TEHRAN -- Farajollah Salahshur, the screenwriter and director of “Prophet Joseph (AS)” who lost the legal case over plagiarism for the TV series, is planning to make another TV series on the Prophet Moses (AS).

Shahabeddin Taheri sued Salahshur, accusing him of plagiarizing the TV series “Prophet Joseph (AS)” by lifting a screenplay he had written on the Prophet Joseph (AS) years ago.
Previously, Salahshur was supposed to work on the series, but the project came to a halt. Now, he says he’s determined to resume the task.
“I was supposed to make the series some years ago but former IRIB director Ali Larijani and his deputies decided to assign the project to another filmmaker and for reasons unknown, it was abandoned incomplete right in the middle,” he told the Persian service of MNA.
“I recently submitted the renewed project to officials and began to do research for it after we came to an agreement. It will take at least two years to accomplish the research and the screenwriting,” he added.
Salahshur said he is unaware of how far the other filmmaker and his team had gone with the series before it was stopped.
He also remarked that he would begin filming after the screenplay is complete, saying, “I disagree with the idea of beginning the shooting before the screenplay is complete, as this will only increase expenses. I prefer to work with a finished script.
“I intend to incorporate the opinions of the ulema in Qom. Also, I will most definitely use an advisor and several good writers as well,” he concluded.
Last year, a Tehran court assigned a team led by Abbas Babeveihi to investigate allegations of plagiarism against Salahshur.
Based on an investigation that lasted 170 days, the court said that Salahshur used at least 20 percent of Taheri’s screenplay for making “Prophet Joseph (AS)”.
The court concluded that “the illegal exploitation” fine would be 20 percent of the sum Salahshur received from IRIB for writing the screenplay for the TV series.
Salahshur rejected the court’s decision and announced that he planned to appeal.