Joan Harrison (screenwriter) the film "Jamaica Inn" (1939) based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier. When Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in March 1939 to begin his contract with David O. Selznick to direct films, Harrison went with him as an assistant and writer. She continued contributing to the screenplays for Hitchcock's films "Rebecca" (1940), also adapted from a du Maurier novel, "Foreign Correspondent" (1940), "Suspicion" (1941), and "Saboteur" (1942). She was also credited as one of the screenwriters for "Dark Waters" (1944). Harrison was an uncredited screenwriter for "Ride the Pink Horse" (1947) and "Your Witness" (1950). She became a film producer
Daphne du Maurier novel into French and sent it to a publisher in Paris, who she learned was also Ms. du Maurier's [publisher] only after "Rebecca" became a worldwide success. The novels have identical plots and even some identical episodes." Author Frank Baker believed that du Maurier had plagiarised his novel "The Birds" (1936) in her short story "The Birds" (1952). Du Maurier had been working as a reader for Baker's publisher Peter Davies at the time he submitted the book. When Hitchcock's "The Birds" was released in 1963, based on du Maurier's story, Baker considered, but was advised against, pursuing costly litigation