00:07Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of the insanely popular supernatural series
00:11Stranger Things could be heading to trial over an allegation that they stole the idea
00:15for their Netflix sensation. Charlie Kessler alleges that he pitched a distinctly
00:19similar project at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and on Wednesday a Los Angeles
00:23Superior Court denied summary judgment to the Duffer brothers in a lawsuit brought
00:27by Kessler. According to the plaintiff, Stranger Things is based on a feature film script
00:31titled The Montauk Project, set in the Long Island beach town which he says is home
00:35to various urban legends and paranormal and conspiracy theories. In January, in response
00:40to claims of breaching an implied contract, the Duffer brothers argued that they didn't
00:44manifest any intent to enter into a binding agreement with Kessler, that they
00:48independently created Stranger Things and that the ideas Kessler says he disclosed were
00:52not novel. Says the Duffer's attorney, Charlie Kessler asserts that he met the Duffers,
00:56then two young filmmakers whom Kessler had never heard of, and chatted with them for 10-15 minutes.
01:01That casual conversation, during which the Duffers supposedly said that they all should
01:06work together, and asked what Kessler was working on, is the sole basis for the alleged
01:10implied contract at issue when he used his ideas to create Stranger Things.
01:17In denying summary judgment Wednesday, Los Angeles Superior Judge Michael Stearns
01:24state of California law, citing precedent in a 1979 appellate decision upholding a trial
01:28court's conclusion that no implied, in fact, contract could be formed when the plaintiff had
01:33voluntary
01:34law
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