Every politician and any serious business person has to turn to a speech writer for help with their speeches. They undoubtedly have the skills to write a speech themselves. But they lack the time. That’s the time to craft a flow of words, to add some magic and perfect the speech. Or, perhaps they lack inspiration. So, perhaps some Hollywood speech writing skills might be useful?
Hollywood Speech Writing Provides Inspiration For Anthony Albanese in Australia
Because skills and expertise is what what they pay for. So it must be really tedious when someone spots that lines from your recent speech owe an awful lot to someone else’s speech.
Anthony Albanese found this out the hard way. He’s the leader of Australia’s House of Representatives and Minister for infrastructure and transport. It was his speech to the Australian Press Club that seized everyone’s attention.
His speech took a moment to savage Tony Abbott, the leader of the Liberal party opposition:
In Australia we have serious challenges to solve and we need serious people to solve them. Unfortunately Tony Abbot is not the least bit interested in fixing anything. He is only interested in two things, making Australians afraid of it and telling them who is to blame for it.
Those lines sounded familiar at the time. And that’s because their source was classic Hollywood speech writing. Because the lines come from the fictional President in The American President, played by Michael Douglas. So, in the 1995 movie, directed by Aaron Sorkin, the lead character says in his speech:
We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it.
You couldn’t make it up.
Yes, there was a time when serious speech writers sought their inspiration from more classical sources. Now it’s Hollywood and pop. In December the former Presidential hopeful Herman Cain revealed that a lyric from a Donna Summer song in the film, Pokemon: The Movie 2000 was used in his Pokemon speech.
Can you really accuse either Anthony Albanese or his speech writer of plagiarism? No. Speech writing depends on weaving the old and the new. It’s about sourcing material that’s both relevant and familiar and also challenging. We could accuse the Australian speech writing team of laziness. But that’s a different accusation.
Of course you can also review the LoveFilm list of motivating speeches from the movies for more ideas. Because it’s a long list that’s full of great films.
You can pick up a whole range of new speech writing tips and techniques with a public speaking training course. Why don’t you give us a call when you feel the need for inspiration or third-party skills. We can help.
Telling It Straight is our very own public speaking tips newsletter. Packed with skills tips to help you with your next speech, why not receive it this month?
Body Language No Help In Biden Inauguration Speech
What Not To Say In Your Speech
Peace From Kim Jong-Un New Year Speech In 2020
António Guterres Speech Fails To Explain
Unappreciative Audience Goads Chief Minister
Stylish Opening Speech By The Duchess Of Cambridge
Avoid A Public Speaking Nightmare This Halloween
Jazzing Up Audience Feedback At Oxford University
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.
[…] was embroiled in a similar case in 1988. In Australia Anthony Albanese endured a mini-storm over Hollywood speech writing. In Ireland Premier Enda Kenny had fun poked at him over a lifted speech borrowed from President […]
[…] was embroiled in a similar case in 1988. In Australia Anthony Albanese endured a mini-storm over speech plagiarism. In Ireland Premier Enda Kenny had fun poked at him for the same reasons with one of his speeches. […]