Quentin Tarantino is suing Gawker for pimping ‘THE HATEFUL EIGHT’ script
My inconsistency is demanded by the chemistry of my neurological processes. I promise. ‘Cause last week I thought it was ludicrous that Tarantino was shelving an entire film because the script leaked. Now I’m completely on board this week when news drops that the auteur (yeah, I said it!) is suing Gawker.
It hasn’t been a great 48 hours for Gakwer. Last night, Lena Dunham sharpened her pen and jabbed the site (and it’s sister publication Jezebel) on “Girls,” but that’s nothing compared to what’s coming next. AfterQuentin Tarantino’s first draft of “The Hateful Eight” leaked last week, he decided to scrap the project, furious that his screenplay went from being discretely given to six people, to being circulated among Hollywood. And it wasn’t long before it went beyond the inboxes of insiders, with the script landing online, if you knew were to look for it. Or if you simply clicked over to Gawker.
The site, in a post not so subtly titled “Here Is the Leaked Quentin Tarantino Hateful Eight Script,” provided a link to the script where with one click it would land on your desktop. And that has pushed Tarantino over the edge. Here’s what he said to say in court papers, as per Deadline:
Gawker Media has made a business of predatory journalism, violating people’s right to make a buck. This time they’ve gone too far. Rather than merely publishing a news story reporting that Plaintiff’s screenplay may have been circulating in Hollywood without his permission, Gawker Media crossed the journalistic line by promoting itself to the public as the first source to read the entire screenplay illegally. Their headline boasts, ‘Here is the leaked Quentin Tarantino Hateful Eight Script’—here, not someplace else, but ‘here’ on the Gawker website. The article then contains multiple direct links for downloading the entire screenplay through a conveniently anonymous URL by simply clicking button-links on the Gawker page, and brazenly encourages Gawker visitors to read the screenplay illegally with an invitation to `enjoy’ it. There was nothing newsworthy or journalistic about Gawker Media facilitating and encouraging the public’s violation of Plaintiff’s copyright in the screenplay, and its conduct will not shield Gawker Media from liability for their unlawful activity.
At the end of the day I suppose I don’t really care either way. However the voices in my head tell me there’s a difference between a script leaking and an enormous Online Entity publishing the entire thing for the pop culture vultures to ingest at will. Maybe that’s a valid difference, maybe it isn’t. Either way I’ve got a doctor’s note. Forgive me.