Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
3-30-2026
Abstract
On February 20, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied a motion to dismiss filed by Defendant William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME) in a copyright infringement claim brought forth by Plaintiff StudioFest, a production company. It is alleged that WME’s film Together infringed on the screenplay of the movie Better Half, whose copyright is owned by the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff only claimed a screenplay violation and alleged that in 2020, it sent the full script and synopsis to the agents of codefendants Dave Franco and Alison Brie as part of an offer to have them star in the project. According to the complaint, Franco and Brie passed on the offer, but later produced and starred in Together, a film which, StudioFest alleged, was developed only after the defendants had access to Better Half. StudioFest claims this was not a coincidence or an independent creation, but rather an intentional scheme in which Franco and Brie rejected the project so they could make a similar film themselves with another WME client, co-defendant Michael Shanks.
Recommended Citation
Liu, Zeyu, "The Together Lawsuit: What Will Matter After the Motion to Dismiss" (2026). Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) Blog. 414.
https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/aelj-blog/414
Included in
Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, Intellectual Property Law Commons, Legal Education Commons
