'The Holdovers' at the centre of plagiarism lawsuit
Far Out Magazine • • entertainment
Key Points:
- Simon Stephenson, screenwriter of an unproduced 2013 script titled Frisco, has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against director Alexander Payne, writer David Hemingson, and several production companies related to the film The Holdovers.
- Stephenson alleges that Payne received multiple copies of Frisco, declined to produce it, but later copied 46 incidents from the script and repurposed them in The Holdovers.
- The lawsuit highlights key similarities, such as the transformation of a children’s hospital setting into a boarding school and a paediatrician character becoming a teacher, as well as a specific plot detail about a medical conference that appears copied and then removed.
- Stephenson is seeking actual damages, injunctive relief to prevent further infringement, and reimbursement of legal fees from the defendants.
