From the Creators of the Original “Dark Skies” (NBC, Sony)
Written
by Bryce Zabel & Brent V. Friedman
November 29, 2012
Friends and supporters have been contacting us,
many with congratulations on how our “Dark Skies” has been made into a new
film, starring Keri Russell, to be released by Dimension Films next February.
While it sounds like a dream, we tell them, it’s actually a nightmare.
To set the record straight, we’re Bryce Zabel and
Brent Friedman, the two writer/producers who created the NBC series called
“Dark Skies.” It was produced by Columbia TV (now Sony) and aired in 1996 and
1997. We wrote the pilot, multiple episodes and produced all twenty hours that
were aired in primetime on Saturday nights.
Our original “Dark Skies” introduced viewers
to an alien invasion that featured a continuing focus on the mysterious and
terrifying abduction phenomenon. So our well-intentioned friends can be
forgiven if they hear about the Dimension Films version that focuses on an
alien abduction and assume we had something to do with it. While that is
decidedly not the case, our definitive version may have inspired it.
Our “Dark Skies” had been in the news even before
Dimension decided to use our title for their film. Our series was given a
world-wide release on DVD in 2011 from both Shout Factory (US) and Medium Rare
Entertainment (UK). In dozens of reviews, the work received critical praise as
a classic that has stood the test of time in the sci-fi and UFO media. It also
spawned new interest in the reboot of our series, something that we were
talking to Sony TV about when the news from Dimension Films broke.
Our "Dark Skies" has established itself
in the minds of a significant number of science fiction fans as a gripping
piece of conspiracy drama set in the world of UFOs and abductions. It anchored
NBC's Saturday night "Thrillogy" concept in the 1996 season premiere
and starred Eric Close ("Nashville") and the late film character
actor J.T. Walsh (“Sling Blade”). Its main title design won the Emmy award and
its pilot screenplay received a Writers Guild nomination. The Syfy Channel
aired the entire series multiple times. Since 2010 there's been a Facebook page
where thousands of fans from many different countries push Sony for a TV
revival.
And yet here we are. A film in the same genre as
our work is being promoted right now using the same exact title as our work.
Most Hollywood businesses legitimately consider creative and artistic interests
and rights in these cases. This one seems to have slipped through the cracks of
acceptability.
Supporters of the creative rights of writers should
ask Dimension Films to let their film stand on its own merits and call it by a
different title. "Dark Skies" is taken.
Join the Dark Skies Resistance @ Facebook
See the Dark Skies Playlist @ YouTube
Read more about Dark Skies @ AfterDisclosure.com
Get
the original, classic and definitive Dark Skies
Series @ Amazon
Dark Skies @ IMDB
WGA (Writers Guild of America) Credit, 1996
“Dark Skies” | Created by Bryce Zabel & Brent V. Friedman
The 1st time I saw the trailer for the —let's call it— 'knockoff' Dark Skies, I asked Mike Clelland his opinion on it. He easily pointed out how the trailer showed 2 elements that were obvious copy-pastes of other movies/TV shows --the kitchen crockery piled up? Poltergeist. The bashing heads against glass? Spielberg's Taken.
ReplyDeleteGranted, Creativity is not about inventing things out of thin air, but implementing things that you find somewhere else in an innovative way. But with the rather unethical appropriation of a title already linked with alien abduction, it wouldn't surprise me if the entire script is nothing but a mashup of scary pop culture references.
Knockoff Dark Skies versus Classic Dark Skies, that makes sense!
ReplyDeleteFrom what I hear it is a mashup, but it will forever confuse the original series in the mind of the public and that's unfortunate. And so damn unnecessary.
Don't worry Bryce. Back when I was a kid in the 80s, Nelvana launched a cartoon series named Ghostbusters, which was completely different from the Bill Murray/Dan Aykroyd movies. It had a goddamn gorilla for Christ sakes! Everyone hated it.
DeleteThen a new cartoon came up, this one based on the movies. They named it The REAL Ghostbusters, and it was a hit ;)
So if you ever manage to relaunch the series in the near future --and let's face it, the show is a great intellectual property with infinite potential to show the Hidden history of the world-- I suggest you rename it as DarkEsT Skies ;)