ABC TV Australia Plagiarised Independent Filmmaker for 'their' Cholesterol and Satins Program.

Although I am delighted that ABC went ahead with their broadcast about statins, and even more delighted to see that it has cooked up a real stir in Australia, I feel I have to inform people of the extent to which ABC Catalyst plagiarised $TATIN NATION without my consent and without informing me. I think the video clip below makes this clear.

Cholesterol, statins, and heart disease is of course a gigantic subject and there are a thousand different ways that a TV program could have been constructed on this issue, and with many possible different angles. After watching part 2 of the Catalyst program, it is clear that large sections of $TATIN NATION have been copied without consent, and no appropriate credit given.

$TATIN NATION was listed in the 'Thanks To' section of the credits on the second program, but I strongly feel that more credit should have been given. Giving appropriate credit to $TATIN NATION would have helped greatly with my efforts to globally create awareness about this issue. 

I am an independent filmmaker with very limited resources, I made $TATIN NATION through sheer hard work and determination, working 7 days a week for almost 2 years. As well as 7 years of research. Yet the Catalyst program chose the easy option of copying my original ideas, the structure and specific content. All without informing me.

Plagiarising an independent filmmaker's work like this is unethical. 

$TATIN NATION is not just a film but also a global outreach campaign. I would have been delighted to have worked closely with ABC Catalyst on this film, but they chose to try and pass it off as their own original investigation. 

I also have an obligation to the other professionals who helped me make $TATIN NATION. I was able to work with very experienced people, and I went to considerable effort to make a professional film – all of my team deserve appropriate credit for their work.