PORTSMOUTH — "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" is currently the top grossing film of 2009. It's about to break $100 million at the box office. And allegations have surfaced that a local man wrote the original script without receiving credit.

PORTSMOUTH — "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" is currently the top grossing film of 2009. It's about to break $100 million at the box office. And allegations have surfaced that a local man wrote the original script without receiving credit.



Alfred Thomas Catalfo, a Dover attorney and Seacoast writer/director known for his films, "The Norman Rockwell Code" and "The Stag Hunt," is not prepared to make any accusations of his own right now. However, he did write a comedy script called "Mall Cop" in 2000. Between 2002 and 2005, it was a winner and/or finalist in 12 major screenwriting competitions, receiving the Best Screenplay Award at the 2004 New Hampshire Film Expo in Portsmouth.



"It was also submitted to various people in the film industry and it was submitted on at least two occasions to Happy Madison," Catalfo said Wednesday.



Happy Madison Productions is a film company founded by actor and former New Hampshire resident Adam Sandler. Happy Madison produced "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," along with Columbia Pictures. Shooting began in February 2008 in Burlington, Mass., and the film was released on Jan. 16. The Writers Guild of America has given script credit to star/producer Kevin James and co-writer Nick Bakay. Catalfo wouldn't comment on when he sent the script to Happy Madison. Questions are being raised now that an e-mail reportedly from a "Paul Blart" crew member to the film site indieWIRE has been made public.



The e-mail sent Monday to indieWIRE reads, in part:



"During production ... the film's title was mysteriously changed to 'Untitled Kevin James Project' before being changed back to 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop' a couple of weeks later. The story going around the set at the time was that a writer from New Hampshire was claiming that Kevin James stole his script, which he apparently previously submitted to Happy Madison, and that he also registered the title with the Motion Picture Association, preventing Columbia-Sony from using it.



"One guy there who was definitely in a position to know said the studio was so shocked when they read the scripts side-by-side ... that they immediately sent a Sony bigwig to New Hampshire with an apology and a check to 'work it out' in typical Hollywood fashion. I also remember hearing that the writer was a lawyer and was really giving the producers a hard time. Kevin James looked pretty sheepish for a few days, too."



The writer went on to say he found and read Catalfo's "Mall Cop" script on www.scriptghost.com. "... It's the same script and the same story! Kevin James just changed Catalfo's mall cop character 'Art' to 'Blart' and changed a jewelry store to a bank. It's still about a mall robbery with hostages being rescued by a mall cop who can't get into the police academy and lives at home with his mother. Both scripts even have robots and scenes set in the Rainforest Café!"



The e-mail has since been excerpted on blogs and newspapers across the country.



It's all coming as a surprise to Catalfo, who spent Wednesday juggling court dates in his full-time job as a lawyer with questions on "Mall Cop."



Catalfo is careful about answering questions and said he "can't comment" on the legal status or other details at this time. However, he did say the Scriptghost site is a ghost writing service, but he was not hired to ghost write "Paul Blart."



Catalfo's friend, Portsmouth attorney Justin Nadeau, hasn't seen the film, but he said he read Catalfo's original "Mall Cop" screenplay 2½ to three years ago. "Based on the previews, from what I've seen, it appears to be the exact same premise, the exact same thing. I know for a fact that Freddie has won several awards for the screenplay and was presented an award by (a representative) of Happy Madison."



Catalfo confirms one of the screenwriting awards was presented to him by a writer affiliated with Happy Madison, but he would not comment further.



Nadeau said there were just too many coincidences to discount.



"I really was shocked when I saw the trailer, just because it appeared to be exactly what I read. When I saw the trailer, I immediately called Freddie."



A representative for Happy Madison directed questions to Columbia Pictures. Steve Elzer, senior vice president of media relations for Columbia, said in an e-mail, "While we have a policy of not commenting on allegations such as these, we stand by the fact that the movie was written by Kevin James and Nick Bakay."