Many Abbott Elementary fans were thrilled with the love that the show and its cast got when the Emmy nominations were announced last week. We were all especially thrilled for series creator/write/star Quinta Brunson, who made history as the first Black woman to be nominated in three comedy categories in the same year. She wasn’t allowed to bask in that feeling for too long, though. The day after the nominations were announced, writer Christine Davis served Quinta and ABC with a lawsuit claiming they stole Abbott from her. Christine is suing for copyright infringement for her show, This School Year, and demanding they turn over all the profits they’ve made.
Abbott Elementary creator/actress Quinta Brunson has been dragged to court only one day after receiving multiple Emmy nominations, Radar has learned.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, an aspiring writer, actress and performer named Christine Davis has sued Brunson along with the ABC network who airs the hit sitcom.
In the suit, David accused the defendants of copyright infringement and claims Abbott is a rip-off of her show, This School Year.
“Without [Davis’] permission, license, authority, or consent, [Brunson & ABC] knowingly and illegal used [Davis’] works to create the Abbott Elementary television show.
Davis wrote the script in 2018 and registered it with the United States Copyright Office in March 2020 — a whole year before Brunson’s show debuted.
In court documents, Davis said her show is a television comedy set in a New York City public school. IN her show, the principal hires filmmakers to film a documentary of the school.
In her show, the principal was convinced everything is going well and that the show is well-controlled and that the “teachers and students will adhere to her agents.” However, the teachers, staff and students have their own agenda.
The main character is named Ms. David who is a “young, idealistic teacher hoping to get tenure but also trying to convince everyone that the school needs to be reformed.”
Davis said she took her script to two women named Shavon Sullivan Wright and Cherisse Parks at Blue Park Productions in July 2020. She said she had at least three meetings about her work.
She said they told her ABC and HULU were looking for black, female-led comedies. Davis said Wright and Parks took the show to HULU but no deal materialized.
Davis said ABC then started shooting Abbott in September 2020 with Brunson as the lead and listed as creator.
“Additionally, the main characters are all stingingly and substantially similar. From the triad of young teachers whose roles are nearly identical,” the suit reads.
Davis’ suit demands Brunson and ABC turn over all profits they made from the show. The legal drama comes after Brunson earned Emmy nominations for acting, writing, and in the series category.
[From Radar Online]
Yikes. If Christine’s script was copyrighted in 2018, she’s got record that she wrote it and when. And if the script is as described above, the shows sound very similar. As do the characters, at least the principal and the Ms. David/Ms. Teagues. I only have what Radar is reporting to go off, but based on that, if any of Christine’s claims hold up, this’ll be messy.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have questions about this. I understand the scenario, as it is not an uncommon one in Hollywood: an unknown pitches a concept to an exec. The exec passes. Someone with more credits pitches an idea. The exec picks it up, but they want to make a few changes that just happen to be what the exec liked from the unknown’s pitch. It’s possible that happened here. But the names that Christine said she spoke to aren’t connected with Abbott – like Hulu, Shavon Sullivan Wright and Cherisse Parks. ABC and Quinta are associated with Abbott, but they aren’t mentioned as being in the pitch meetings back in 2018.
It’s confusing and I’m sorry it’s happening. We’ve heard where Quinta’s inspiration came from, and we know how much joy this show brought the cast and its audience. Like I said, if the information above is correct, I can see Christine’s stake here as well. I’m worried about the 100% profit demand, though. Some of that money went back to schools and educational programs. I hope this gets sorted out and everyone is allowed to enjoy their moment.
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