Tarantino sues neighbor over noisy birds

LOS ANGELES, March 12 (UPI) -- Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino alleges in a lawsuit his Los Angeles neighbor's noisy pet birds are slowing the progress of his next movie.

Britain's The Daily Telegraph said Saturday Tarantino filed a six-page lawsuit in Los Angeles County seeking a noise-abatement order that will muzzle the "exotic bird menagerie" maintained by next-door neighbor Alan Ball.

"Nearly every day Mr. Tarantino and others in his home are subjected to the macaws' obnoxious pterodactyl-like screams, which are not only startling, but have also seriously disrupted Mr. Tarantino's ability to work as a writer in his home," the lawsuit said.

Tarantino's Superior Court suit said the unspecified number of macaws are kept outside and howl 8 hours a day. Their "relentless" shrieks have gone past the point of annoying to "injurious to his health."

Ball, who did not immediately respond to the suit, knows something about screenwriting himself. He created the television series "True Blood" and "Six Feet Under" and won an Oscar for penning the 1999 film "American Beauty."