“The Keepers” is accused of plagiarism by the writer “Luca”.

On January 12, screenwriter Simon Stevenson sent an email to Leslie Mackey, senior director of credits at the Writers Guild of America, asking him to set up a phone call to discuss an important matter. “I encountered a credits issue on a high-profile project covered by the WGA,” wrote the CAA-accredited writer, whose credits include Pixar's “Luca” and StudioCanal's “Paddington 2.” According to the email exchange reviewed by diversea call took place between the two, and in a follow-up letter, Stevenson wrote, “The evidence that the remaining screenplay has been stolen line by line from Frisco is truly overwhelming—anyone who looks at even the shortest beautiful specimen will frequently use the word 'impertinent.'”

Stevenson was referring to his screenplays for “Frisco,” a drama centered around a world-weary middle-aged pediatrician and a 15-year-old patient who stumbles into his care, and David Hemmingson’s “The Holdovers” — a drama about a boarding school teacher in the middle of Age is world-weary and the 15-year-old student who stumbles into caring for it. In the end, that teacher is Paul, played by Paul Giamatti in an endearing performance that has him in the running for Best Actor. In 2013, “Frisco” was one of the hottest screenplays in town when it hit Number 3 on the blacklist, an annual survey of Hollywood's best unproduced screenplays founded by Franklin Leonard. “The Holdovers” is, of course, Focus Features' critically acclaimed film from director Alexander Payne, which has received five Oscar nominations, including a nod for best original screenplay, and is considered the front-runner at Sunday's ceremony, competing closely with Justin Tritt and Arthur Harary's film. . “Anatomy of a Fall.” With voting already closed, Hemmingson could become the third screenwriter of a film directed by Payne to win an Oscar. (Pine himself won for screenplay adaptations of Sideways and The Descendants.)

Payne and Hemmingson declined to comment. Stevenson confirmed the authenticity of the emails but declined to comment further.

Stevenson's complaint sparked a lengthy debate between the writer and his union that continued throughout this week without resolution. diverse He also reviewed correspondence between several WGA staffers and the British writer — whose biggest current project is an adaptation of his own novel, “Set My Heart to Five,” which is set at Working Title and Universal with Edgar Wright attached to direct — as documents shared with officers The three unions, the 16-member board of directors and the general counsel.

The crux of Stevenson's complaint is the allegation that Payne had the script for “Frisco” in both 2013 and again in late 2019, right before Payne approached Hemmingson about collaborating on a project. This dispute appears to be supported by emails involving several Hollywood agencies and producers. On August 28, 2013, Verve founder Brian Besser sent an email to a number of people, including Stevenson, in which he said: “Quick update: We introduced FRISCO to Jim Burke, Alexander Payne's producing partner, whom we had for lunch yesterday.” “Our view is that this is the best way to get into Searchlight in an ideal world.” Four months later, UTA’s Jeff Morley seemed to suggest that Payne had read “Frisco,” writing: “I spoke to Jim Burke, CEO of Alexander Payne , live a while ago and said that Payne liked it but was not interested in directing or producing it.

Fast forward to 2019, when “Frisco” appeared to be finding a second life — with Brightstar’s John Woodward and producer Tanya Seghatchian, the duo behind Jane Campion’s Oscar-nominated “The Power of the Dog,” taking the project to Netflix. CEO Lisa Nishimura, who left Netflix last year, brought the script to Payne. On 6 December 2019, Woodward wrote to Stevenson and Seghatchian: “I am sorry to say that Alexander has now read but says it is not quite what he is looking for. It might be worth following up with him [Bob Odenkirk]. Netflix's interest has been based on Alexander but Odenkirk may also be of interest to them – do you want us to explore them? Or maybe there's still Krasinski. Eager to know your thoughts…”

Over the past couple of months, these emails have been passed around by a few high-profile people in the industry as Stephenson makes his case to the WGA — and diverse He reviewed it. Although Hemingson is the only credited writer on The Holdovers, Payne admitted in several awards season interviews that he was the one who helped craft the screenplay. (During a press conference at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in November, Payne said, “I was involved in the script, even though I don't get the credit for it.”) For his part, Hemmingson has had a career path that is atypical for an Oscar-nominated film. A writer, he was a lawyer by profession. He worked in entertainment at Loeb & Loeb before becoming a television writer in the mid-1990s, and “The Holdovers” is his first feature film.

Not long after Woodward's 2019 email to Stevenson and Sighatchian, Payne and Hemmingson began working together on “The Holdovers.” A more detailed retelling of the project's genesis is given during Interview on “The Rough Cut” podcast. in November, which featured Payne and film editor Kevin Tenet. “I had the idea for the film – which I stole from a 1935 French film I had seen at a film festival about a dozen years ago – and I thought it would be a good premise for a film,” Payne said. Not the story, how things go, but the premise. And so I was sitting on that premise for years thinking, “Oh, I should go, you know, to East Prep one day and research this idea because I'm not from that world.” And then about five years ago, I took on, quite randomly, a TV pilot at a boarding school. That's when I called [Hemingson] I said, “Hey, you wrote a great pilot.” I don't want to do that. But would you consider writing a story of mine that takes place in the same world? “So it happened.” Then Tenet interrupted, “I think you had about 45 pages, right, when you first read…” “It could be,” Paine interrupted, “Because, because David was sharing, you know, parts of the drafts with me during his process.” The director added: “I came up with the idea, and we hashed it down — I mean the story idea together. He would send me different versions of what the story could be and then I could say yes or put the kibosh on it or whatever, and then we'd kind of hash it together.”

