix, they were stealing from Julia Quinn. They thought because they were just the little guys, no one would stop them, and they took advantage of Netflix’s generous allowances. And they played the “little guy” card to avoid taking accountability. It made me lose a lot of respect for them.
Hey wait in the wings would it be possible you would do a video about the recent hamiliton drama and NERDS musical scandal and the drama with paradise square
10:35 I'm sorry, WHAT?! Did they really took those specific feelings of a gay man and made it all about the straigh couple?! Now that leaves me with a bad taste. That said, I listen to some of the songs and I find them really catchy but I just can't feel bad for them. I really don't get how could they think they were in the right. Netflix had already been too kind with them! I'm really curious to see how this story will develop.
I thought the project was fabulous and that Shondaland, Netflix and Julia Quinn (the author and CREATOR of the Bridgerton world) kind of gave their blessings was super cool. But B & B truly went above and beyond with the Kennedy Center situation. I am TEAM QUINN all the way so I think Netflix is doing the right thing by suing for copyright. I think Barlow and Bear got too cocky and flew too close to the sun. And while Im sure the licencing offer Netflix gave them wasnt all that great (big corps are known for that), I think the consequences of this lawsuit will be worse. I feel for them, but wrong is wrong. I am sure the positions were reversed and Netflix used their creations, they would be livid and suing.
They wanted to ride on the bridgerton wave when they could've use the love they get from tiktok and created an original pieces. They tagged along way too long and they're cashing out on it and the og creator of the piece they're inspired by was left dry ( I know she too got deal with Netflix for her work)
Most likely answer is they didnt want to pay whatever Netflix was asking for, and/or they didnt want to share profits with the actual owner of the IP which is both greedy and delusional.
Barlow and Bear did not respond to Wait in the Wings when asked for comment
Also quick clarification: Barlow & Bear are the youngest to ever be nominated in the musical theatre album category for the Grammy Awards
🤣🤣🤣
Ooof, their loss!
I imagine they can't talk about the lawsuit right now legally.
@@genesis631 *Shouldn't. Some people will talk even when they shouldn't
I'm not going to deny that the songs are indeed catchy since i found it on RUclips. But the thing is the album that they did create is technically fanfiction in musical form yes (I'll say that is rather a neat idea), but how is it possible that a fanfiction album got nominated for a Grammy at all? That is like saying/seeing a fanfiction novel being nominated for a Pulitzer Prize or some sort and winning it. Netflix has every right to sue them and for the show runner and the author herself to express their disappointment about creativity issues about it. You'll figure that the two girls will understand that, but I guess not though. Sigh.
I love their unofficial musical as everyone but they were stupid not accepting Netflix's license to perform the live concert, now they have to face the consequences, the license would've given them permission to do all the stuff they wanted to do without legal actions and they just refused it? I mean, can't blame Netflix for this lol
The license isn’t just a “go-ahead” thing, it may have included smth money related that the girls probably didn’t like. If I were them, even though if it was a win-win situation for Netflix, I would’ve accepted that license still, given that it would open a lot of doors for me. So yeah, the girls do not just get to refuse the deal and then still profit off of someone else’s IP. Shtty move.
@@damsapollo I've seen discussion that maybe the licensing deal was poor financially, which, fair. But also Ariana Grande pays 90% of royalties to R&H for the license to use the tune of My Favorite Things in her song.
Licensing can be really expensive. Theres a chance Netflix was charging a completely unobtainable amount to get the musical officially licensed. What I don't understand is why they continued after they refused, that should've been the sign that they couldn't persue it anymore.
@@ClioThayerIsACat oh true and yeah after this info I agree with you on that last part, I think they were more than capable to make something new and cool
@@ClioThayerIsACat and probably they felt like, why i have to give so much money to a big corporation when they didnt help to build their success, thats why most independent artists fail
I was on the girl's side, I mean who the hell wouldn't be when it's about two independent artists up against a huge megastructure like Netflix?
But then it came out that Netflix offered them basically everything they wanted, permission, a golden ticket to make the unofficial musical part of the whole shebang, no questions asked. And they turned it down and started to charge for profit ticket sales at their shows.
You don't get to ride the coattails of someone else's story, especially when they TRIED to work with you.
Even if the licencing deal Netflix offered was terrible, the moment B&B charged money for an IP that they didn't create or own, they crossed the line.
Honestly, i was never on their side. Can you imagine if they win? Next this happens it will be a corporation ripping off an indie creator, but since now there is a precedent to profit out of someone's intellectual right the indie creator will have no chance of winning.
I was never on their side. Even though Netflix is a huge company, we can’t forget that many creatives work for them. They spent time and energy writing the show and designing the set that gave B&B ideas and inspiration. Additionally, this is all based off of the words of Julia Quinn and they disregarded that.
Netflix is right to protect the works of the artist who create for them.
I was never on their side, spoild privilege arrogant girls, remember me of the dropout show
You can’t believe everything you read on the Internet. Fact check yourself or mind your own business.
