The Duffer Bros. Respond To The STRANGER THINGS Lawsuit and Call The Accusations "Completely Meritless"
As you may have heard, a lawsuit was filed against Matt and Ross Duffer claiming that stole the idea for Stranger Things from Charlie Kessler. They are being sued for "breach of implied contract". He claims that he pitched them his idea for a sci-fi story that is set near an abandoned military base during a party at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and that they took his idea and turned it into Stranger Things.
An attorney for the Duffer Bros. made a statement today calling the accusations "completely meritless" and "just an attempt to profit" from the success of Stranger Things. I pretty much assumed this was the case, but who knows what will come out if Kessler decides to press forward with the lawsuit. Here's the statement from the attorney:
"Mr. Kessler’s claim is completely meritless. He had no connection to the creation or development of ‘Stranger Things.’ The Duffer Brothers have neither seen Mr. Kessler’s short film nor discussed any project with him. This is just an attempt to profit from other people’s creativity and hard work."
So, that's the Duffer's side of the story. Before Kessler made a short film called Montauk and the Duffer's made Stranger Things, there was a book released in 1992 called The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time that dealt with all kinds of conspiracy theories revolving around secret government experiments that took place at Camp Hero in Montauk, Long Island.
I just don't see how this guy can claim this was his original idea, when it's based on so many other things that came before it.
There were some great comments in the first post regarding the lawsuit and I thought I'd share a few of them below in case you missed them. Some offer good insight while others are just fun:
Harley Quinn - "I doubt this will go far, I went to film school and from what I learned from a screenwriting class is it’s not illegal to “steal” an idea. That happens all the time. It is illegal if the Duffer brothers plagiarized this guys script though. Especially if it’s copyrighted. But this was the example I was given in school: If in 1974 I told my buddy Stephen Spielberg about a movie idea I had for a killer shark, and then a year later he makes JAWS I can’t sue him. Yeah it might be a shitty thing for my friend to do to me but it doesn’t bare weight for any legal action to take place. Stephen could always come back and say “oh I’m sorry, I don’t remember having that conversation with you.” And that would pretty much be the end of it."
Film Rewind - "Yeah, my first thought was “What conversation at Tribeca?” Not to mention that there have been shows like Eerie, Indiana, Twin Peaks, and even Smallville, that revolve around this same concept for ages. In reality, this is one of those 3-Steps-Forward-Two-Steps-Back lawsuits. He’s really probably hoping for some legal recognition so he can boost his career by saying “Look, I can prove I helped create this.” But in the mean time it’s a waste of his money and makes him look like an idiot. I mean requesting a cease-and-desist on Stranger Things episodes and destroy seasons 1 & 2?! Ha! Take your money to a brothel. It’s the only place you’ll come out on top."
Pecknormous - "So someone is trying to sue the people who ripped off half life who kinda ripped off Stephen King for ripping off his "original idea" at a Hollywood party in 2014..... Classic"
DudeReally? - "This is like how Dairy Queen stole the idea of Blizzards from me. I was crushing Oreos in my ice cream long before they were. The thieves."
Damon M. - "This is like me suing Joey because I was a geek and a tyrant before anybody up in here LOL"