'Stranger Things' creators sued over show concept

Updated April 4 12:47 p.m.: The Duffer brothers' attorney has released a statement.

The masterminds of Netflix's smash hit Stranger Things are being sued for the idea behind their show. According to Entertainment Weekly, filmmaker Charlie Kessler claims to have shared a series idea with Matt and Ross Duffer which they then sold to Netflix.

Kessler's idea first took the form of a short film, Montauk, which premiered in 2012 (it was publicly available on Vimeo until...while this article was being written). Two years later, he met the Duffers at the Tribeca Film Festival and pitched The Montauk Project, a series that would expand on the short (both are based on an actual conspiracy theory about psychological experiments based near the New York town). When Netflix acquired a project from the Duffers in 2015, it was called Montauk.

Kessler is suing the Duffers for monetary compensation and a trial by jury. Montauk opens with the disappearance of a young boy á la Will Byers, and while the short film doesn't have much in common with Stranger Things beyond that (and an element of the supernatural), the series pitch could have.

While it's possible that the Duffers were inspired by Kessler's idea, it's also possible that he or someone else piqued their interest in the Montauk conspiracy and that it became one of the many cultural references amalgamated in Stranger Things.

The Duffers' attorney Alex Kohner released a statement Wednesday regarding the suit:

"Mr. Kessler’s claim is completely meritless. He had no connection to the creation or development of Stranger Things. The Duffer Brothers have neither seen Mr. Kessler’s short film nor discussed any project with him. This is just an attempt to profit from other people’s creativity and hard work.”