This whole situation has me thinking that Netflix was trying to be the cool divorced dad and gave permission for his daughter to spend the night at her friends house on a school night, and the daughter took that as going with said friend to a rave to do drugs and go wild, even when he said not to go. Like, Dad didn’t give permission to do that and has the right to discipline them for doing something dangerous and frankly self destructive
I love this analogy
This is why I love theatre people
This is genuinely a perfect analogy
Netflix as a “Cool Divorced Dad” makes so much sense, wtf?! 🤣🤣🤣
This is such an apt analogy!
When I first heard about the lawsuit I was ready to throw hands with big baddy Netflix. Then I actually read about it and was like "girls, this is just consequences to your actions. You made a mistake and things like this happen."
I kind of get the feeling Barlow and Bear expected the internet to be on their side. I wouldn't be surprised if they saw themselves as "the little guys" versus the big bad Netflix. Which probably would have happened... if Netflix hadn't been the surprisingly reasonable party.
plus actual creators of fanworks (from what ive seen) are geniunely concerned as to how this could affect their own works and how ip holders could punish them for work that isnt going to the same level as the bridgerton musical
Right? I was super shocked at how chill Netflix was.
@@NapsAreBetterThanSex tbf i think netflix was trying to avoid a pr shitstorm by going after them even when they pushed the limits of fair use and basically just broke copyright infringement laws, which is understandable, but even then they were super nice ab this
@@iwakeupandboomimarat yes, they were quite lenient when it was just a tiktok and charity thing, probably since it was boosting the series. but monetizing it is a step too far. fair use has 4 prongs and B&B have clearly failed on 2 (commercial vs nonprofit; harms profit potential for rights owner), and seems to also fail on the other as well by just translating it to another medium which is not transformative enough
@@AllTheArtsy oh yeah absolutely, i think netflix is gonna beat them easily or theyll just settle out of court and we'll 'mysteriously' never seen the bridgerton musical again lol
Excuse me but Emily bear has not been EVER rejected by the music industry. The girl has been in the spotlight since she was a toddler
Netflix is right. It was fun when it was a fan-made musical to celebrate a love for the show/books; when they decided to monetize it, that's where it went too far. Not to mention if in some crazy world B&B were to win, what a dangerous place it would put fan-made content. Their argument is, "why didn't they stop us sooner?" It would be companies would have to start going after people not making a profit to ensure their IPs aren't stolen and put fanfiction and other works in jeopardy. It also puts small creators who aren't Netflix at risk; they don't have the legal team of such a big company if someone takes their work and begins to profit off it; without a licence, who's gonna protect them?
the statute of limitations for copyright infringement is 3 years. This lawsuit was filed less than a year after the album was released. The argument "why didn't they stop us sooner" is nonsense.
I agree, the fact that they let it go on for as long as they did is a GOOD thing. There are many small creators and businesses that survive on that small amount of leeway they get.
@@disgruntledcashier503 that honestly might be what they argue tho, essentially that they were doing this for months and netflix didnt do anything before. idk how well it would stand up in court but they might just throw it out to see if it works
@@iwakeupandboomimarat Netflix will immediately retort by framing it as them being overly generous with latitude towards Barlow and Bear, and Barlow and Bear taking advantage of that generosity
@@disgruntledcashier503 oh yeah absolutely, its a weak ass argument if b&b use it
I think the big red flag for what their intentions were was when they shut out and ignored all other tiktok creators trying to participate. They didnt want it to be a wholesome community grown hobby project like Tiktok!Ratatouille, they wanted to monopolise the concept to get fame for themselves, and that morphed into a delusional entitlement to monetary gains from it.
That’s what annoyed me the most. They took something that was the community event and try to profit off of it. That’s disgusting and I hope they get sued for as much as possible.
ex-fucking-xactly!!!
Exactly felt very “capitalistic” and weird from the beginning.
Agreed. Immediately felt like a gross self-promo version of Ratatouille to me.
So were there other Bridgerton the Musical creators out there? How did B&B shut them out? I'm more interested in legal things, so don't know about this story, but all the recappers say B&B were the only contributors.
im sorry but being so touched by a scene about a queer man saying how his love is basically impossible because of society prejudice and making it the basis of a song about the straight couple is just so wild to me 😭 she totally missed the point of the ocean metaphor that she liked so much
This was exactly my thought. I have never seen Bridgerton or heard this musical and that really had me taken aback.
i let out an audible “what??” when i heard that part
came here to say this. That was the moment she lost me. I don't understand how straight people think that's ok?! Being gay was literally illegal, violently so. Big difference.
@@KaelWritstraight people have been misinformed for decades about who gay people are and their experiences in this straight viewed world. It is actually no wonder how a straight person would twist a gay romance to fit their personal narrative into a straight romance. It's not to difficult to understand unfortunately but it certainly is baffling.
