Friends and supporters have been contacting us, many with congratulations on how our “Dark Skies” has been made into a new film, starring Keri Russell, to be released by Dimension Films next February. While it sounds like a dream, we tell them, it’s actually a nightmare.
To set the record straight, we’re Bryce Zabel and Brent Friedman, the two writer/producers who created the NBC series called “Dark Skies.” It was produced by Columbia TV (now Sony) and aired in 1996 and 1997. We wrote the pilot, multiple episodes and produced all twenty hours that were aired in primetime on Saturday nights.
Our original “Dark Skies” introduced viewers to an alien invasion that featured a continuing focus on the mysterious and terrifying abduction phenomenon. So our well-intentioned friends can be forgiven if they hear about the Dimension Films version that focuses on an alien abduction and assume we had something to do with it. While that is decidedly not the case, our definitive version may have inspired it.
Our “Dark Skies” had been in the news even before Dimension decided to use our title for their film. Our series was given a world-wide release on DVD in 2011 from both Shout Factory (US) and Medium Rare Entertainment (UK). In dozens of reviews, the work received critical praise as a classic that has stood the test of time in the sci-fi and UFO media. It also spawned new interest in the reboot of our series, something that we were talking to Sony TV about when the news from Dimension Films broke.
Our "Dark Skies" has established itself in the minds of a significant number of science fiction fans as a gripping piece of conspiracy drama set in the world of UFOs and abductions. It anchored NBC's Saturday night "Thrillogy" concept in the 1996 season premiere and starred Eric Close ("Nashville") and the late film character actor J.T. Walsh (“Sling Blade”). Its main title design won the Emmy award and its pilot screenplay received a Writers Guild nomination. The Syfy Channel aired the entire series multiple times. Since 2010 there's been a Facebook page where thousands of fans from many different countries push Sony for a TV revival.
And yet here we are. A film in the same genre as our work is being promoted right now using the same exact title as our work. Most Hollywood businesses legitimately consider creative and artistic interests and rights in these cases. This one seems to have slipped through the cracks of acceptability.
Supporters of the creative rights of writers should ask Dimension Films to let their film stand on its own merits and call it by a different title. "Dark Skies" is taken.
Join the Dark Skies Resistance @ Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/darkskiesufo
See the Dark Skies Playlist @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5A1058EDE798E4B1
Read more about Dark Skies @ AfterDisclosure.com
http://www.afterdisclosure.com/dark-skies/
Get the original, classic and definitive Dark Skies series @ Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Skies-Declassified-Complete-Series/dp/B00465I156
WGA (Writers Guild of America) Credit, 1996
“Dark Skies” | Created by Bryce Zabel & Brent V. Friedman




Video Re-Review from UFO Book Review
It takes guts to do what Chattanooga, Tennessee reviewer Brian McDonald of UFO Book Review just did. He revised his review of A.D. After Disclosure from a fairly harsh criticism to a more positive outlook after he thought about it for a while. As Brian wrote us, "It's my belief that critical thinking, or the use of systematic thinking is a skill that many people lack today, but is one of the most crucial skills a person can acquire and use."
We won't say much more than that, but will let you look at it and evaluate it for yourself.
Brian stumbled upon his first UFO book by accident while browsing the science section of his local book store and casually flipped through the pages. It piqued his interest enough that he read the book in the following three days. Here's what Brian says on his YouTube page on the subject:
It is the question of our time. Brian is an avid reader, as you can see, who's devoured books on topics that include quantum physics and current events and history, and now includes UFOs. We all welcome Brian, and people like him, to the fray.
More than that, however, what he has done here -- even though it is to our favor and we appreciate it -- is that he has shown the way forward for UFOlogy: an open, thoughtful mind, the ability to take in new information and evaluate it and, sometimes, to make changes.
07/19/2011 in Endorsements, Publicity, Readers Comments, Voices, YouTube | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
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