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Hollywood screenwriter John Carlen has died, aged 64.

Carlen - who wrote the screenplay for Nicolas Cage's directorial debut, 2002 film Sonny - passed away on 10 December in San Diego, California. He suffered a stroke on 5 December at his home in Rosarito Beach, Mexico.

His first Hollywood job was a technical advisor on 1978 film, Straight Time, starring Dustin Hoffman.

He also wrote the screenplay for U.S. made-for-tv movie Thompson's Last Run, starring Robert Mitchum and Wilford Brimley.

Carlen is survived by two brothers.

TV writer Robert Dellinger has won an out-of-court settlement from Nicolas Cage's production company -after claiming he co-wrote the script for the movie star's directorial debut Sonny. Dellinger sued Cage's Saturn Films, Intermedia and God Circle Films when he discovered he wasn't being credited for his part in the new film, about the life of a male prostitute. The writer claimed he and John Carlen, who is credited for the story, came up with the idea at Terminal Island Prison in Los Angeles where Dellinger was teaching a writing class and Carlen was serving time for bank robbery. Delighted Dellinger says, "I can't mention the amount, but it was healthy. When they looked at the facts, they decided to straighten this thing out."...

Producers of Nicolas Cage's directorial debut are laughing off claims he overlooked a co-author of his film. TV writer Robert Dellinger has filed a $2 million suit in Los Angeles claiming he co-wrote the story for Sonny with the film's credited writer John Carlen - but has been left off the credits for the film. But Cage's Saturn Films partner Nick Golightlty told reporters at the Deauville Film Festival, "The truth is, we don't know the origin of the screenplay. It was brought to Nic's attention, written by a single individual who claimed it to be his own work. It has become an issue that we don't know the answer to, but it's an insurance issue at best."...

Variety reports that writer Robert Dellinger has brought a suit against Nicolas Cage and five companies behind the feature film Sonny, claiming he isn't getting credit for co-writing Cage's directing debut in prison nearly three decades ago. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles and seeks damages of more than $2 million for the movie, which will be featured at the Deauville Festival of American Film. The suit also seeks to block the film's sale in overseas territories. Dellinger says he and co-screenwriter John Carlen wrote four separate screenplays in the mid-1970s. Dellinger's suit alleged substantial pieces of the four screenplays ended up in Carlen's subsequent script for Sonny, which tells the story of a young man who is raised in a brothel and becomes a prostitute. Dellinger met Carlen at Terminal Island federal prison in Los Angeles in 1975, where Dellinger was teaching a creative writing course he had begun there while serving a sentence for extortion. Carlen, in prison for bank robbery, was a student in Dellinger's class. They subsequently collaborated on several scripts.

Television writer Robert Dellinger has filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against Intermedia Films, Nicolas Cage and four other entertainment companies regarding the upcoming film "Sonny," which Cage directed. In his suit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court, Dellinger alleges that he and screenwriter John Carlen -- also listed as a defendant -- co-wrote four separate screenplays in the 1970s that served as the basis for the "Sonny" screenplay, which Carlen sold to Intermedia. The suit alleges that Dellinger was left out of the deal despite the collaboration between himself and Carlen on the original script. The defendants include Intermedia Films, Vortex Pictures, Pony Rides, Gold Circle Films, Saturn Films, Carlen and Cage. Dellinger is seeking more than $2 million as well as an injunction to restrict the film from reaching the foreign market.