I haven’t watched Bridgeton, I listened to the songs first. I fell in love with it immediately because I thought it was sapphic, it made me so emotional hearing how beautiful it was but then I heard he/him pronouns, I was like WHAT??? It didn’t help that I thought there were two different women singing. I thought it was a daring story about two lovers of the same gender who couldn’t be together but we’re in love and they were both married or promised to a man and they were secretly intensely in love with one another. Especially in the oceans away song, it made no sense to me that they were straight 😭 I’m still not over it, I just imagine she/they pronouns whenever they say “he”
IDK that it's really much of an underdog tale when both of these women clearly came up from positions of privilege, I mean Bear literally being a child prodigy aside, just the detail that Barlow's parents were able to financially support her *at all* while she was in LA is kind of telling. Also the fact it all started with a song co-opting a gay man's dialogue for the straight leads' romance is just ??? It's a no from me, they should have either taken the licensing deal or moved on. Great video as always though, I don't have TikTok so had no clue about the backstory. That ratatouille musical sounds incredible
Indeed 👀
Yeah, hearing that Barlow was unemployed and funded by her parents the entire time completely reframed the narrative for me. She's not a poor, struggling independent artist, but a trust fund baby who thinks getting an actual job is beneath her.
the bit about her being financed by her parents the whole time she was in LA put a lot of things into perspective for me on this 😅
Thank you, these were my exact thoughts. They're both undoubtedly talented, but there are plenty of child prodigies who don't have parents that can throw them full time into music lessons before they can talk or fund their life in one of the most expensive cities in the world so they can more easily network with the entertainment industry. Barlow crying "Is this all my career is going to be?" shortly after one of her songs became an overnight success felt especially myopic.
Yeah. I did find it weird that they used a gay guy's dialogue for their straight protagonist who does not face anything like the obstacles the line was meant to reflect.
Excuse me but when was Bear ever been an industry reject!? she's a literal child prodigy (I remember her Ellen days) and was mentored by Quincy Jones. Just because she wasn't where she wanted to be at 19 (!!!!) doesn't mean the end of her career. She got an advantage literally no one gets
It was like a drug, you nailed it. They took someone else’s creative property and used it like it was theirs to profit from/take credit for. There are plenty of musicals based on tv and movies and books who didn’t have to steal to make them. Hell, the Evil Dead Musical was a BLUEPRINT on how to do this right. I don’t even think the UBM is all that good. It feels so unfinished and childlike. It’s just quotes from the show and overplayed rhyme schemes and themes we’ve all heard before. People were making videos where they played music to popular movie/television scenes long before this, and they weren’t acting like they had written the next big musical. The way the girls preform it you’d think they thought it was on level with Sondheim lyrically. People were even saying that ALW was going to help them write and it was going to be on broadway (eh, not like he’s got the best track record with being kind to peoples dreams right now) it all just feels delusional. If I wrote a broadway musical, sure, I’d want to put in references; it’s good to have call backs to the original work organically, it’s fun to spot them and it encourages listening more than once/makes fans feel seen. I wouldn’t just take direct lines and put a few cliches in after them and call it a day. It’s like if Game of Thrones was a musical and Jon sang “Winter is coming, the North Remembers and it’s For The Watch and I will not stop till I know who I am!” Or how about a duet with Cersei and Daenerys “I’m not a man, but I have a plan! No penis between my legs but I’m taking a stand! They say I can’t but I say I can!” which is all the Louise song amounts to. Just a simple, repetitive, childlike song that acts like it has something to say we haven’t all heard a million times.
It doesn’t matter how I feel about it anyways. I just think it’s ridiculous for them to act this haughty and unashamedly entitled over something so basic. The Ratitouille musical was collaboration at its finest. It helped a lot of people both involved and witnessing feel alive and inspired in an unprecedented time of solitude and pain. I’m not saying any of it was any less basic than the UBM, but you could tell it was coming from a place of fun and good intentions. The UBM has rubbed me the wrong way for awhile;It was fine back when it was just a fun thing and I think it’s cool that a fan work could win a Grammy, there are so many great fan works that deserve recognition! It’s just turned sour. I think it just boils down to them acting like they laid the golden egg when they were Jack the whole time. They took someone else’s work (I won’t defend the Bridgerton novels as high art but she wrote them and they are hers), took direct lines from the show that the show writers( who already don’t get enough credit and attention) wrote and created, and said “yup, look how clever we are!”. Then, when offered a legal way to keep going, they said “nah, we want all the credit and money” and spat on the people they were blatantly ripping off’s olive branch while jeopardizing future fan work. Fans are the reason this got big, and no matter how this lawsuit goes, it will set a precedent for all future fan works. How dare they act this selfish. How dare they act this stupid and entitled. They are ACTUALLY GOING THEOUGH WITH THE LAWSUIT LIKE THEY HAVE SOME RIGHT TO THE MATERIAL. Fuck. It’s so fucking infuriating. I hope they are put through the wringer, but then I have to accept that by doing that, the precident will be to harm fan works. If they win then people can just take your work and do whatever they want and you won’t be able to sue them because lawyers will say “well the UBM won so you will probably lose”. If (when) they lose it means that more companies will be quick to squash and fan works to keep this from happening again. It’s bullshit either way and they are selfish, pathetic cowards for what they are doing. Screw the both of them.
You are so right in this. If someone took “their” work and created the UBM Adult Coloring Book (for example), how quickly would they shut that down claiming copyright infringement? They never would have shot to stardom with their own writing. I’m sure many people supported the effort because it was the creation of someone they perceived as a fellow lover of the work and saw in them a reflection of themselves. It’s already so hard for creators not to get screwed by spurious copyright claims and now this will make it so much worse. Win or lose corporations are going to learn a lesson from this. They’ve made millions and can use their success to fuel other projects. If they had played nicely and gone the licensing route, they could have pursued other lucrative partnerships. So even if they didn’t want to do the right thing from a sense of ethics, they’re stupid not to make the right choice for their own preservation. Do they really think Netflix can’t outspend them in a long, protracted case? These things can take years. For their selfishness, I hope Netflix ruins them.
