Cheek of the week
January 10, 2007 02:55 PM
The new Will Smith film, released on Friday, blatantly steals the name of our White Paper without so much of a hint of shame. Called 'The Pursuit of Happyness', the makers obviously thought that spelling happiness differently would cover their tracks!
The film details Will's struggles to find a decent job to provide for his son. Our White Paper examines the challenges of job hunting. Coincidence? I don't think so.
In some ways I'm not surprised that someone would want to take our White Paper to the big screen. It's full of great stats, is thought provoking, intelligent & has been requested by almost 700 people. It's got Blockbuster written all over it!
The filmmakers say that the title comes from one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence. I'll let you form your own opinion but my minds made up.
I think I'm going to see it this weekend so I'll find out what other copyrights they've infringed. If he takes the Jobsite Personal Profile in the film then I'm ringing our lawyer!
Weirdly at the time of writing this blog two pieces of research have been published that link to the themes in our report.
* CIPD supports 'ice-breaking' dance tactics at B&Q job interviews, despite union fury.
* Friendly colleagues rather than money make people happy at work.
Comments
Miss Morgan,
I have been instructed by Mr Smith to offer his sincerest apologies for any confusion caused by the name of his new film and its coincidental similarity to your whitepaper.
Mr Smith would like me to assure that in no way does he wish to distract attention away from your publication and would in fact urge any recruiters or jobhunters who have no read a copy to do so as quickly as possible.
Mr Smith avidly read it from cover to cover and feels there are many lessons his character in the film could have learned if only he'd had a copy instead of a stack of bone density measuring machines.
Should Mr Smith be nominated, and fortunate enough to win an Oscar for his performance, he will of course cite you as an inspiration.
Keep up the good work.
Al (Assistant to Big Willy) - January 18, 2007 11:42 AM
Thanks for taking the time to write in Al. I'm thrilled to know that Mr Smith has read the White Paper and feels that there are many lessons to learn from it.
He is one of many people who are endorsing it & recommending it to friends, family & even strangers walking down the street.
If Mr Smith is nominated for an Oscar, for his role in this film, I'm sure that I can find a way to juggle my schedule so that I can attend with him. Keep me posted Al & pass on my good wishes to Big Willy.
Cheryl - January 22, 2007 11:01 AM