DINO-DRAMA: Wannabe dino postcards for M-Net's Terra Nova gets an 'outayamind?' tongue-lashing from Dinotopia creator James Gurney.

The highly anticipated Steven Spielberg dinosaur time-travel family drama Terra Nova will start with a special 2 hour double episode premiering on 25 January 2012 at 20:30 on M-Net, and the cheque uhm contentious postcard is proverbially not in the mail.

James Gurney of Gurney Journey has this interesting (and hilarious) and embarrassing tale of Ogilvy Johannesburg allegedly wanting to rip off his idea and use this artist and illustrator who's very well-known for his beautiful Dinotopia illustrations - to help with the marketing campaign for the upcoming dinosaur show in January on M-Net.

In fact, Ogilvy Johannesburg used his illustrations and made a mock-up without his knowledge, and then sent it to him. You have to read it yourself to believe it.

James Gurney published the message he received (read it in full on Gurney Journey) and the mock-up above is the rough layout from Ogilvy Johannesburg he received with it:

''Hi, I'm an art director at Ogilvy Johannesburg. I stumbled across your beautiful illustrations and I would love to use your artwork for a campaign we are working on. I'm working on a campaign for a new show called Terra Nova.

''For the campaign we are using the postcard device the whole "Wish you were here", those postcards you received on holiday from exotic locations, except ours are along the lines of 'Wish you weren't here'.

"There are a few things we still have to work out that's why I would love you to work with us. I have attached a rough layout, I have combined two of your illustrations in this comp. If you have any questions give me a shout."

James Gurney gave them a SHOUT alright. ''WHADDAYA OUTAYAMIND? SURE, I’D BE GLAD TO RIP OFF MY OWN IDEA TO HELP ADVERTISE YOUR DUMB TV SHOW!'' he said and sent them his idea of a TV show (must-read satire which contains young advertising executives no less).


[Editor's note: You cannot just take someone's creative content and (already) use it without their permission - especially not if you're a commercial enterprise. Also, as in this case, if you knew Dinotopia as an art director, you'd know the premise is peaceful co-existence of man an dinosaur - Dinotopia as a ''brand'' would never ''subvert'' itself to be associated with an ''opposite'' idea. An eye-popping lack of research, lack of tact and a lack of knowledge of the sensitivities regarding and governing intellectual property rights.]