A man named Charles Kessler is suing the Duffer Brothers, the guys behind Stranger Things, for ripping off his idea to make the show. So he says.
Kessler created a short film in 2012 called “Montauk” which deals with top-secret government experiments, just like “Stranger Things” does. He said he pitched the idea to the Duffer brothers in 2014, but they said no.
Kessler said the brothers used his script, idea, story and film to make “Stranger Things” … which debuted in 2016. He claimed the show was initially sold with the name of his short film, “The Montauk Project.”
The casting call info sheet (from Aug. 2015) for the role of "Barb” is pure proof that this Kessler dude just might be onto something.
It includes the following for potential actresses for the role of Barb, "You have a self tape request for the Netflix series 'Montauk' starring Winona Ryder."
Hmmm ...
Source: TMZ