With Netflix throwing it’s full support behind the Duffer Brothers after a judge denied a summary judgement to the creators of “Stranger Things”, meaning the lawsuit filed by producer Charlie Kessler alleging they stole his idea to create the hit series was set to proceed to trial, but the plaintiff withdrew his suit days before trial.
“After hearing the deposition testimony this week of the legal expert I hired, it is now apparent to me that, whatever I may have believed in the past, my work had nothing to do with the creation of ‘Stranger Things’,” said Kessler in a statement Sunday published by Deadline.
“Documents from 2010 and 2013 prove that the Duffers independently created their show. As a result, I have withdrawn my claim and I will be making no further comment on this matter.”
Netflix also responded to the lawsuit being thrown out. “We are glad to be able to put this baseless lawsuit behind us. As we have said all along, ‘Stranger Things’ is a ground-breaking original creation by The Duffer Brothers. We are proud of this show and of our friends Matt and Ross, whose artistic vision gave life to ‘Stranger Things’, and whose passion, imagination and relentless hard work alongside our talented cast and crew made it a wildly successful, award-winning series beloved by viewers around the world.”
The lawsuit was initially reported by TMZ, who obtained a copy of the court filing.
In his lawsuit, Kessler contended that the concept behind “Stranger Things” was lifted from a short film he produced titled “Montauk”, dealing with top-secret government experiments being conducted at the infamous Camp Hero Air Force Base in Long Island, which has become ground zero for conspiracy theories involving everything from time travel to mind-control experimentation to contact with other dimensions.
RELATED: ‘Stranger Things’ Creators Respond To Accusations Of ‘Verbally Abusing’ Women On Set
Kessler’s lawsuit alleged that he approached Matt and Ross Duffer in 2014 to pitch his idea of turning “Montauk” into a TV series to be called “The Montauk Project”.
While Kessler says that things never progressed beyond that initial pitch, he claims the brothers subsequently used his idea, storyline and script to develop “Stranger Things”, and even claims that the Duffers initially sold the show to Netflix using his title, “The Montauk Project”.
Kessler was seeking monetary damages and “destruction of all materials that were allegedly ripped off from his project,” added TMZ.
RELATED: ‘Stranger Things’ To Return For A 3rd Season
The Duffer Brothers subsequently refuted Kessler’s allegations in a statement. “Mr. Kessler’s claim is completely meritless,” reads the statement. “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.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the judge in the case denied the Duffers’ request to dismiss Kessler’s lawsuit.
In January, the Duffers asked to have the suit tossed out of court, arguing that they didn’t “manifest any intent to enter into a binding agreement” with Kessler, that they independently created Stranger Things, and that ideas Kessler says he disclosed were not “novel.”
“Charlie Kessler asserts that he met the Duffers, then two young filmmakers whom Kessler never had heard of, and chatted with them for 10 to 15 minutes,” wrote the Duffers’ attorney in the motion for summary judgement. “That casual conversation — during which the Duffers supposedly said that they all ‘should work together’ and asked ‘what [Kessler] was working on’ — is the sole basis for the alleged implied contract at issue in this lawsuit and for Kessler’s meritless theory that the Duffers used his ideas to create ‘Stranger Things’.”
Following the judge’s decision, Netflix issued a statement throwing its “full support” behind the Duffers.
