Question: Is it okay to include specific product names in scripts?

An open forum question from Jeff:

Scott,

I think you may have answered this before but perhaps not.

Is it a faux pas to include product names in a spec? I’m not sure if weird little copyright issues kick in if you toss in offhand references to McDonald’s, Cheerios, Campbell’s Soup, etc.

I have a TV pilot I’m entering in a contest that contains a gag involving Dinty Moore Stew (obviously my script is the pinnacle of sophistication if I’m referencing the Cadillac of canned stews!).

Okay, allow me to draw a baseball analogy. You’re a writer. You’re trying your level best to get a positive reaction from a script reader. You hit on this great joke, but it involves a specific product reference to Dinty Moore stew. You decide that it’s better to swing away with your joke, rather than scrap the line — so you insert said joke into the script.

Let’s call this the American League and how they have adopted the designated hitter rule with the philosophy that spectators would rather watch skilled batters hit than lousy batters (i.e., pitchers) flail away at the plate — and your Dinty Moore stew joke is the equivalent of a designated hitter.

On the other hand, screenwriting ‘purists’ would likely insist that you excise the Dinty Moore Stew reference, based upon the reality that movie studios have legal departments and marketing groups which would pretty much crap on your insertion of that specific item. Why? Because studios want to be able to negotiate their own deals with possible corporate movie tie-ins. What if they have a pre-existing relationship with Hormel Stews, not Dinty Moore?

Let’s call this approach the National League, no DH, we’re legalists and sticklers — you don’t play in the field, you don’t get to bat — so the Dinty Moore stew joke gets relegated to sitting on the bench.

Now in real life, I am a National League guy. I despise the designated hitter rule.

But re screenplays, there is no argument: Your goal is to get a reaction from the script reader. So if you’ve got a great joke about Dinty Moore stews, even though purists may advise you to lose the line, screw that. Your joke is a designated hitter, plunked in your line-up in the cleanup slot, guaranteed to generate some offense (laughs).

In other words, keep the joke.

And I hope it’s a grand slam for script readers.

This has been another installment of “Stretching Sports Metaphors To Make A Point.”

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