Exclusive
John B, Sarah, JJ and the rest of Netflix’s “Outer Banks” gang are not the brainchild of the creators – they were pulled straight from the pages of an existing novel … so states the novelist in a new lawsuit.
A man called Kevin wooten sued the streaming giant, as well as the creators of ‘OB’ Shannon Burke and Jonah and Joshua Pate … claiming that the whole lot pulled the plot out of his book, “Pennywise: The Hunt for Blackbeard’s Treasure!” almost beat by beat.
In his suit, obtained by TMZ, Wooten says that in 2016 he published his book, which documents the story of 4 young adults who stumble across a local legend that leads them to a treasure buried in a legendary shipwreck on the outer shores of North Carolina.
Wooten says he sold a lot of copies, including hard copies in the city of Wilmington … where he claims the Pate brothers spent a significant amount of time, and where they publicly said they had inspiration for their new hit show.
This is no coincidence … according to Wooten, who says it is likely that Pates found his novel and used it as the basis for “Outer Banks”. KW claims that there are striking similarities that you simply cannot deny … even the structure and the characters.
Wooten claims that the archetypes of his protagonists and those of the series are almost identical, as are the villains – namely, a wealthy benefactor and a corrupt policeman. He also says that the plot is virtually the same … including the clues they find and the places where they lead them.
Wooten wants compensation, but he also wants to see a title card in the credit reading, “Story by Kevin Wooten, based on the novel Pennywise: The Hunt for Blackbeard’s Treasure!”
How could Blackbeard himself say … dammit!