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A new report in Variety lays out a detailed argument by British screenwriter Simon Stephenson alleging that the Oscar-nominated script for Focus Features’ widely praised “The Holdovers” is extremely similar to his own 2013 Black List specific script, “Frisco,” and that, According to Stephenson, “Holdovers” director Alexander Payne probably read that script.
“The Holdovers” has only one credited screenwriter: David Hemingson, who was an entertainment lawyer before becoming a television writer and producer in the late ’90s, working on shows such as “Just Shoot Me!”, “Kitchen Confidential,” “ How I Met Your Mother” and “Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23.” “The Holdovers” is his first produced feature film.
IndieWire has reached out to Focus, WGA West, and representatives for Payne, Hemingson, and Stephenson, but has not yet heard back.
Stephenson is credited as a co-writer on Pixar’s “Luca” and received a writing credit for “additional material” for “Paddington 2.” Working Title is developing her novel, “Set My Heart to Five,” with Edgar Wright directing for Universal.
variety report seems to show that his script arrived before Alexander Payne.
Of course. 39 on the 2013 Black List, This is the logline of “Frisco”: “A forty-something pediatric allergist, who specializes in hazelnuts and is facing a divorce, learns life lessons from a terminally ill 15-year-old patient, wise beyond his years, when she crashes into his car. weekend trip to a conference in San Francisco. Francisco”. “The Holdovers” is the story of a grumpy high school history teacher who is forced to babysit a 15-year-old student.
According to Variety, Stephenson first contacted the WGA about the claim on January 12. The guild generally does not investigate claims of plagiarism involving specific scripts, but the report states that the claim received some discussion. It is common practice for studio story executives to reject specific scripts to avoid this problem.
Variety appears to show a trail of emails suggesting that Payne read the script or at least was aware of it when he decided to pass away in December 2019, shortly before beginning to work with Hemingson on what became “The Holdovers.” The outlet also published a detailed memo from Stephenson comparing the two scripts.
Payne has said on a few occasions, including at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in November, that he was involved in shaping the script for “Holdovers” despite choosing not to accept film credits.
Hemingson and “The Holdovers” are nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards on March 10, competing against “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Maestro,” “May Dec” and “Past Lives.”