Editing M. Night Shyamalan (section)

==Controversy==
===SyFy Channel hoax===
In 2004, Shyamalan was involved in a media [[hoax]] with [[SyFy Channel]], which was eventually uncovered by the press. SyFy claimed in its "documentary" special ''The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan'', shot on the set of ''The Village'', that as a child, Shyamalan had been dead for nearly half an hour while drowned in a frozen pond in an accident, and that upon being rescued he had experiences of communicating with spirits, fueling an obsession with the supernatural.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McNab |first=J. M. |date=2021-07-22 |title=Remember When M. Night Shyamalan Pretended To Be Psychic? |url=https://www.cracked.com/article_30809_remember-when-m-night-shyamalan-pretended-to-be-psychic.html |access-date=2024-06-22 |website=Cracked.com |language=en}}</ref>

In truth, Shyamalan developed the hoax with SyFy, going so far as having SyFy staffers sign [[non-disclosure agreement]]s with a $5 million fine attached and requiring Shyamalan's office to formally approve each step. Neither the childhood accident nor a supposed rift with the filmmakers ever occurred. The hoax included a nonexistent SyFy publicist, "David Westover", whose name appeared on [[press releases]] regarding the special. SyFy also fed false news stories to the [[Associated Press]],<ref>{{cite news| url = http://www.today.com/id/5211084/ns/today-today_entertainment/t/profile-m-night-shyamalan-goes-sour/ |agency=[[Associated Press]] | work = [[Today (US TV show)|Today]]|date=June 16, 2004 |title= Profile of M. Night Shyamalan goes sour: SyFy Channel is still planning to air the documentary| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401052130/http://www.today.com/id/5211084/ns/today-today_entertainment/t/profile-m-night-shyamalan-goes-sour/| archive-date=April 1, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Zap2It]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-118399097.html|title=Sci Fi schedules controversial Shyamalan doc.|date=June 21, 2004|access-date=April 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402151407/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-118399097.html|archive-date=April 2, 2015|url-status=dead|publisher=[[Zap2it.com]]|agency=[[Knight Ridder]] / [[Tribune News Service]]}}<!--ORIGINAL CITE, WHICH MAY STILL BE AVAILABLE SOMEWHERE ON NET; NOT ARCHIVED, HOWEVER {{cite web |publisher=[[Zap2it.com]] |date=June 17, 2004 |url=http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271%7C888301%7C,00.html |title=Sci-Fi Schedules Controversial Shyamalan Doc }} {{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}--></ref> and the ''[[New York Post]]'',<ref>{{cite news| url =https://nymag.com/movies/reviews/17661/| title= M. Narcissus Shyamalan | publisher=(Sidebar, "Backstory") [[New York (magazine)|New York]] | first=David|last= Edelstein| author-link= David Edelstein |date= n.d.|archive-date= July 19, 2006| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060719193604/http://nymag.com/movies/reviews/17661/|url-status=live}}</ref> among others.

After an AP reporter confronted SyFy Channel president [[Bonnie Hammer]] at a press conference, Hammer admitted the hoax, saying it was part of a [[guerrilla marketing]] campaign to generate pre-release [[publicity]] for ''The Village''. This prompted SyFy's parent company, [[NBC Universal]], to state that the undertaking was "not consistent with our policy at NBC. We would never intend to offend the public or the press and we value our relationship with both."<ref name="APSciFi">{{cite news|last=Collins |first=Dan |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/20/entertainment/main630733.shtml |title=Sci-Fi Channel Admits Hoax, 'Documentary' On Reclusive Filmmaker Is Bogus |agency=[[Associated Press]] |publisher=[[CBS News]] |date=July 20, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225031642/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/20/entertainment/main630733.shtml |archive-date=February 25, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Plagiarism accusations===
Robert McIlhinney, a Pennsylvanian screenwriter, sued Shyamalan in 2003, alleging similarities between ''Signs'' and his unpublished script ''Lord of the Barrens: The Jersey Devil''.<ref name="eonline.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b48011_shyamalans_village_villainy.html |publisher=eonline.com |title=Shyamalan's "Village" Villainy? |date=August 10, 2004 |first=Josh |last=Grossberg |access-date=February 19, 2009 |archive-date=July 27, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727153623/http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b48011_shyamalans_village_villainy.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="rediff.com">{{cite web |url=http://inhome.rediff.com/movies/2004/aug/11night.htm |title=Is Shyamalan a copycat? |publisher=Rediff Entertainment Bureau |date=August 11, 2004 |access-date=February 19, 2009 |archive-date=August 3, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803013740/http://inhome.rediff.com/movies/2004/aug/11night.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2004, [[Margaret Peterson Haddix]] claimed that ''The Village'' has numerous similarities to her young adult novel ''[[Running Out of Time (novel)|Running Out of Time]]'', prompting discussions with publisher Simon & Schuster about filing a lawsuit.<ref name="eonline.com"/><ref name="rediff.com"/><ref name="ew.com">{{cite news |url=https://ew.com/article/2004/08/10/author-mulls-lawsuit-over-village/ |title=It Takes a Village |publisher=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |first=Gary |last=Susman |date=August 10, 2004 |access-date=September 9, 2011 |archive-date=October 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022064704/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,679258,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In response to both allegations, Disney and Shyamalan's production company Blinding Edge issued statements calling the claims "meritless".<ref name="ew.com"/>

[[Orson Scott Card]] has claimed that many elements of ''The Sixth Sense'' were plagiarized from his novel ''[[Lost Boys (novel)|Lost Boys]]'', although he has said that enough had been changed that there was no point in suing.<ref>{{citation |url= http://www.hatrack.com/cgi-bin/print_friendly.cgi?page=/osc/reviews/everything/2004-08-08.shtml |title= Infringement, Watts, Plum, Ringworld, and Even More Books |first= Orson Scott |last= Card |publisher= Hatrack River (hatrack.com) |date= August 8, 2004 |access-date= May 30, 2016 |archive-date= June 20, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160620045333/http://www.hatrack.com/cgi-bin/print_friendly.cgi?page=/osc/reviews/everything/2004-08-08.shtml |url-status= live }}</ref>