Screenwriters slap Seth Rogen’s name onto their script in misguided attempt to get it read

In a move that kind of sounds like the first act of a mid-tier Seth Rogen comedy from a couple of years ago—maybe with Jay Baruchel or Craig Robinson in a supporting role—a pair of unknown-but-ambitious Hollywood screenwriters were recently caught sticking Rogen’s name on their screenplay in an effort to get it read. According to The Hollywood Reporter, would-be writers Jonathan Witz and Jeremy Spektor slapped Rogen and his frequent writing partner Evan Goldberg’s name and production company on their script for a Jewish mafia movie titled Kosher Nostra, in the hopes that it would get past Hollywood “gatekeepers” and into the hands of directors and producers—not to mention Rogen himself.

“Like any young writer, we all have our heroes—Seth and Evan are those guys for us,” Spektor told reporters when asked about the stunt. Meanwhile, Witz cited the famous story of Steven Spielberg sneaking onto the Universal lot back in the ’60s in order to get his foot in the film-making door. The pair also invented a fake UTA agent—“Danny Goldstein”—for themselves, and added a “Story by” credit for Jonah Hill for good measure.

Unfortunately for Witz and Spektor (not to mention lovers of Hollywood fairy tales), their plan to endear themselves to a powerful writer and producer by defrauding people using his name doesn’t appear to have had the expected response. Rogen sent a cease-and-desist letter to “Danny Goldstein” last week, demanding the fake agent stop distributing the fake script with his real name on it. Meanwhile, Goldberg and Rogen have yet to comment on the story directly, or in any way indicate that they’ve read Witz and Spektor’s script.