Did Ashton Kutcher Steal Anna Nicole Smith’s Idea?
Ashton Kutcher’s new paparazzi prank show “Pop Fiction” sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately, he may have stolen the idea – from Anna Nicole Smith.
TMZ.com has obtained the treatment for a show called “Celebrities Strike Back” that Smith registered with the Writer’s Guild in 2004. It reads, “…what happens if Anna Nicole Smith and other celebrities turn the tables and capitalize off of the overzealous media? What if the next big supposed scandal is not a scandal at all? What if everything is staged, but the media (and the public) don’t know it?… Anna Nicole and other celebrity guests take aim at the media and push all the limits.”
The premise is essentially identical to Kutcher’s “Pop Fiction,” which premiered on E! on Sunday night.
Smith and companion Howard K. Stern approached two execs from the same network, Jeff Shore and Jay James, in 2004 and pitched their version.
According to TMZ, Stern is considering a lawsuit. He is reportedly especially mad that the executives at E! had recently told him the idea just wouldn’t work.