On January 12, screenwriter Simon Stevenson (Luke, Paddington 2) sent an email to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) asking for a call to discuss an important issue. He subsequently accused the writers of The Holdovers of plagiarizing his script line by line.
Simon Stevenson talks about his script for the drama Frisco. Its plot centers on a world-weary, middle-aged pediatrician and the 15-year-old patient he cares for. Meanwhile, The Holdovers, written by David Hemingson, is a drama revolving around a world-weary middle-aged boarding school teacher and the 15-year-old student he is forced to look after.
The Holdovers, directed by Alexander Payne, received 5 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. This picture is considered a favorite and has every chance of winning awards during the ceremony, which will take place on the night of March 11. Interestingly, the voting has already been completed, so accusations of plagiarism on the eve of the announcement will no longer affect the results.
At the heart of Stevenson's complaint is an allegation that Alexander Payne had access to the Frisco script in both 2013 and late 2019 – immediately before Payne approached Hemingson about collaborating on the project. This claim is supported by emails involving several Hollywood agencies and producers.
Although Hemingson is credited as the sole screenwriter for The Holdovers, Payne has admitted in several interviews that he shaped the script. Hemingson has had an atypical career trajectory for an Oscar nominee. He worked as an entertainment lawyer at Loeb & Loeb before becoming a television writer in the mid-'90s. The Holdovers marked his feature film debut.
Payne and Hemingson began working together on The Holdovers shortly after Payne read Frisco's script a second time, but it turned out to be “not quite what he's looking for.”
Simon Stevenson spent two months trying to bring the issue to the attention of the Writers Guild of America, sending emails and making calls. He claimed that the script was copied virtually line by line, and that the scenes in the Oscar-nominated film were barely changed.
“By ‘meaningful integrity,’ I mean literally everything: story, characters, structure, scenes, dialogue, everything,” he wrote in one email.
While making his argument, Stevenson argued that there were only a few elements in The Holdovers that had nothing to do with Frisco.
However, the appeals had no result. He was told that the WGA would not interfere in the matter and made it clear that this was not a guild issue, even though Stevenson, Hemingson and Payne were members and The Holdovers was also nominated for a WGA award. The Writers Guild of America advised Stevenson to go to court:
“Litigation remains the most appropriate option in these circumstances.”
Source: variety
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