Ultimately, “The Holdovers” was independently financed on a budget of $13 million. It was a negative rebound for Focus, which bought The Holdovers for $31 million at the Toronto Film Festival, marking the largest global rights deal ever in that market. Unusually, Hemmingson received a full production credit for The Holdovers, which is rare for a screenwriter, let alone a first-time screenwriter.

In recent weeks, after Stevenson's exchange with Mackey went nowhere, he sent an email on February 25 to the WGA's board of directors with the subject line: “Urgent call for assistance from WGA clerk in a truly exceptional situation.” He wrote: “I can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the entire script for a WGA-credited film that is currently on track to win an Academy Award for Screenwriting has been plagiarized line by line from a popular, unproduced screenplay of mine. I can also prove The director of the offending film was sent and read my script on two separate occasions before the offending film went into development. When I say “meaningful totality” I mean literally everything: story, characters, structure, scenes, dialogue, everything. Some of it is downright rude. Insanity: Many of the most important scenes are virtually unchanged, and even remain clearly identical in layout on the page.

He continued: “I've worked as a writer for 20 years – in my native UK before coming to the US – so I'm keenly aware that people can often have surprisingly similar ideas, and sometimes certain elements can be 'borrowed'.” etc. This is not this situation. The two scenarios are forensically identical and filled with unique smoking guns throughout.

In the email, Stephenson noted that Mackey told him the WGA would not get involved because the word “Frisco” was spelled according to the specifications. He also shared three documents to press his case. Board member Scott Alexander then referred Stevenson to WGA West Associate Counsel Leila Azari. (One document is embedded below.)

An email and phone exchange between Stevenson and Azari ensued, lasting several days, in which Stevenson argued that the WGA Constitution covers “the existential risks of this mode of plagiarism by transfer” as stated in Section 5 of its bylaws. He continued: “This may be the best opportunity the union ever has to improve the current dismal situation of complete lack of meaningful protection against plagiarism by transfer for employed writers, and to guard against the existential catastrophe that looms on the horizon.”

Azarri appeared sympathetic but clarified that this was not a union problem, even though Stevenson, Hemmingson and Payne are all members and “The Holdovers” were also nominated for a WGA award. On March 4, Azari wrote: “Claims of plagiarism and/or copyright infringement are not arbitrable under the MBA. You and I also discussed Article broad scope, which would not be available to you in an Article [‘The Holdovers’ financier] Miramax. A lawsuit remains the most viable option under the circumstances. She then referred Stevenson to a small law firm in Los Angeles.

On March 5, two additional board members reached out to Stevenson and said the matter was still being discussed internally, indicating that the issue had sparked controversy within the WGA. According to the correspondence, at least one officer found the allegations troubling. But it is unclear where the issue currently stands within the union. The board did not respond to multiple requests for comment from diverse.

Over the past few weeks, rumors began circulating that Stevenson was calling for a WGA investigation just as the Oscar campaign for “The Holdovers” was in full swing. Historically, instances of plagiarism in screenplays—at least those that reach the public eye—have been fairly rare. The most famous case occurred when comedian Art Buchwald sued Paramount over the Eddie Murphy comedy “Coming to America.” Buchwald prevailed in a seven-year legal saga and was awarded $825,000. Most recently, the estate of the late playwright Paul Zindel accused Guillermo del Toro of copying elements of Zindel's play “Let Me Hear You Whisper” for his Oscar-winning film “The Shape of Water” and filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement. The case was dismissed. The legal definition of plagiarism is broad and vague, boiling down to unauthorized copying. But some see the dispute between Fresco and Waste as a sign of what's to come with technology becoming more sophisticated in pattern recognition.

“This case will make everyone shudder, because you can or soon will push buttons and put scripts into AI programs and compare everything,” says one Hollywood player familiar with Stevenson's claims. “They're tough cases to win. So there's no winner in them because they're expensive, they're ugly, they scare people away. I think that's why Simon is trying to get the WGA to help him.

In an added layer of embarrassment, Payne is one of the top independent director clients at CAA, the same agency that represents Stevenson. Hemingson is handled by WME. On Sunday, “The Holdovers” will also compete for original screenplay awards with “Maestro” (Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer), “May December” (Sammy Burch; story by Sammy Burch and Alex Mechanic), and “Past Lives” (Celine). . Song).

While presenting his case, Stevenson claimed that there were only a few items in “TheHoldovers” that had nothing to do with “Frisco.” In an ironic twist, one of those allegedly unique elements is a scene in which Paul Giamatti tells a story about a powerful person with “faculty allies” who got away with plagiarism, negatively altering the course of Paul's life — and turning him into the hateful man he is. In “The Holdovers”.