Short of the Week
Yesterday we premiered and hosted a short film from Shia LaBeouf called HowardCantour.com. After the film’s launch, it came to light on Twitter, thanks to the sharp eyes of @Gholson, and the reporting of Buzzfeed, that the film was an uncredited adaptation of a work by Daniel Clowes.
As soon as this came to light we decided to pull the film from the internet out of respect to Mr. Clowes. We reached out to Mr. LaBeouf’s team for clarification and the resulting statement came out early this morning in this series of tweets from LaBeouf’s account:
Copying isn’t particularly creative work. Being inspired by someone else’s idea to produce something new and different IS creative work.
Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) December 17, 2013
In my excitement and naiveté as an amateur filmmaker, I got lost in the creative process and neglected to follow proper accreditation
Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) December 17, 2013
Im embarrassed that I failed to credit @danielclowes for his original graphic novella Justin M. Damiano, which served as my inspiration
Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) December 17, 2013
I was truly moved by his piece of work & I knew that it would make a poignant & relevant short. I apologize to all who assumed I wrote it.
Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) December 17, 2013
I deeply regret the manner in which these events have unfolded and want @danielclowes to know that I have a great respect for his work
Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) December 17, 2013
I fucked up.
Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) December 17, 2013
While we believe we were misled, we also feel partly responsible having partnered with Shia and his team to premiere the film online and would like to apologize to Mr. Clowes, our promotional partners to whom we passed the film along to, and ultimately to you, our cherished SOTW audience. All indications from the crediting of the film as “A film by Shia LaBeouf” to LaBeouf’s answer to our question of where the concept originated led us to believe it to be a wholly original work. When it became clear that it was not, we took down the film. If it wasn’t for the legions of online Clowes fans who pointed this out, this may never have come to light.
As curators of a powerful but under-appreciated medium like short film where filmmakers often spend years of effort and make little or no money, the recognition a filmmaker receives from their work, and therefore attribution, is often the only benefit theyll see in return. Correct attribution is very important to us because it means everything to the creators of the work.
Finally, its interesting to note that while the film opened at Cannes and continued to screen for more than a year at film festivals around the world, it wasn’t until it reached online audiences that the truth came out. To us it serves as a refreshing look at how far our collective respect for digital media has come from the early days of Napster and mainstream piracy. And now, in some ways, has even begun to push the respect and recognition for artist rights even further.