Who Really Wrote The Matrix?

Page posted in July 2006

http://www.sophiaoracle.com

Screenplay writer Sophia Stewart is adamant that she is the author of the screenplay for the blockbuster movie, The Matrix, and her body of work was stolen. She is suing Warner Brothers, Joel Silver, Andy and Larry Wachowski in Los Angeles’ United States District Court in a case that has been defined as one of the largest suits for damages in the history of the film industry.
The case will be heard July 2005 by a jury to decide if, in fact, the defendants committed copyright infringement and racketeering for allegedly stealing Ms. Stewart’s work and then creating The Matrix. It has been a five-year battle with Ms. Stewart, as a little David against the motion picture industry as the Goliath.
 

"I've won major decisions in the court. I got the FBI involved from the very beginning. The copyright infringement involves two of the biggest movie franchises in film history, The Terminator and The Matrix. They stole my work and I have the evidence to prove it," Ms. Stewart told The Final Call.
 

"I was completely blown away when I saw my work on the screen and I knew I hadn’t sold it to anyone. I shopped it around from 1981 to 1985 to Fox and in 1986 to the Wachowski brothers. I have the letters to prove they had access to my work. Fox is lying in federal court when they say they never had access to my work because I have the signed registered returned receipts and a lot of letters of access from them," she said.
 

She further explained, "I created an epic-which is a body of work that you can get six or more movies from. The Matrix is a derivative of The Terminator. The Matrix comes from the future part of the epic."
 

The book is called "The Third Eye" and is an epic science fiction manuscript with copyrights dating back to 1981.
 

"After viewing Star Wars, I thought, no one has done a science fiction version of the Second Coming of Christ, the foretelling of his Second Coming," she said.
 

While Ms. Stewart was shopping her manuscript around, she also sent it to the Wachowski brothers in response to an ad looking for a science fiction manuscript to create a comic book.
 

During the FBI investigation, it was discovered that, in an effort to avoid liability, 30 minutes or more was edited from the original Matrix film. Further witnesses employed at Warner Brothers came forward claiming that the executives and lawyers had full knowledge that the work in question did not belong to the Wachowski brothers as they claimed.
 

The witnesses also added that the original work of Ms. Stewart had been seen, and often used during preparation of the motion pictures. During a Sept. 27 court proceeding, United States District Judge Margaret Morrow ruled against several motions made by the defendants in their attempt to get the suits against them dismissed.
 

The investigation done by the FBI not only established Ms. Stewart as the writer of The Matrix, but also surprisingly The Terminator. If she wins the case with her mounting piles of evidence, Ms. Stewart will receive damages in what may be one of the biggest payoffs in the history of Hollywood. The Terminator and its sequels, along with The Matrix and its sequels, have gross receipts totaling over $2.5 billion.
 

"Some people can’t believe a Black woman wrote The Matrix or The Terminator. I didn’t write it with my skin; I wrote it with my brain," says Ms. Stewart. "Since when did skin color have anything to do with intelligence, like rich and powerful has nothing to do with theft. The poor steal because they’re needy; the rich steal because they’re greedy."

From all appearances and evidence, the multibillion dollar grossing productions are allegedly stolen stories originally conceived, authored and copyrighted by poet and science fiction screenwriter Sophia Stewart. Based on her 1981 work, The Third Eye, it is actually several stories that resemble the three Terminator films that the Matrix movies spring from. In fact, her case seems so tight that she may even have the Federal Bureau of Investigation and several key film company employees as backup in winning her case. It turns out that this case goes beyond simple plagiarism, and crosses clearly into allegations of violating the federal RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations). In its assessment, the FBI reportedly found that over 30 minutes was deleted from the first Matrix film in order to eliminate liability. Moreover, they discovered key elements of Stewart’s ideas in The Terminator as well. If Ms. Stewart's case clears all litigation hurdles, easily this will be the biggest financial and legal blockbuster produced in Hollywood -- and a film industry paradigm shift.



Sophia Stewart is also a mother of two, a screenwriter, trained paralegal, and Black -- more about the relevance later. No doubt, you can't miss her articulated intelligence, New York accent, engaging conversational style, and relentless spirit for justice. She is already a veteran of a 6-year battle to gain recognition, and compensation, for what arguably are two of the most profitable science fiction films produced by Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox in the last ten years. The special effects and theme of the Matrix and Terminator movies established new standards of digital cinematography and story telling. Many other media productions from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to music videos, comedies, video games, animated films, and dog food commercials copied concepts that were originally conceived and written in Stewart's writings. Much of the special effects and principle filming on The Matrix and The Terminator was delayed because they were technically impossible when the scripts were acquired. Stewart asserts the scripts and ideas were stolen during her years as a University of Southern California film student and fledgling screenwriter at Columbia Pictures during the 1980s.
 

