So, you're writing your own original work, and it occurs to you that you really want to use a certain copyrighted character owned by somebody else. Maybe you want to do a Shout-Out, or a Take That!, or you want to do a Crossover. In any case, you can't just blatantly plop the character into your work, as you don't want to risk any problems with the copyright holder of the character. So what do you do? Make a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo, of course! But how? Here are some ideas.
(Disclaimer: This page is just for fun. Nothing on this page should be taken as official legal advice.)
Necessary Tropes
- Adaptation Deviation. If you want to have a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo, you can't just use a character as-is. You have to make some modifications in either the character themselves, or in how you present them.
Choices, Choices
There are a number of ways you can obscure or alter a character to present them in an original way while still keeping them recognizable.- Names:
- Adaptational Name Change: You can call them something different, while keeping them the same in other aspects.
- No Name Given: Or, you can just find ways to avoid saying their names at all.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" or Anonymous Ringer: You can have them referred to only by a title—- the professor, the general, the king, etc.
- Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: If the character usually goes by a well-known codename, you can just ditch it and go with a more mundane real name. Rather than being "Pizzaman, aka Robert Smith" they can simply be "Bob".
- Named by the Adaptation: Put your own spin on a nameless character, or a character who only goes by a codename, by giving them a name and develop them as your own, while using other indicators to tell the audience who they've been developed from.
- Appearance:
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Changing the colors of a character to differentiate them from the original depiction.
- The Faceless: You never actually show their faces, using only their voice and/or mannerisms to clue the audience in on who they are.
- Movie Superheroes Wear Black: If the character has an iconic colorful costume, you can darken or mute it, making it a different costume while leaving just enough similarities for the audience to figure out.
- Age Lift: Change a character by having them appear much earlier or much later in life than the audience has seen them before, implying that this is only the character before/after the work they are originally from.
- Composite Character: If you want to use two characters from another work, you can combine them both into one new character and kill two birds with one stone.
- The Ghost: You can refer to the character, without actually having them show up in person.
- The Voice: You can not show the character and only let the audience hear their voice. If the character has a well-known way of speaking, this might be all the audience needs to figure it out.
Pitfalls
The most obvious pitfall is to not alter the character's presentation at all, or use them too prominently. Then you've got your basic copyright infringement.Another thing to keep in mind, ask yourself "How likely is it that many people will appreciate the reference here? And if they don't, how lost will they be?" You don't want to depend too much on the audience recognizing the character.
Potential Subversions
If you're not sure about using a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo, a Captain Ersatz, Expy, or Public Domain Character might be what you need instead.Writers' Lounge
Suggested Themes and Aesops
This trope is a good vehicle for a Take That!, or just a general Parody. Many kinds of commentary on the work the original character came from can be used here.Suggested Plots
Good places to use these characters are the Massive Multiplayer Crossover, the Deconstruction Crossover, and the Crossover Punchline.Putting them together with Public Doman Characters can be a lot of fun.
