Play-by-play?
Agentsands logical assumptions aside for the time being, let?s look at the facts:
1) Rob Smith (me) sat down to write SOD in early 1995, inspired by a vivid Indy dream, and my love affair with the trilogy.
2) I finished SOD in record time (7 days), and basically had a working draft to expand on.
3) In late 1995, I completed the first draft and managed to procure a local agent, but he later decided not to assist me in my quest for the gold.
4) Somewhat desperate, I concoct a publicity stunt, and in May of 1996, ?Indiana Jones and the Sons of Darkness" hits the Internet. News of it spreads rabidly throughout Indydom and cyberspace.
5) Word of the official Indy 4 screenplay -- stolen from Lucasfilm by a nefarious courier and posted on the Internet -- reaches Skywalker Ranch and the legal team goes on red alert.
6) Robert Smith receives the first cease-and-desist order days after the posting (hey, lawyers don?t frak around). But not satisfied yet, he moves the script to another website and continues the good fight against the legal machine.
7) Almost a half-dozen cease-and-desist orders later, Robert Smith finally pulls the plug. Satisfied he has their full attention.
8) Legal documents arrive at the Smith household. These documents inform me that Lucasfilm will agree not to sue me in exchange for the rights to my screenplay. I seek legal help and later refuse to sign over the rights and wait for the other side to return my serve.
9) Months later it?s old news and one final follow-up call from Lucasfilm, asking me to please sign the agreement and return it promptly, is once again met by polite resistance from me. Eventually, it ends in a stalemate and everybody leaves the sand box and goes home.
Now, at last, back to Agentsands and his question, ?Why on Earth would Lucas have read your script??
Wouldn?t you? In fact, you did. I mean? wasn?t my crazy misadventure itself something to notice? It grabbed the attention of thousands ? maybe even tens of thousands. The first of its kind really.
Furthermore, I don?t recall Lucas ever trying to control the rights to the flood of Indy 4 fanfic scripts which followed in the wake of SOD.
It?s also a logical assumption that SOD haunted Lucas for 12 years, in that he was forced to deflect, dismiss, or down-play SOD to the media. Do you recall his AOL message, denouncing SOD as copyright-infringing fanfiction? Then, for years after my stunt, webmedia and even some print media were still abuzz with speculation about the scripts authenticity. So Lucas found himself sort of ?cleaning up? after SOD, which tends to leave an impression. Am I wrong?
Agentsands? let me ask you this? do you think Lucas read that guy?s Star Wars treatment? I bet he did, and I also bet his crack team of high-priced lawyers advised against it.
And didn?t Lucas eventually acknowledge that Star Wars guy and his treatment? And with great humility? that stunt was no where near as flamboyant as mine.
So? while I love your logical ways Agentsands? I?m still not convinced.