Novice screenwriters pretend to be Seth Rogen, get script read by top execs

In a move that could merit a leftfield comedy of its own, a pair of screenwriting hopefuls pretended to be Seth Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg to get their comedy script into the hands of the right people in Hollywood.

And it worked too.

25-year-old Jonathan Witz and 29-year-old Jeremy Spektor swapped out the front page of their script for a comedy called ‘The Kosher Nostra’, instead putting Rogen and Goldberg’s names as its writers, claiming it was from the pair’s Point Grey Pictures production company.

It even added a story credit for Rogen and Goldberg’s pal Jonah Hill.

They then set up a fake email account, purporting to be from a ‘Danny Goldstein’ at the respected United Talent Agency, and started sending it out to executives.

Among those it managed to get to were Netflix producer Ted Sarandos, Megan Ellison, producer of films like ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ and ‘American Hustle’, Mark Gordon (‘Steve Jobs’, ‘War Dogs’) and even Will Ferrell.

The premise of the movie is that of a struggling screenwriter who works as an Uber driver, and ends up working as a getaway driver for the Jewish mafia.

“Like any young writer, we all have our heroes — Seth and Evan are those guys for us; they inspired us to write this script in the first place,” Spektor told The Hollywood Reporter.

“We’ve all heard the myth about a young Spielberg slipping onto the Universal lot,” Witz added. “This was about getting our script past the ‘gatekeepers’ and into the right hands.”

However, things soon began to unravel.

Once the plot was discovered, Rogen’s lawyers issued a cease and desist letter to ‘Danny Goldstein’, demanding that the script stop being circulated under their names.

It was probably fun while it lasted, but there’s no news yet on whether anyone has picked it the option for it.

Rogen and Goldberg have not commented on the matter.

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