Why are you the only person I’ve seen admit that the UBM is not that good, I think there are 4 songs that are fun to sing but almost all the words are directly stolen from the show and it sounds like robots are singing it? It’s actually kind of hard to listen to, the fact that they won the Grammy is kind of bull puckey
@@goatpie882 haha I was worried I’d come across as an ass, and maybe I am. I have written fan fiction, o write a lot actually, and I don’t think I’m good at all either. I just find it so pretentious how they song these songs like they are poet laureate of the musical world, then turn around and pretend Bridgerton is cheesy and beneath then and to make sure they aren’t labeled “the Bridgerton girls”. It’s so laughable.
Also, taking the Ocean Away line and putting it to the heterosexual couple? I thought it was a nice way to say”hey, atleast you could marry check your privilege” but nope, let’s make it about the leads. Rubs me the wrong way.
reading your comment somehow kinda reminds me of stephenie meyer/e.l james. meyer made the world and characters of twilight and was apparently, not just chill about it, but also thrilled when people make fanfics of it. james made a twilight fanfic, took its serial numbers off, and acted like it was always hers and apparently isn't too thrilled when people make 50 shades fanfics??? which, lol. lmao. rofl, even.
there's that theme of entitlement and perhaps to some extent insecurity with both b&b and james: their own works were based off other people's works but they don't act like it.
So a woman who didn't become a "star" after doing a handful of local shows in one year and then had delays in her notable opportunities due to (0V1D (and whose parents were paying all her expenses) and another who has been achieving high-profile success since she was 6 want people to feel sorry for them after snubbing the actual creators of the material and owners of the copyright that they were infringing upon, even when offered a fair offer from said parties? How entitled, greedy and hubristic can two people be? And lazy! They are complaining about "hardship" after one year of light effort?! They seem the type to want to be singers for the fame and money, rather than the actual creative aspects (not that arts people shouldn't make a fair living-they should, absolutely) but that that is the main reason they were trying to achieve their dreams-money, and to make themselves more "important" than others and their reactions and handling to this seem to align with this. The world doesn't need more selfish, fame-hungry "talent" that will do anything, legal and not, so long as it's the easy way, to get money and be known.
These girls made me side with a billion dollar corporation, and I detest them for that.
Much as I loathe Netflix and Bridgerton, B & B are in the wrong now. Maybe it's me, but lately there's an attitude around IPs and Fair Use: play the "little guy" card and steal as much as you can until lawyers break in the door.
honestly i think barlow and bear WERE expecting support by being the 'little guy' in this situation, and have now basically gone silent bc they dont have that support lmao
So many people have the kneejerk reaction of being against Netflix. And with reason- it's a giant company seemingly coming for creative independents. But that's the reason intellectual property rights exists- so that rights holders can monopolize the ability to profit on their IP. Imagine if this was the other way around. Intellectual property is intellectual property and they dun fucked up. They didn't use uncopyrighteable concepts and situations- they straight lifted dialogue. Screenplays are copyrightable. I don't know what they can have on their side to sway this. Maybw the fact that Netflix weirdly allowed some performances instead of filing for an injunction right away, but that seems thiiiiin.
You don’t need to imagine it. The Bridgerton TV series is based on a series of books, written by an author. I don’t know which rights Netflix bought in order to make their TV series, but by creating a Bridgerton musical, B&B have infringed on the rights of the original author.
@@bebel9 Netflix seems to have bought exclusive rights to make derivative works of the Bridgeton book series.
I'm a paralegal for intellectual property and I've seen so many companies sueing each other for less, but still with good reason. The laws exist for a reason. And I agree, Netflix is definitely in the right. This is blatent infringement of intellectual property.
@@bebel9 I clearly meant imagine if two women created a story... and then Netflix made a tv series based on it without licensing. I know Bridgerton is based on a series of books, but in this case Netflix is the rights holder and therefore the aggrieved party here.
I think it’s crazy how that album won a Grammy, but what’s crazier was that B&B refused Netflix’s offer of a license.
Netflix is right. They were hella lenient most companies would’ve sued much earlier.
I'm really curious about B&B's careers after this. The arrogance and lack of tack feels like its gonna close alot of doors for them. I've seen comments on other videos that they've pretty much blacklisted themselves. I'm interested in what this will cost them.
They're gonna be the songwriters (iirc) for Moana 2
I never watched Bridgerton or heard about these ladies and the unofficial musical. But the fact that Barlow took a line by a gay man about not being his love not being accepted and rewrote it for a straight woman does not sit right with me.
Wow.
The sheer hubris of these people. Netflix was throwing them bones left and right, actually willing to help them out, and they just said "Fuck you Netflix" to their face.
It was a foolish move to decline the license. I’m sure Netflix would’ve taken a big chunk of the proceeds, but that’s how it goes. Now they will have a much tougher time getting their next piece off the ground.