If you recognized the spiritual, social and metaphysical themes at the base of all the dialogue, technology and fantastical effects, then you are among the many who really understood Stewart's message. She says, "They adapted my concept," referring to Warner Brothers producers and defendants Joel Silver, Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. "When I saw Star Wars in the late seventies, I recognized George Lucas' concept. When I was watching Lucas' work it wasn't entertainment to me. I saw that it was actually Satan or Lucifer or the Devil falling from the light side to the dark side. He's put Satan's point of view on the screen, and I thought no one has ever done the Second Coming of Christ. He didn't come back in the past, or now in the present. So I said He's got to come back in the future. What is He going to be against when He comes back in the future? Of course, it’s technology," Stewart emphasizes. As a child scholar with a keen interest in mathematics and business, She was able to gain admission to New York’s prestigious Bernard M. Baruch College after the 7th grade.
 

Regarding the long-range perception of her Third Eye story, "In the future, everyone would start to believe in technology, and that God really didn't exist anymore. The people who were controlling the illusions of Earth (media, public officials, and corporations) would make people believe that God didn't exist. Therefore there's where my concept of technocracy versus spirituality was born," says Stewart. In many respects, the Hollywood version of her works do not capture the full substance, meaning and power as written in Stewart's original epic. Though anyone can recognize that her main character's name, The One (played by actor Keanu Reeves), was reshuffled into the movie version's name Neo, with God (The Oracle) depicted as a middle age Black woman living in public housing (played by veteran actor Gloria Foster). In fact, Stewart's Oracle character was written as a subliminal representation of herself and the spiritually wise nature of older Black women. For those who got it, there are intended Afro-centric and metaphysical themes in Stewart's works and the Hollywood-produced versions.
 

This is just the tip of a significant number of connections between Sophia Stewart's work and the six Hollywood film productions. Beyond the over $3 billion dollars in revenue, the dominant presence of Black characters, and the deep intellectual-spiritual theme, Stewart contends, "A lot of the White fans got the connection right away. The Matrix film makes sense that a Black woman would write that, because they said that we have never seen Black super heroes up on the screen, with Black people portrayed so positive. The White guys are the bad guys, and these Black super heroes are the good guys." The genre and original theater releases have spawned a multibillion dollar growth industry including numerous DVD versions, video games, books, toys, clothing, soundtrack CDs, pricey collector’s items, and web sites.
 

There should be no surprise about the ongoing theft or co-opting of the literary, social, intellectual styles unique to Black culture. Over time, many observers of culture and history admit that American culture and its entertainment industry would not be as popular if it weren't for Black culture. Over the last 200 years, for all intended purposes, Black culture and style has been the unacknowledged measurement and ingredient to what is artistically or socially relevant, innovative, provocative, and just plain cool.
 

"The FBI told me it doesn't matter if they created other characters, if they create other concepts. If they carry over my characters and my work to other releases, and they release these films, they have to pay me," asserts Stewart. As the case comes to a head this July, Stewart is receiving overseas offers to publish her works. She anticipates producing special collector's editions, as well as new film and literary productions. Regarding the millions of Matrix fans, "This will bring them all out of the matrix. Every illusionist, every person that puts their hopes and dreams in liars is going to find out the truth. The truth is going to really break it down for them," adds Stewart.
 

Attempts to offer a financial settlement in 1999 were court aborted based on the weight of FBI queries into alleged RICO violations, and film company witnesses testifying in support of Stewart's claims. The court's action was based on their determination that Stewart's case had a far more serious nature. The FBI probe, Stewart's documented evidence, several insider witnesses, and the filmmaker's (Warner Brothers) alleged post-production copyrighting setoff loud legal alarms. Though many industry insiders and outsiders admit that creative thievery is common in Hollywood, it appears that the comfort of regularity in these schemes have blind sided the defendants due to Stewart's formidable evidence, perseverance and litigation. After six years, the defendants are facing a complainant that's not about to let this one slide.
 

