Film Director: It is true that certain characters and plot twists in my newly released film The Big Heist are strikingly similar to characters and plot twists in Thieves, a movie that came out last year. Based on these similarities, the film studio that produced Thieves is now accusing me of taking ideas from that film. The accusation is clearly without merit. All production work on The Big Heist was actually completed months before Thieves was released.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest support for the director's rejection of the accusation?

• ABefore Thieves began production, its script had been circulating for several years among various film studios, including the studio that produced The Big Heist.  
• BThe characters and plot twists that are most similar in the two films have close parallels in many earlier films of the same genre.  
• CThe film studio that produced Thieves seldom produces films in this genre.  
• DThe director of Thieves worked with the director of The Big Heist on several earlier projects.  
• EThe time it took to produce The Big Heist was considerably shorter than the time it took to produce Thieves.