This is a simple case. Netflix gave them a chance and the opportunity to buy a license that would include the rights to produce their shows and songs. Both girls did not want it. Therefore, they are stealing. Just as clearly as if they had gone up to a waitress and taking the tips off the table. The fact that it’s a large corporation makes no difference. Some of the things they are stealing such as direct dialogue from Julia Quinn, were made by independent creators just like them. It’s not OK. They made a poor choice and now they’re suffering the consequences of it.
I feel Netflix is in the right here. Barlow and Bear stopped acting in good faith, and Netflix is well within its rights to take them to the mat for it.
One way to avoid problems is to parody something that has long since lapsed from copyright. I made a parody musical of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar where Caesar and his fellow Romans are modern day high school kids.
public domain ftw lol
Once it's in public domain, it doesn't even have to be parody. Look at Jorge Rivera-Herrans writing a pop musical about the Odyssey.
SO HYPED for that concept album to drop.
@@margaret_adelle As a defense to copyright, you're absolutely correct. I merely mentioned parody as an example with my Caesar musical. I've heard a bit about the Odyssey musical...I'll have to check it out more in depth! Thanks for the recommendation.
@@iwakeupandboomimarat It certainly avoids a lot of problems, that's for sure. 😂
Honestly, I'm feeling anxious just thinking about their audacity and what might have been running through their heads. Oh, and thank you for starting the story from the beginning! I'm not on TikTok and am not a Bridgerton fan, so I had no clue this was going on until articles about them getting sued started popping up
They even offered them a license and they declined? That is just stupid. How did they think they could get away with that when money was entering the game? As if Netflix or ANYONE ELSE who would have held that copyright and trademark would have allowed them to continue without at least getting a share out of it.
I can’t wait for someone to make an Unofficial Unofficial Bridgerton Musical the Story of Fame and Friendship which tells the story of Barlow and Bear
When a company as big as Netflix can sue you and chooses not to and then pretty much goes above and beyond in giving you what you want, take it. Don't abuse the kindness.
The fanfiction community has only recently found protection from original authors sending direct email threats in the last decade or so; that protection only exists on the foundation of it being completely free. The moment you put up your PayPal or Kofi or GoFundMe in association with your fanfic, the author has legal right to come after you.
So if someone is going to call their unofficial musical “technically fanfiction”, my hope is they would already know the do’s and don’t’s of what that entails.
Lol. It’s 100% NOT fair use. It’s a direct adaptation with lines lifted from the show. I love the energy and spirit of Barlow and Bear but if they win it will set a terrible legal precedent where giant companies will just take the work of small artists and turn them into shows. Imagine if the lady who wrote the Bridgerton book was given nothing because the actors and directors of the show were “big fans” of the book!
They weren’t thinking long term at all. Were the performances really worth a massive lawsuit, being shamed by the producer of the show and the author in which their ideas were taken, having their names associated with legal battles, losing respect, and being on bad terms with Netflix? Did no one on their team think that short term monetary value was not worth it.
These girls are just beyond prideful, entitled, and ignorant. I’m surprised Netflix, Shondaland, and Julia Quinn have been like the parent that wanted to support their deluded child. But said child, even with all the warnings and several callouts, still decided to commit the crime! What they did was clearly not fanfic, because they used lines and scenes from the show by Shondaland, used the names of Julia Quinn’s characters, and used capitalized on the fame/name/concept of Netflix’s show. I have no sympathy for them when they raked in money ignoring the actual rights of Julia Quinn, Netflix, and the team behind Bridgerton.
Fr and fanfiction writers don’t profit at all they have.
the fact that they and their legal team tried to "Lol no" Netflix is INSANE
B&B are so entitled they must have thought they could use their small creator card, play the victim, and get away with it. However, they got so much press they are not small creators anymore. Now not only they ruined themselves, but they could ruin the party for the rest as well.
I'm sure this video is great as always but I just want to point out that the Bridgerton book series, which the Netflix show and the musical are based on, predates both Gossip Girl AND 50 Shades 🤣
The musical is not based on the book series, it's based on the Netflix show based on the books. They didn't even license the books separately, and couldn't as Netflix has the rights to create stage content from the books too.
@@plkrtn way to miss the point lol
i mean, that's a regular elevator pitch. "imagine X combined with Y, that's the Z project." was it really necessary to point this out?
This whole thing is wild. What the hell were they thinking? It’s a copyrighted work. If you don’t get permission, you’re going to get sued. If you don’t follow their demands, you’re going to get sued. This wasn’t a parody at all, this wasn’t free, this wasn’t for charity. It was just as it said, an UNOFFICIAL musical. I do not understand why you would cut off communication. I do not understand why would wouldn’t accept the licensing THAT NETFLIX OFFERED YOU! If it’s about creative control then fair enough, back out and make something new and original. If it’s about the “independent spirit” then that’s just arrogant. Especially when you continue to push on as if you won’t get repercussions. Regardless of why you can’t just keep going. As I said, you make something new that your now huge audience can support. You have the fans, you have the idea, just change it to not SPECIFICALLY BE ABOUT BRIDGETON and go again. You can only go your own way for so long. If you do it in that situation, you’re just naive and stupid. It started nicely, but then became kind of arrogant and kinda greedy (charging $150 for pedicures). They had their cake and tried to eat it too. It just stinks of naivety, inexperience, and immaturity. If this is how they and their team are, then they desperately NEED some industry heads that have experience to come in and guide them.
i admire their spirit, but these two women were in the complete wrong to go this far with the concept. nobody in their right mind would do this and not expect the copyright holder to sue them for this.
