I'm not a lawyer, of course, and I don't even play one on TV. I've even set up my company in such a way that I don't have to address this issue. But I am curious how you see an ethical "debate" for the work for hire concept, which working on the various SW movies obviously is.
Ethically, I think a "work for hire" is fairly tricky and fact-specific because it's, by nature, a collaborative effort. If you believe that the artist's rights are paramount, and that the artist's vision must be maintained, then the next question with a "work for hire" is the degree of collaboration between the person doing the hiring, and the person who's been hired.
With Star Wars, I think it's tough to say without knowing the creative process. I suppose it could go like this.
George says to John Williams, "John, I want you to do a score that's really kind of epic. I'm looking for something particularly triumphant here, and then at this point, we're talking major confrontation with evil. Big, sweeping stuff. Think you can do it?" So, John says yes, gets to work, writes his score, and turns it in. George says "No, not quite. You're on the right track, but I'm thinking more horns, fewer strings. The woods are good, though. Let's keep those for the Princess' theme. I like that." John goes back to his studio, comes up with some more stuff, turns it in, George says "Perfect! Just what I wanted."
So, who's the author here?
Same deal with, for example, the design of the Stormtrooper helmet. George goes to Ralph McQuarrie and says "Ralph, I'm looking for something kind of chilling here. These are the Empire's elite troops, and I want them to be almost mechanical in nature, looking kind of like skeletons." Ralph comes back with one design, George says "Good, but not quite. Maybe we can make the face more skull-like? Also, lose the breathing masks for the heroes. We need to keep them visible. But I like them on the badguys. Let's work with that, just not with a lot of tubes." Ralph goes back to the drawing board, comes back with a new design, George says "That's it! You got it! We'll probably have the prop guys tweak it a bit, but that's the base design. Great job!"
So, again, who's the author?
On the one hand, George is the author. He guided the hands-on artists here to create something, then moved them in a different direction. They're creating all of this at his behest and also within the framework of his creation. On the other hand, though, they ARE creating and George is not. George doesn't have a design for stormtrooper armor, beyond what's sort of loosely in his head and/or described in the script. The two artists here are collaborating on creating a design that BOTH agree on, so I don't think George gets to claim sole ownership of the design in an ethical sense. Actually I'd say that's more the guys he has working for him. At least in the scenarios I described above.
I suppose it'd be different if, for example, George drew a basic concept art piece for the armor, hands it to the prop guys, and says "Make this." Likewise, it'd be different if he hummed a few bars of whatever had popped into his head for John Williams and then said "Now take that and adapt it for an orchestra." The more the material is solely George's creation, the more "ownership" think he gets in an ethical sense.
So, now what happens when, for example, George changes the design of the Sarlacc Pit? If he originally hired Ralph and said "Ralph, design me this huge monster that's basically a mouth with tentacles that's a pit in the desert," and Ralph does, then George adds a really big tentacle in the middle so it can swallow Boba Fett whole, is that his right in an ethical sense? Well....I'm not so sure. It's Ralph's design, but it's Ralph's design at George's basic description, which which George is now messing. This could actually be an argument why, legalities be damned, the continued messing with the films is ethically improper and a betrayal of the artists' work -- because the films are collaborative efforts, and not SOLELY the ethical property of George Lucas. Lucas isn't the sole artist, so he should not have the sole right (again, ethically speaking) to later add stuff to the designs.
Anyway, that's what I can come up with midway through my first cup of coffee at 7am.
