Emma Watts 20th Century Fox

For reasons that remain unclear, and in a decision for which I was not consulted, my story KRZ was shared with Emma Watts, executive with 20th Century Fox.

Emma Watts was Paul Deason's superior at 20th Century Fox. Emma Watts was intimately exposed to KRZ and "liked it", was asked by Cameron for ideas to fix the broken Avatar scriptment, changes found first at Lightstorm in the KRZ story. Emma Watts was creative executive producer of Avatar.

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Ms. Emma Watts has been the President of Production at Twentieth Century Fox (TCF) since 2007. Ms. Watts oversees a restructured group that coordinates all of TCF’s filmmaking assets, adding physical production, post production, visual effects and music to her ongoing leadership of the studio’s production, story, creative affairs and casting departments. She served as an Executive Vice President of Production for TCF since 2005. She has been Vice Chairman at Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation since February 9, 2017. She first joined Fox in 1997, following stints as a Creative Executive first with Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Pictures and later for Oliver Stone. Her tenure at Fox has encompassed over 100 movies and she has led production and development efforts for some of the world’s most beloved, critically-acclaimed and commercially successful films, including Avatar, Deadpool, Gone Girl and The Martian, among others. She also led reboots of massive franchises like The Planet of the Apes and X-Men, while spearheading new franchises, such as Night at the Museum, Kingsman and TheMaze Runner.

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=419750831&privcapId=35867&previousCapId=35867&previousTitle=Twentieth%20Century%20Fox%20Film%20Corporation

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Ryder v. Lightstorm Entertainment & James Cameron

James Cameron Deposition 12/5/2012

Bates #002999

Q: Okay. With respect to the drafting, during the process that you were drafting the  screenplay, were you talking to other folks for...

Bates #003000

Q cont'd: ...ideas, or using notes of other people for ideas of any nature?

A: There, I believe there may have been some studio notes. I can't recall if they were verbal or written.

Q: What does that mean?

A: That means that the studio executives at 20th Century Fox would have read the script and commented on it.

But for the most part, I was following my own creative compass and using Lita Kalogridis as a sounding board to, simplify the script.

We, I, I felt the first unofficial draft was a little complicated. So we, we converged two characters into one to make the, make the story a little simpler.

Q: Who were the Fox executives that you're referring to just now?

A: Well, it would have been Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos as the co-chairs at 20th Century Fox. And Emma Watts, who was our creative executive producer. I mean executive on, on the project.

Q: She's with Fox?

A: Yes. I mean Emma Watson. Sorry. Emma...

Bates #003001

A cont'd: ...Watts is the actress in, in Harry Potter.

Q: ‘Did any of these Fox executives send back to you any types of comments about how to improve or change the screenplay?

A: If I knew how to stop studio executives from giving me creative comments, I would do it. But they do.

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Note 1) That Cameron actively solicited story ideas from Jon Landau and Emma Watts amongst others in order to address what Cameron considered fundamental flaws in the Avatar Scriptment. This is documented in emails.

Note 2) While the story became simpler by one metric, combining multiple characters into one character. The story's plot became much more complex by making the protagonist a "spy" who "betrays" the mission. Elements not found in the Avatar Scriptment, but considered the "core, defining" elements of the Avatar film by Cameron and his attorneys.

These being the very same elements first found at Cameron's Lightstorm in KRZ, which is exactly where I claim they originated.

Note 3) Cameron, in fact, has it backwards, Emma Watts is the Fox executive he worked with on Avatar and Emma Watson is the actress.