Producer Claims That He Created LOST 32 Years Ago

[GreenScar]

And he's suing for damages. Check it out:

Anthony Spinner, a television producer whose credits include Baretta and Babes in Toyland, is suing ABC and Touchtone Television with the claim that he created the tv show Lost 32 years ago. Spinner says that he wrote a television pilot for the network in 1977 titled Lost, which contains many ideas and characters that Spinner claims were later used for the hit television series Lost.

Spinner was paid $30,000 to write a TV pilot, but the network passed on the show in 1977, 1991 and 1994. Spinner is suing for damages and a cut of royalties, profits among other things. You might be wondering why Spinner waited five years to sue. Well, apparently he tried to file a lawsuit a few years back but it was dismissed for procedural reasons.

A list comparing the two shows has been leaked to TMZ which accounts for a lot of similar storylines and characters. His show featured a airplane headed to Los Angeles which crashes into a tropical jungle-like island, and tells the story of the survivors through the use of flashback sequences to their regular lives, pre-crash. The castaways included:

* Doctor (Jack?) who was the humanitarian voice of the group,
* Trailblazer (Locke?) who challenges the group to accept that they are stick on the island,
* Strategic military man (Sayid?),
* Stubborn and reluctant semi-her (Sawyer?) who challenges the leadership and has a dark father-son past,
* Drug addicted survivor (Charlie?),
* Physically fit young woman who can perform many of the same tasks as the men (Kate?),
* An ethnic minority character (Sayid?) that has to deal with the racial slurs from another survivor (Sawyer?),
* Lone survivor of a scientific expedition (Roussau?) is found with gunpowder, secure shelter, and a relationship with others who were on the island before them (The Others)
* Female lead with criminal past (Kate?)

The show also involved a love triangle like Jack/Kate/Sawyer, the discovery of a cold weather animal in the warm tropical jungle (a saber tooth tiger instead of a Polar Bear), and a raft built that is destroyed by the natives.

And of course, there is always the possibility that the two shows stumbled onto a lot of the same ideas. Most of the characters are regular archetypes. Concepts like love triangles and natives on the island aren’t exactly original, and could have easily come from taking the idea to their logical conclusions. That said, the concept, complete with character-based flashbacks, is awfully similar. Who knows if these claims are accurate, but the producer seems a little bit more credible than the usual crazy crackpot.

What do you think?

[SkullPhyre]

I don't watch tv.

[newtype]

Originally Posted by GreenScar

And he's suing for damages. Check it out:

What do you think?

I didn't believe it until I read the part about a raft destroyed by natives on an island. Who else could have thought of survivors building a raft?

[MCT]

LOL @ Skull

[Batman1980]

Where was this guy during the first 4 seasons of the show? Sounds like some crybaby asking for a hand-out to me.

[SkullPhyre]

I will admit I actually watched the first episode of this. But I was at work. I don't watch tv and I only usually watch movies and play games. I think this guy has issues. 5 years later c'mon.

[Mr.White]

Originally Posted by GreenScar

And he's suing for damages. Check it out:

What do you think?

Bring in Judge Judy!

[ThePhantomOak]

Originally Posted by GreenScar

And he's suing for damages. Check it out:

What do you think?

Sounds like he was ripped off.

I THINK he will get a fat check from ABC to get it out of the way, and he wont work again.


Bottom line is he has proof of him having the idea first. He also has much of the same devices that are in the show in his proof. Even if he was not ripped off directly, it is obvious that something carried over into the show. That, in the eyes of the law, is the same as directly ripping it off.

HOWEVER, Because he was paid by ABC to produce a pilot, that means ABC likely owns the property rights. He will have to prove that they paid for something else.

For example, if google has a guy on the payroll that designs the next video media, tells him it sucks, fires him, and then builds it, google is in the clear because they own the rights to everything created under their direction.

[tommyboy81]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

Where was this guy during the first 4 seasons of the show? Sounds like some crybaby asking for a hand-out to me.