Despite being offered a financial settlement, which she rejected, Sophia Stewart is not particularly surprised at the lack of news media attention to this multibillion dollar lawsuit. There is a silent, but deadly, domino effect on the horizon for many corporate media enterprises. This domino effect could potentially end or greatly diminish the wink-and-snatch atmosphere in Hollywood regarding the intellectual property of writers. Keep in mind, Warner Brothers is a unit of media giant Time Warner Communications (owners of Time magazines, CNN, AOL, HBO, Turner Broadcasting, Time Warner Cable, New Line Cinema, plus Bugs Bunny and the whole Looney Tune crew). Then there's the multinational corporation of Fox, and its many news, sports and entertainment entities. In fact, there may be some irony because just before Time Warner bought Essence magazine this spring, a dubious and curiously short two-paragraph "fact or fiction" summary on Stewart's case appeared in the magazine’s 35th anniversary May 2005 (page 46) issue. Technically, at that time, the world’s leading Black women’s magazine was a wholly Black-owned publication. In the intricate sci-fi world of The Matrix, this could symbolize a bad omen for Black-controlled media or a major segment of the U.S. media industry.
 

When you factor that the film industry divisions of several media conglomerates can sense the legal and financial precedent Stewart's lawsuit success will set, they are not about to widely or extensively report on this litigation through their news divisions (CNN, Fox News, et cetera). They all have a stake in the lawsuit's outcome. Stewart's likely success may go beyond the awarding of profits gained from her creations. A legal precedent will be set, and a significant page will turn in favor of the intellectual and artistic property rights of creators and innovators.
 

Integrity, ownership and control are major keys to financial empowerment. The lawsuit ink is quietly flowing and drying on the legal, financial and technological paradigm shift that's transforming the larger and older media companies. The growth in more diverse personal entertainment interests and controls, plus creator-controlled production and distribution capabilities via Internet and digital technologies is causing some mass communication dinosaurs to stumble and potentially fall into the tar pits of progress. Unintentionally, Sofia Stewart's case may well send a crushing blow and major message that a new paradigm of ownership and dissemination has arrived, and is very alive.
 

UPDATE: The Stewart case added an interesting chapter last week. California federal court judge Margaret M. Morrow rescheduled a July 18 hearing for September 26. Due to some allegedly inept litigation by Ms. Stewart's previous attorneys they were fired. The fired legal team of three had not filed proper depositions and discoveries according to specified deadlines. No doubt, bad preparation and late filings evoke the wrath of most magistrates.
 

However, judge Morrow still saw technical merit in the case and provided Ms. Stewart's current legal counsel a chance to undo the previous mess and get their legal affairs in order. Stewart emphasizes that the previous counsels, "sabotaged my case and refused to give up their files." Looking at the broader ramifications of their legal bungling, Stewart adds, "There's clearly some civil rights violations here in the sabotaging of my case." She also suspects that “their legal pedigree” makes them indirectly connected or influenced by major elements within Warner Brothers and Twentieth Century Fox film companies.
 

According to court documents acquired by BOOKSandWORDS.com, various attempts have been made to sink or dismiss Stewart's case. "The defendants and Warner Brothers want this case out of the courts," says Stewart. She suspects that due to the potentially billions of dollars of legal and financial precedents set by her case, efforts may have been made by the defendants to pressure or influence legal and media elements to ignore or demonize her and the case. According to Stewart, reporters from BET (CBS / Viacom) to CNN (Time Warner) have contacted her, but embargoed or deprioritized the story.
To that point, Stewart wryly adds, "There are no perfect crimes."
 

Sophia Stewart, the archetypical lone combatant against two giant global media conglomerates, conceivably may also make case law regarding the intellectual property of all writers. The ongoing drama of her case is yet another irony and metaphor along the comparative story lines of her original Third Eye story and the Matrix and Terminator movies -- the proverbial little David against the known strengths and unseen tactics of a massive technological Goliath.
 

"Getting a default summary judgment is not clearing up anything," Stewart says referring to the July 18 rescheduling. The bottom line is judge Morrow didn’t dismiss the merits of her case and evidence. No judge with judicial integrity wants a case of this magnitude thrown back at them from a higher court. All the more reason why Stewart confidently asserts, "It's not over by a long shot." "In fact," she continues, "I'm offering a bounty to anyone who can send me bootleg copies of The Matrix. I'm offering a million dollars to anyone who can bring me that movie." Stewart hopes this $1,000,000 reward will help her recover additional proof of the original movie's pre-edited content that links to her original science fiction work, The Third Eye.