I really doubt Barlow and Bear didn't realize they were... poking the bear on this one (*badumtsh*), and especially not with the team they had. But I agree with the assessment they went ahead thinking the Internet would be on their side for this one, given people have it in for Netflix for several reasons (not that I disagree with a lot of the criticism). Except it led to the Internet going into "poor little rich girls" mode, a pissed off Shonda Rhimes (that alone would not make me sleep well at night), and Julia Quinn, an author in a genre that gets too often dismissed as "housewife porn" getting dismissed of her rights as a creator. It's sad, really.
I can't believe they didn't take the license when Netflix offered. Very silly decision.
Them rejecting the license was the single worst mistake either of them could have made in their entire careers. Even if Netflix gave them all kinds of crazy stipulations.
I haven't watched the video yet, but I can't help wondering, is Bridgerton really such an epitome of originality that the composers couldn't alter it slightly and sell it as an original story? It has worked for a couple of authors before.
It’s not about originality but more on the copyright. I’m not sure about the specifics of their copyright, but most producers/networks/authors have specific rights to their characters/shows/series. You can’t earn money by using the names/scenes/events based on copyrighted materials. These girls not only capitalized on Bridgerton fame, characters, scenes uniquely written for the series that they are in essence stepping on so many lines (Julia Quinn’s, Shondaland, Netflix). An example of fanfic that was actually allowed to exist is Fifty Shades of Grey which was originally a fanfic of Twilight but the difference is the writer of FSoG changed the title, name of the chracters, and the scenes - which these girls did not.
Yeah, they could have done that - heck, E. L. James wrote 50 Shades as a Twilight fanfic and avoided getting sued for everything by just changing the character names before publishing it, and Bridgerton is a pretty formulaic regency romance, but I think B+B were specifically trying to capitalize on the popularity of Bridgerton to advance their own careers. A "Regency musical" likely wouldn't go viral as quickly as something using the Bridgerton brand name. What got them famous so quickly is now their downfall, and for a good reason - they were basically profiting not only off of the Bridgerton IP, but also Netflix's marketing from the show, because every time someone looked up something related to the show or books or online, they were likely to come across the musical, which wouldn't necessarily happen if they just changed all the recognizable names.
the whole appeal of it is the association with the existing IP, Brigerton itself is not that innovative of a story and people like it for the vibes and characters, besides taking full lines from the show the music is just not special outside of being a fandom thing, it doesnt have bones to stand by itself. Like yes, I think its jukeboxy enough that if they made a whole new different story around these songs it would not be difficult, but unless they are secretely script geniuses I dont think anyone would be interested if not for the Bridgerton association, they didnt actually "make a fanfic" (toom existing characters and made their own story) and wrote music for it, they just made the music following the canon of the show but make it even more straight i guess
Your content always delivers - I've been seeing snippets of this on TikTok for the past couple of weeks but have been waiting for you to really give us all the tea! Well done!!
Why the hell wouldn't they accept the deal of a lifetime from Netflix to make their work official with production and distribution rights? Were they hoping to get more out of Netflx?
Barlow and Bear seem incredibly selfish to me, like they must know the consequences that will come if they win. Barlow and Bear are small artists this time, but what happens when a big corporation decides to make a film out of a book they don't have the rights to? Then there will be a precedence where "fan made" material can profit out of someone else's work. What happens when it's a corporation like Netflix doing what Barlow and Bear are doing? Profiting of someone else's intellectual property without permission. It would put small creators everywhere at risk.
Moreover, if Netflix wins, it now puts fan made content at risk. It sets a precedent that massive corporations may want to prevent a similar situation, and so they will shut down content such as the Bridgerton musical, which is a work of art, and similar things deserve to exist. Talented artist should be allowed to take inspiration from other's contents.
Either way, it's messy. I am hoping Netflix wins, but overwhelmingly, this should have never been taken to court there is no good outcome, only one that isn't as bad as the other.
I hope that Barlow and Bear learned from the experience.
I hate having to side with a big company, but I genuinely can’t see a scenario where Barlow & Bear are not the ones to blame in this situation
I'm only part way through but it seems like what the pair were lacking was creativity on the story side, they clearly had the talent to get somewhere if they had been able to come up with a musical idea that grabs people's attention without stealing it from someone else. And the fact that record labels didn't give them the time of day no longer really matters when you're talking about a musical, you're wanting producers for that, and I'm sure between them they would have had enough contacts to call on to eventually get a bite. But they tried to cut corners.
It sucks, because they are undoubtedly talented. But imo they've flown too close to the sun and it will affect fanworks for years to come.
