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'Hoax' case against a female writer's male autobiog
Just saw this on the BBC web pages.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6225256.stm
A female writer wrote an autobiography of a male protistute as if she were 'he'.
Here is the basic conflict between the writer and the film company.
"Cult author denies 'hoax' claims
Sarah, LeRoy's first novel, was published in 2001
A female author who wrote a book as a male prostitute has a told a US court that her creation was not a hoax.
Sarah Albert, who gained cult status writing as JT LeRoy, admitted he was not real, but said she assumed male identities after being sexually abused.
The author is being sued by a film company who claim she defrauded them by selling the screen rights to an autobiography which was fiction.
The 41-year-old added that she believed the character of LeRoy was inside her."
I can't understand what they are complaining about? Am I missing something?
I'm quite sure a lot of things in autobiographies are not true in fact, and they haven't always been written by that person or even by a ghost writer of the same gender.
Then the case obviously wouldn't have had any grounds.
But what realy amazes me, is the film company, they were buying screen rights to a book, not the person who wrote it- it sounds like the reality could have ruined their publicity plans, and dented their finances, so they want compensation.
I think the problem lies in that the book was sold under a false description under the Trading Standards Act.
When I worked for Gala Bingo if someone asked for coke we had to point out we only sold pepsi, not coke. The same goes for if you asked for Bacardi, it has to be Bacardi not another brand.
As this was in the States, they will have different types of laws- some of their consumer laws are much better than ours.
She seems to be claiming that the male is another personality within her.
I think they will have similar laws, after all it is coke a cola who forced us to point out the difference.
My point is that it was sold as an autobiography when it was fiction, and that constitutes as false advertising (as the Americans would say).
When I write, I feel that my characters are 'in me', but it is fiction, and I would never say otherwise. Even though I have had to remind myself at times that my characters aren't real.
Comments
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6225256.stm
A female writer wrote an autobiography of a male protistute as if she were 'he'.
Here is the basic conflict between the writer and the film company.
"Cult author denies 'hoax' claims
Sarah, LeRoy's first novel, was published in 2001
A female author who wrote a book as a male prostitute has a told a US court that her creation was not a hoax.
Sarah Albert, who gained cult status writing as JT LeRoy, admitted he was not real, but said she assumed male identities after being sexually abused.
The author is being sued by a film company who claim she defrauded them by selling the screen rights to an autobiography which was fiction.
The 41-year-old added that she believed the character of LeRoy was inside her."
I can't understand what they are complaining about? Am I missing something?
I'm quite sure a lot of things in autobiographies are not true in fact, and they haven't always been written by that person or even by a ghost writer of the same gender.
But what realy amazes me, is the film company, they were buying screen rights to a book, not the person who wrote it- it sounds like the reality could have ruined their publicity plans, and dented their finances, so they want compensation.
When I worked for Gala Bingo if someone asked for coke we had to point out we only sold pepsi, not coke. The same goes for if you asked for Bacardi, it has to be Bacardi not another brand.
She seems to be claiming that the male is another personality within her.
My point is that it was sold as an autobiography when it was fiction, and that constitutes as false advertising (as the Americans would say).
When I write, I feel that my characters are 'in me', but it is fiction, and I would never say otherwise. Even though I have had to remind myself at times that my characters aren't real.