Biker brawl over motorcycle drama

OFF THE WIRE
http://www.clutchandchrome.com/news/news/biker-brawl-over-motorcycle-drama Biker brawl over motorcycle drama Thursday, 17 June 2010 | Written by Asia | |

A recently filed lawsuit is pitting reported real life outlaw biker against the creators of the famed fictitious motorcycle gang ‘Sons of Anarchy’.

A complaint filed on the behalf of Chuck Zito, a reported former leader of the New York City Hells Angel chapter claims the hit FX drama was his idea and the recognized creator, Kurt Sutter was brought in because the television network liked him and his work on ‘The Shield’.

The lawsuit alleges Zito started developing the idea for a television show about a renegade motorcycle club as far back as 1998 and actually pitched the idea to FX's John Landgraf and Nick Grad in 2004. While it was talent agent Ted Chervin who arranged the initial meeting to discuss the concept, Zito followed up with FX in 2005 with another agent (who appears to be unnamed in the complaint) and was told they didn’t have an interest.

But as fans of Sons of Anarchy well know, a drama about a motorcycle gang did appear on the network in September 2008 and has become one of FX's biggest hits.

How does the show’s creator and producer respond to Zito’s (pictured below) creative claims and implications that not only did he get the opportunity because Sutter was FX’s favored son but also ‘had no knowledge about motorcycles, motorcycle clubs or the biker world’?

In fashion that would make any member of Samcro proud of course.

‘So here's my bi-monthly reminder to every delusional b***h who thinks that they've come up with the idea for SOA’ Kurt Sutter (pictured above) wrote on his blog, ‘HAVING THE F*****G IDEA IS NOT THE SHOW. THERE HAVE BEEN DOZENS OF OUTLAW MOTORCYCLE TV DRAMAS PITCHED IN THE LAST TEN YEARS. NONE OF THEM HAS MADE IT TO SERIES, EXCEPT SOA. BECAUSE THEY SUCKED. The same way there were dozens of mob family pitches before the Sopranos and crime scene pitches before CSI.’

He continues ‘.... I had a love of the subculture but was not an "outlaw biker". The same way Damon Lindelof was never marooned on a supernatural island. I did what a good writers does. Research.’

The entry was titled ‘Douchebaggery is the Greatest Form of Flattery....Again’ giving an indication that this legal battle may be reminiscent of the confrontations seen on the show in question, ‘Sons of Anarchy’.

The network in question, FX, has declined to comment on the lawsuit.