I don't think a lot of people realize how much of a luxury it is to even make fan work now. Before fandom was such a powerful force on the internet, fanfiction in particular was hidden away, it wasn't something you acknowledged, and the original creators usually saw it as stealing. The fact that people fanfiction and fan works can be talked about openly, and people can even make money off of certain things, is amazing. Barlow and Bear have risked all of that. If copyright holders see this as a reason to crack down on fan works, we're gonna see some big changes.
So… who’s coming to this video after the announcement that Barlow and Bear SOMEHOW became the songwriters for “Moana 2”?
I did! 😮
The most "young who thinks knows it all" story you'll hear.
It honestly seems like B&B were surrounded by vultures who gave them bad advice because they saw an opportunity to make a bunch of money, and B&B took that bad advice without understanding the consequences of doing so.
Whatever you might think of their motivations, at the end of the day they *did* create something special, albeit with the benefit of an existing IP they could base everything on, and it's not unreasonable for them to want to take ownership of those things they created. It seems absolutely insane that they rejected the licensing offer from Netflix, and I can only assume it's because whoever was advising them gave them an incredibly poor explanation of how the license would work, and they felt that Netflix was trying to take away everything they'd built.
In the end I think this is a lesson about being very careful who you surround yourself with, taking the time to fully understand the legal implications of everything you're doing - including getting multiple opinions from people who have no stake in answering the question one way or another - and about recognising where the true opportunity is, because it's not necessarily in the thing you see right in front of you.
I think it's worth noting Bridgerton the show being the brain child of Shonda Rhimes, a Black woman, and these are two white women here infringing on this copyright. But I also don't understand, getting a licensing deal would've given them longevity AND legitimacy, maybe being blackballed is a thing of the past but I can't imagine a smooth or easy up road.
“Bridgerton” is brainchild of Julia Quinn. Shonda Rhimes abs Netflix purchased the rights to her books.
@@ChienaAvtzon Well yeah, but I meant how it became a global phenomenon
this was so, so good. very detailed and honest. well done!
You're the only person I've seen say that they recorded the album before getting Netflix's permission. Everything I've seen said Netflix gave them permission to release the album online so I thought they sought licensing for that correctly. That's wild that they recorded it first!
I forgot about how they took the lines from the only gay character in the show and gave them to Daphne.
Yeah, why did they have to erase a queer moment like that?
@@171QAOn one hand, I get it. It's such a powerful line that one can't help but want to give it to the most important character. But it was still bad form and idk how they thought that no one would notice and get upset about it.
oh my god i’ve never heard of this but by the title this seems JUICYYYYY
This is the epitome of “pride comes before the fall”.
I started out this video expecting to be fully on Bear and Barlow’s side against the giant evil corporation. But ended thinking Netflix was fully reasonable throughout. Boggles my mind why they didn’t accept the license they were offered.
The fact this all began with a song based on a line from a gay character about Being Gay.. and then was made straight….yikes
I know I will make a lot of people mad with this statement, but the worst part of this thing was the fact that the album won a grammy. I'm sorry but next to the other musical theatre albums that were nominated they seemed like the LAST choice, yet somehow they won. It just shows how these award shows only look for potential PR benefits rather than actual talent
They have awful lawyers
I watched this video essay and learned a lot about copyright in musicals that I didn't know before, Wait In The Wings is a must see channel for aspiring creatives.
How did they get a Grammy without copyright!!!!
Are you going to talk about the Hamilton situation? I am obsessed with the drama right now
What happened to Hamilton?!? I’ve not heard of this before!
@@questworldiangreenknight7455 a church in Texas illegally performed the show and changed the lyrics/story to make it Christianized.. and then a pastor came on stage said some homophobic shit. Lin tweeted about it and said they've got lawyers on it now.
Does anyone have any updates?? Also, thank you for posting this video, I was so confused about what happened and you answered all my questions in one place!!
I posted this as a reply, but wanted to make it an actual comment: I was never on their side. Even though Netflix is a huge company, we can’t forget that many creatives work for them. They spent time and energy writing the show and designing the set that gave B&B ideas and inspiration. Additionally, this is all based off of the words of Julia Quinn and they disregarded that.
Netflix is right to protect the works of the artist who create for them.
Also, when you remove yourself from the idea of it being created through Tik Tol videos and about a fun show, the songs leave much to be desired. They’re not great outside of the context of the show. Also, you can tell how they literally used the set design and script to write them.
I don’t think this fair use imo 🤷🏼♀️ I’m sure Netflix deal wasn’t great BUT they own the property! Even if was bad it only meant that B&B could continue to sing the songs than gave them fame and success; it wouldn’t be an “unofficial musical” anymore not really and it could’ve opened the door to creating more original content. It saddens me because B&B got greedy (or the lawyers??) how could they think that they could just go on profiting for something it isn’t technically theirs it’s beyond me.
Really sad and such a shame as the music from bear is phenomenal and with barlows vocals is outstanding. Just wish they had taken the license from Netflix as this could of opened more doors for these talented ladies xxx
This video was done so well. I was like “will I even want to watch all of this video?” And yet I did watch it in its entirety. Such a well done video
So basically once the first song blew up, they jumped way ahead without careful planning , got cocky and sabotaged themselves.
The good chartings, the likes, share and following, the award, the recognition, the praises made them think they can get away with stealing someone’s IP and monetising it. And underdog story aint gonna help them that’s for sure.
