Ms. Montana-Cyrus is inspiring litigation:
A dude claims he’s the inspiration and more for “Hannah Montana” and wants Disney to give him due credit — as in a lot of money.
Richard Fronduto filed a lawsuit today in L.A. County Superior Court, claiming he wrote a script in 1990 called “The Secret Life of Sindi” which eventually became “The Family Business.”
Fronduto claims his agent pitched his work to Disney and that Disney liked it so much they asked him to turn his script into a two-hour pilot. In short, he claims he’s the brainchild for what became “Hannah Montana.” (Via TMZ)
Turns out that this isn’t the only Hannah Montana law suit…
Whenever a show or movie experiences high success rates, the inevitable happens. Someone shows up to claim that this lucrative idea was theirs all along. Such is the case with Disney’s Hannah Montana. This weekend, a comedy writer has filed a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company that, in 2001, he came up with the idea for a show but used a different show title.
Taylor “Buddy” Sheffield, a veteran comedy writer, is suing for alleged breach of contract, breach of confidence, unfair competition and unjust enrichment. Six years ago, he pitched a show called Rock and Roland to the Walt Disney Company, about a middle school girl who has a secret alter-ego as a rock star. Sound familiar? (Via TV Buddy)
I couldn’t find anything on the Sheffield case except for a more recent lawsuit for Disney canning him. Hm.
Now, I know this may be outrageous, but maybe the problem is that the premise of Hannah Montana isn’t that original? Just a thought… I prefer Trace Cyrus anyway…