The creators of Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things are being accused of plagiarism after a filmmaker alleged that they copied his original idea.
Charlie Kessler accused Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer of “misappropriation, unauthorized use and exploitation” of his 2012 short film, Montauk, as well as his script for The Montauk Project.
Kessler describes his film as a “science fiction story set in the town of Montauk, New York, the location of various urban legends and paranormal and conspiracy theories” with the location of the story being an “abandoned military base.”
In the lawsuit, Kessler claimed that he pitched the Montauk idea to the Duffer brothers at a party during the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014.
Strangers Things, which first aired in July 2016, was reportedly ordered for eight episodes by Netflix under the title Montauk.
However, the setting of the series was changed to Indiana.
