By Rachel Ray
Creative ideas can only go so far in Hollywood, as they usually end up in the courtroom, battling it out on who had the original idea and for intellectual property rights. Shows and movies that have garnered success are usually the victim of these law suits, as someone suddenly shows up, claiming that the original idea was stolen from them. Recently, the victim was Disney’s Hannah Montana, which was sued for a couple of cases.
This weekend, a comedy writer filed a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company, stating that in 2001, he already had an idea for a show, however with a different title.
Taylor “Buddy” Sheffield, a veteran comedy writer, is suing for alleged breach of contract, breach of confidence, unfair competition and unjust enrichment. The show he came up with six years ago was entitled Rock and Roland, which was about a middle school girl who had a secret alter-ego as a rock star. Sounds too much like Hannah Montana, in which Miley Cyrus stars as Miley Stewart, a school student who also is teen star Hannah Montana. On the show, only her father and closest friends know about her being Hannah.
The Associated Press reports that Sheffield had previously written for The Smothers Brothers, The Dolly Parton Show, and In Living Color. He also created Nickelodeon’s Roundhouse. A CBS affiliate also reported that in the lawsuit, Sheffield states that, “The series revolved around a junior high school student who appears to lead an entirely unremarkable life, but is secretly a pop/rock star and the main breadwinner for his family,” adding that Hannah Montana is a “blatant copy of ‘Rock and Roland.”
These kinds of lawsuits are common in Hollywood, as such has happened in 1977, when a writer claimed that Aaron Spelling stole the idea for a show called Family. In 2005, two individuals filed suit against Simon Cowell, accusing him of stealing the idea for American Inventor, which they claimed was originally The Million Dollar Idea. In 2006, Rachel Ray was also in the news as a man claimed that she stole his idea for Inside Dish with Rachel Ray.
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By Rachel Ray
Many American Idol contestants have lingered in the limelight even after their stint on the popular talent competition. Apart from a successful career in the music industry, former American Idol champ Kelly Clarkson has already graced the film world with the movie From Justin to Kelly. Jennifer Hudson, former season three finalist, has also established a career in acting, acquiring many awards for the 2006 musical film Dreamgirls. Now, another former Idol finalist will be penetrating the big screen and she comes in the form of Katherine McPhee.
McPhee has reportedly signed on to star in a new movie entitled The Last Caller, which is actually her second movie following her minor appearance in Crazy. As the lead character, she plays the role of a self-obsessed woman who searches for love and meaning.
Produced by Hit and Rub Productions’ Hilary Shor (Children of Men) and Zenith Film Group’s Nicholas Cokas, the indie film will fall under the budget of $5 million to $8 million range. Written by Michael Albanese, the dark comedy is scheduled to start in the fall in and around New York.
McPhee, a 23-year old native of Los Angeles, California, is best known as a finalist on the fifth season of American Idol. Despite not being hailed as the winner of the show, she has acquired a recording contract with Sony BMG’
s RCA Records. Apart from releasing her album, she has been on tour with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and has performed in three of his concerts. As an actress, she has appeared on shows like Ugly Betty, The Tyra Banks Show, Rachael Ray, Entertainment Tonight, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In addition, she has also co-produced a play entitled Red Herring. Prior to entering showbiz world, she has worked in numerous theater productions like Annie Get Your Gun, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and You Are Here.
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By Rachel Ray
Mankind has been fascinated with the concept of life existing on other worlds for hundreds of years. Incidents such as the Roswell phenomenon have done nothing but further inspire this fascination in the extraterrestrial.
The concept of life on other worlds has held people’s imagination largely due to the question of what if we were to be visited by people from one of those places to be inhabited. Perhaps the first book to ever speculate what could transpire given that situation was The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. The War of the Worlds is considered the first example of the invasion subgenre of science fiction.
The story revolves around London in the 1800s as the earth finds itself invade by hostile Martians who seek to make the earth their own home. As the war rages on, with devastating results for us Earthlings, a man tries to make it to his wife and safety.
The story proved to be so popular that it captivated its audience. In 1938, Orson Welles of the Mercury Theatre radio program produced a radio show which had sent everyone who had heard it into frenzy due to the fact that it was broadcast as though it was an actual news broadcast.
The program, while having catastrophic results, proved to be quite popular amongst listeners who had kept their wits. The show was even annually broadcasted in some towns on Halloween night as a tradition. It was then, in 1953, that a motion picture was produced that modernized the story to reflect Cold War fears of the American populace. Then, in 2005, Academy Award winning Director Steven Spielberg announced that he would direct his own version of the science fiction classic.
In the 2005 retelling, we focus on Ray Ferrier (played by Tom Cruise), a self-absorbed dock worker who has to care for his two children Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and Rachel (Dakota Fanning) while their mother and step-father are out of town.
This is complicated when the earth is invaded by aliens from an unnamed planet. Ray, who has no respect from his children, seeks to take them across the country in an effort to reunite them with their mother and step-father so that they can be safe from the invaders.
The film is effective in its attempts to show how the world would be affected by such an invasion with some strong imagery use to evoke memories of the images of 9/11.
The movie features strong acting, with Cruise doing a different kind of character than his usually confident, action hero oriented characters. Good performances also come from Chatwin and Fanning as they both realistically interact as siblings.
