HOME / ENTERTAINMENT / TV

Duffer brothers term 'completely meritless' charge of plagiarizing Stranger Things

The Duffer brothers are facing a new lawsuit by a film director Charlie Kessler who claims that they lifted ideas from his short film Montauk.

An attorney for the Duffer brothers rubbished the plagiarism suit filed against the creator of Stranger Things, calling them "completely meritless" and "just and attempt to profit" from the success of the Netflix series.

As reported by TheWrap, an attorney for the Duffer Brothers, Alex Kohner, said, "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."

Matt and Ross are facing a new lawsuit and are being sued by film director, Charlie Kessler who claims that the duo lifted ideas from his short film which he showed them in the year 2014. Kessler has worked on a numerous Netflix series which include Daredevil and Luke Cage.

Charlie Kessler claims to have shown Matt and Ross Duffer his short film titled Montauk in 2014 with the hope that they would collaborate and help develop it into a full-length feature. He believes that the duo has used bits and pieces of the work as a basis for their hit series, 'Stranger Things'. 

According to the lawsuit, Montauk's storyline has many elements and pieces which are similar to the Netflix series; children with enhanced thoughts and powers, a military facility which carries out secret experiments and mutations on humans, as well as a monster from another dimension. 

The lawsuit also claims that the Duffer's show was initially given the working title, The Montauk Project. Both the hit series and the short movie are inspired by the same source which is rumors of a secret and hidden military operation which is titled Project Montauk where secret experiments are conducted. 

"After the massive success of Stranger Things that is based on Plaintiff’s concepts that Plaintiffs discussed with Defendants, Defendants have made huge sums of money by producing the series based on Plaintiff’s concepts without compensating or crediting Plaintiff for his Concepts," as reported in Kessler's suit. 

Charlie Kessler is currently seeking some form of monetary compensation and a jury trial over the alleged plagiarism by the Duffer brothers. Neither Netflix nor the Duffer brothers have commented on the lawsuit. 

The Netflix hit series, Stranger Things became very popular and turned its lead, Millie Bobby Brown, into an international star and sensation.