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Hi everyone, I don’t know why exactly but after reading some of the comments on the poster thread I saw this morning I felt compelled to write this. I also want to preference all this by saying that while I’ve worked with writer and director of the film ‘Together’ Michael Shanks in the past, I have zero connection to this new film, I haven’t been asked by anyone connected to the film or him to write anything on his behalf, and I haven’t actually spoken to Michael Shanks in at least 5 years. I also wanted to say at the top that I personally do not believe the film was plagiarised and I wanted to post this to explain why I believe that and present a bit of ‘evidence’ to why I believe that’s the case. 11 years ago, for reasons I don’t really have an explanation for myself, I applied for and got a role that effectively put me in charge of an Australian television networks comedy strategy despite having zero experience in television. I held that position for 4 years and around my second year in the job I met Michael Shanks. I’d be happy to expand on this story in the comments if people want it but the short version is that I saw something he made for YouTube that I really liked, arranged to meet up with him to discuss future projects we could collaborate on and then received the most amazing pitch I’d ever heard which led to me part funding and commissioning his first television project ‘The Wizards of Aus’ which televised as a 3 episode miniseries on SBS 2 (an Australian TV station) in 2016 (and was also released online in 6 episodes and is still available to watch today). In the show, which is about a wizard that gets sick of living in the wizarding world and decides to move to the suburbs of Melbourne instead, there’s a gag that is set up here: https://youtu.be/g4QzsBcQN0A?si=INU2RTNL4vhzJhor&t=205 about how wizards don’t breed in the regular way and basically if two wizards come together, they merge into a single new being, the gag is then paid off at the very end of the series: https://youtu.be/srdX7DqCwvA?si=v4UX-6NX_7X_jFHd&t=932 where the process is graphically shown, it’s absolutely horrible to watch but was pretty funny in context. I just wanted to flag this because ever since ‘Together’ was announced it was clear to me that this was an idea that Michael Shanks has had bouncing around in his head for years and years and while this isn’t definitive proof that the film wasn’t plagiarised, I do hope it changes some people’s minds that, at the very least, the central premise of the film was stolen. As for what I’ve heard regarding the same track being used at the very end of the film, I think I’d have to say that if you’ve got a bit of a comedic tilt to your writing style as Michael Shanks does and you grew up in the 90s as he did, Spice Girls ‘When 2 become 1’ is kind of the obvious choice for that particular scene? It’s not really a surprise to me that two films about the same subject could independently make that decision. On a personal note, from working with Michael Shanks and getting to know him over a couple of years I can say that he’s a person that I admire a lot, despite having immense talent as a writer, director and special effect Wizkid I was shocked by how unbelievably humble he was. Of all the pitches from producers and writers I received over the years he was the person I most felt was just out to try and make content that he thought people would enjoy and had basically no ambitions beyond that. In fact, when he talked to me about ‘The Wizards of Aus’ a show that, at the time, seemed so wholly unlike anything I’d ever seen on Australian television, I asked him what he planned to do with it and he said, “I don’t know, just put it on YouTube and see if anyone likes it.” It took everything in me not to grab him and shake him around till he agreed to let me put it on TV. I called it him ‘pitching me’ earlier but from his perspective I don’t think he thought it was, he was just telling me about his ideas. I know this isn’t definitive proof of anything, but I just can’t believe that the young, funny and talented director I worked with that was so generous with his time and his ideas would ever plagiarise another writer’s work. Not in a million years. I hope I’ve changed some opinions because I’d love to keep seeing this guy succeed. I think he really deserves it. submitted by /u/TheNeal |