I was going to say the same thing. Don't know why all these people wait all these years to sue. That's just like the lady suing the Wachowski brothers when the last Matrix came out and James Camaron for the Terminator movies because the story lines were similar to what she wrote years before the first Terminator.

[ThePhantomOak]

Originally Posted by tommyboy81

I was going to say the same thing. Don't know why all these people wait all these years to sue. That's just like the lady suing the Wachowski brothers when the last Matrix came out and James Camaron for the Terminator movies because the story lines were similar to what she wrote years before the first Terminator.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...76&postcount=9

[CAB]

Originally Posted by tommyboy81

I was going to say the same thing. Don't know why all these people wait all these years to sue. That's just like the lady suing the Wachowski brothers when the last Matrix came out and James Camaron for the Terminator movies because the story lines were similar to what she wrote years before the first Terminator.

The same reason corporations wait to sue an entity that is in violation of IP uses - wait till they have money to get. Why sue when there are no profits?

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by tommyboy81

I was going to say the same thing. Don't know why all these people wait all these years to sue. That's just like the lady suing the Wachowski brothers when the last Matrix came out and James Camaron for the Terminator movies because the story lines were similar to what she wrote years before the first Terminator.

She'd have to sue Harlan Ellison, who wrote "Demon With The Glass Hand", who came up with the idea first. Then it was a Twilight Zone episode, written by him, then directed by Rod Serling.

Cameron took it to the next level, openly giving tribute to Ellison and Serling; somebody suing him would have to have no knowledge of the genesis of the story in the first place...

[tommyboy81]

Originally Posted by Blu-Dog

She'd have to sue Harlan Ellison, who wrote "Demon With The Glass Hand", who came up with the idea first. Then it was a Twilight Zone episode, written by him, then directed by Rod Serling.

Cameron took it to the next level, openly giving tribute to Ellison and Serling; somebody suing him would have to have no knowledge of the genesis of the story in the first place...

Don't know if I found out on here first or somewhere else. If I can find it I'll post it up. It's like a 20min audio clip of her telling the interviewer

[tommyboy81]

Couldn't find the clip but here's the interview.

http://www.playahata.com/pages/inter...stewartpt1.htm

[Anthony P]

I thought ity was a rip off of Gilligan's Island.

You have people stranded on an island, constantly trying to get off but somehow it always messes up (but other people have no issues getting there and leaving). They fall in trouble with others that have been on the island for some time.

as for characters

they both have a couple
they both have a goofy person that tends to screw up
they both have a leader whose decisions are constantly side stepped by almost everyone
they both have hot women
....

[tommyboy81]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

I thought ity was a rip off of Gilligan's Island.

You have people stranded on an island, constantly trying to get off but somehow it always messes up (but other people have no issues getting there and leaving). They fall in trouble with others that have been on the island for some time.

as for characters

they both have a couple
they both have a goofy person that tends to screw up
they both have a leader whose decisions are constantly side stepped by almost everyone
they both have hot women
....

You wonder when they're going to make a tv using a Coconut and some twigs.

[MAPdead]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

I thought ity was a rip off of Gilligan's Island.

You have people stranded on an island, constantly trying to get off but somehow it always messes up (but other people have no issues getting there and leaving). They fall in trouble with others that have been on the island for some time.

as for characters

they both have a couple
they both have a goofy person that tends to screw up
they both have a leader whose decisions are constantly side stepped by almost everyone
they both have hot women
....

lol yeah I thought that when the show first came out Gillians Island Meets The X-Files. But still this guy will get paid something from ABC.

[xtop]

Originally Posted by MAPdead

lol yeah I thought that when the show first came out Gillians Island Meets The X-Files. But still this guy will get paid something from ABC.

he already got paid. i don't see how he thinks he deserves more

[crackinhedz]

why did he wait until season 6 to cry about it?

[CAB]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

why did he wait until season 6 to cry about it?

To quote from the article - "You might be wondering why Spinner waited five years to sue. Well, apparently he tried to file a lawsuit a few years back but it was dismissed for procedural reasons."