Alison Brie and Dave Franco are accused of plagiarizing their project "Together," which was a successful hit at Sundance that sold for $17 million.

      A lawsuit filed on Tuesday alleges that Dave Franco and Alison Brie appropriated the concept for their new body-horror film Together, which NEON acquired for approximately $17 million during the most recent Sundance Film Festival.

      The production company StudioFest, founded by Jess Jacklin and Charles Beale, claims in the lawsuit that Together is a “blatant rip-off of Better Half,” an indie film with a low budget written and directed by Patrick Henry Phelan, which they produced and initially released to festivals in 2023.

      The lawsuit identifies Brie, Franco, their agency WME, NEON, and director Michael Shanks of Together as defendants. WME responded in a statement, stating, “This lawsuit is frivolous and without merit. The facts in this case are clear and we plan to vigorously defend ourselves.”

      For full transparency: MovieMaker, not involved in the lawsuit, has collaborated with StudioFest on the Demystified video series and attended a live reading of an early draft of the Better Half script in 2019. Readers are encouraged to consider information from us with skepticism and check the Variety or Hollywood Reporter articles regarding the lawsuit.

      StudioFest’s Better Half vs. Together Featuring Dave Franco and Alison Brie

      The lawsuit from StudioFest claims that Franco and Brie were offered lead roles in their movie, which centers on a couple who become physically bonded after a one-night stand, but declined the offer in August 2020.

      StudioFest proceeded to produce the film with actors Dianne Doan and Connor Paolo in the lead roles, completing filming of Better Half in October 2021.

      Better Half had its premiere at the Dances With Films festival in 2023, and later screened at several other festivals including the Brooklyn Film Festival, Heartland Film Festival, Beloit International Film Festival, and the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival.

      Together premiered at Sundance in January of this year.

      The lawsuit points out notable resemblances between the two films, including scenes where characters discuss Plato’s Symposium in a “near-verbatim manner,” explaining that humans originally had two faces and four arms, but Zeus split them in half due to fears of their power.

      Additionally, the lawsuit claims both films share a significant emotional finale where the main characters listen to a vinyl LP of the Spice Girls album Spiceworld.

      Both films also depict a couple consisting of a codependent partner and a commitment-averse artist, both in their 30s.

      The lawsuit further accuses the defendants of fabricating the origin story of Together to obscure the alleged appropriation of Phelan’s idea.

      “My client’s original work was taken. The similarities between the two pieces are striking and cannot be explained innocently. We aim to hold the defendants accountable and are eager for trial,” said attorney Dan Miller from the law firm Miller Barondess, which is representing StudioFest.

      The lawsuit also includes a letter to Brie and Franco’s representatives at WME, offering them $20,000 each to appear in what the Better Half team describes as “a surreal, satirical comedy about a man and woman who have a one-night stand, only to wake up physically and literally attached to each other.”

      The offer letter emphasizes that the film “will succeed based on the chemistry of the two leads.”

      The letter further notes that Phelan is a writer-director with a Master's degree from USC, who has served as an assistant director and has earned recognition in several screenwriting contests, including BlueCat and Launch, and was a semi-finalist for the Academy Nichol Fellowship.

      Jacklin and Beale established StudioFest to finance, produce, and distribute debut feature films by filmmakers. StudioFest’s first project, Souvenirs, was launched in 2020. Jacklin also directed the HBO documentary Quad Gods, which was released last year.

      Brie and Franco, married since 2017, have previously worked together on films such as The Rental and The Disaster Artist. Brie is renowned for her leading roles in Community, GLOW, and Mad Men, while Franco is recognized for his performances in Neighbors and the Now You See Me series. He is the brother of James Franco.

      NEON is set to release Together in theaters on August 1.

      Main image: Alison Brie and Dave Franco in Together. NEON.