As a follow-up to my previous blog post, there has been an interesting development in the Fox vs. PJ Mcilvaine lawsuit. No, I do not have an inside source at Fox, nor do I have any firsthand info on Ms. Mcilvaine's expected response.What I do have are over eighteen thousand Google pages on the subject that have all cropped up since the story broke last week. Some of these paint Ms. Mcilvaine as the victim of the Goliath that is FOX, while others call for her immediate flogging followed by a painful execution. Still others are just plain weird.
This is good news for Ms. Mcilvaine because, whatever their position on the matter, the story is spreading faster than a nasty case of crabs in a high school.
That's interesting, but not the development I speak of. The subject of my post is how this very important news story has morphed into a punch line, and is a perfect example of how the internet is nothing more than a modern day game of telephone.
The story started simply enough with FOX launching a lawsuit against a struggling screenwriter named Patricia Mcilvaine. Ms. Mcilvaine's plight was shared with the internet community by Nicholl winning screenwriter Max Adams on her personal blog. A few reports later, a fact check not bothered with here and there, and lo and behold, Ms. Mcilvaine has morphed into a shadowy cover identity for a male named Max Adams who may or may not have one double agent foot in bed with FOX.
Come on people! This isn't Amazon Studios. This is a woman's life you're rewriting. If you want your reports to be taken any more seriously than a Fox News story, check your facts.
1) celluloidblonde.wordpress.com is NOT PJ Mcilvaine's personal blog. It is owned by Nicholl winning screenwriter Max Adams.
2) Max Adams is female. (Trust me, if she were male, I would have snatched her up.)
3) PJ Mcilvaine's personal blog is http://pjmcilvaine.blogspot.com. She can also be found on the Done Deal message board and various other dark corners of the internet where writers hang out.
4) Ms. Mcilvaine did NOT receive a Cease and Desist letter from Fox prior to the 15 million dollar lawsuit.
5) Ms. Mcilvaine does NOT have a direct or indirect insider link at Fox. She did not post the in-development script for DEADPOOL using illegal means. She found it available on the internet. She is not a spy or a paid patsy for a FOX publicity stunt, or a robot, or an alien being. She is a normal human being, a wife and a mother. A human being whose life has been turned upside down by FOX. She could be you.
I understand the very human need to distance her from the pack. That way we all feel a little less vulnerable. But this is a news story. One that could have far reaching implications for the industry. So stop doing an Amazon Studios number on it already. It doesn't make it better. It just makes it bad.
Accurate information on this case can be found at:
PJ Mcilvaine & Goliath
Web-script $uit
20th Century Fox vs. The Struggling Mom
And donations to Ms. Mcilvaine's legal fund can be made via PAYPAL to pjscriptcooperative@gmail.com
Great pic by K!T