I haven't used much original dialogue from the show so I am curious abou how other writers handle the issue of including scenes from the show in their stories and not tangling with copyright issues. I am in the outlining process of a full-length story that evolves into an episode rewrite, and I am debating how to handle the issue of using dialogue (or the general gist of dialogue) from the show without looking like I am plagerizing L&C's writers.
The journalist in me is pretty paranoid, so the only time I have referenced lines from the show (in a series of flashbacks in "Inside Out), I tweaked the lines I was using just slightly enough that they weren't the verbatim words from the show. And I have seen other stories that employed the same tactic.
On the other hand, I have seen stories where the lines were lifted directly from the show, right down to "um," "uh" and pauses. I don't know what the legal boundaries are, but I have wondered if that is acceptable -- and, in general, what is?