I understand wanting to make money and make the most out of it but everything abt this comes across as greedy. This whole ordeal was a facepalm to witness.
Oof, ngl the vibe changed for me when you said they took the famous line from a gay character describing how he can never be with the man he loves........... and gave it to the conventional-in-all-ways Daphne. It's not as if the story even creates that same narrative between her and Simon for being an interracial couple. That comes off pretty tone-deaf
Great narration and editing.
I don’t care about Netflix. I care about Julia Quinn; the author of Bridgerton.
This was her book series and she deserves credit and some of the cuts of profit since it’s her work they were inspired by and utilized.
Bridgerton belongs to Julia Quinn and when it comes to creative people, their work needs to be protected.
Barlow and Bear should have taken the license agreement. I really don't get why they're acting like this.
Never did I think Netflix would be the reasonable party-
Excellent summary! I think that (a chastened) Barlow and Bear will make a deal with Netflix, who like to be seen as good guys.
Is it the ego these two creators have that made them refused Netflix's deal? They know what it feels like to be at the bottom and hit with rejection from producers and doubt from others. And because they love a show that inspires them to create and show how much they love it and backing it up are the fans that also love it, gave them recognition and validation that they made it. They deserve it, and rightfully so. But that spotlight blinded them from realizing the middle ground Netflix trys offering to them, because at the end of they day, in paper, Barlow and Bear don't own Bridgerton. The whole Barlow and Bear refusing Netflix's offer to me is like a child not wanting to be cared for when they're sick. For me Netflix might win, and worst case scenario a law will be implemented regarding this matter that mighty hinder other creators.
you know whats surprising here? netflix was pretty forgiving at the start there. didn't expect that
I don't like Bridgerton and I only heard a few songs from the musical. I want them to succeed in their careers, but them winning the lawsuit could hurt creatives. I hope it just gets settled. They're clearly talented.
Dude I’m annoyed I didn’t go to this concert. I totally would have if I’d known it would have been such a crazy drama saga!
I know it’s weird to latch onto one detail in the video, but does it bother me that they took a line said by the one gay man in the show and turned it into a beautiful song for a straight white woman? …a little 🙃
Talent doesn't justify thievery and egocentrism. They need to lose and be taught a lesson in humility.
The tone of this video really makes it feel like we're supposed to be sympathetic to these women who were ostensibly just trying to rip off something that happened organically. And then they wanted to bogart the whole project because it wasn't meant to be a fan work, it was meant as a get famous quick scheme. From what little I know, it's not so much a musical as it is a concertization. There's very little musical theater actually involved. Frankly I think Netflix was smart. They gave them all the rope they needed.
The big piece that B&B were missing was that fanfic cannot make money. Netflix were very chill about the whole thing but B&B kept pushing limits. They weren’t just stealing from Netflix, they were stealing from Julia Quinn. They thought because they were just the little guys, no one would stop them, and they took advantage of Netflix’s generous allowances. And they played the “little guy” card to avoid taking accountability. It made me lose a lot of respect for them.
They were absolutely not, by a long shot, the youngest people to be nominated for a Grammy Award
It feels like these two young ladies have people around them giving them some really bad advice.
Hey wait in the wings would it be possible you would do a video about the recent hamiliton drama and NERDS musical scandal and the drama with paradise square
Well if it isn't the consequences to their actions
I know this was released a year ago but still
You know a Bridgerton Musical could be a good idea and could work depending which book/season you adapt it's too bad that it didn't come to be
i was waiting for your video on this topic! wonderful job as always
10:35 I'm sorry, WHAT?! Did they really took those specific feelings of a gay man and made it all about the straigh couple?! Now that leaves me with a bad taste.
That said, I listen to some of the songs and I find them really catchy but I just can't feel bad for them. I really don't get how could they think they were in the right. Netflix had already been too kind with them! I'm really curious to see how this story will develop.
I hope you will cover Epic The Musical when it comes out.
Ok the way this video was set up was so amazing to watch
the look the lady gives them both at 15:51 really does just say it all
I thought the project was fabulous and that Shondaland, Netflix and Julia Quinn (the author and CREATOR of the Bridgerton world) kind of gave their blessings was super cool. But B & B truly went above and beyond with the Kennedy Center situation. I am TEAM QUINN all the way so I think Netflix is doing the right thing by suing for copyright. I think Barlow and Bear got too cocky and flew too close to the sun. And while Im sure the licencing offer Netflix gave them wasnt all that great (big corps are known for that), I think the consequences of this lawsuit will be worse. I feel for them, but wrong is wrong. I am sure the positions were reversed and Netflix used their creations, they would be livid and suing.
They wanted to ride on the bridgerton wave when they could've use the love they get from tiktok and created an original pieces. They tagged along way too long and they're cashing out on it and the og creator of the piece they're inspired by was left dry ( I know she too got deal with Netflix for her work)
And now they'll probably never work again
Why would they have refused the license?
Most likely answer is they didnt want to pay whatever Netflix was asking for, and/or they didnt want to share profits with the actual owner of the IP which is both greedy and delusional.
@@jazzycat8917 it’s ridiculous and utterly moronic.
This is McDowell’s pure and simple.