The Together movie lawsuit is a federal copyright infringement case filed in May 2025 by StudioFest LLC, which claims the 2025 horror-comedy starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie was copied from its 2023 indie film Better Half. A federal judge denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss in February 2026, and the case is now moving into discovery.
Who Sued Whom
StudioFest filed its complaint on May 13, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, case number 2:25-cv-04294. The defendants are talent agency WME, Franco, Brie, writer-director Michael Shanks, and distributor Neon.1Deadline. Together Lawsuit Complaint StudioFest is represented by Daniel Miller and Samantha Rifkin of Miller Barondess, LLP.2Courthouse News. Dave Franco and Alison Brie Body Horror Movie Together Accused of Being a Rip-Off
Both films turn on the same high-concept premise: a couple becomes physically fused, and the fusion works as a metaphor for codependency. Better Half, written and directed by Patrick Henry Phelan, premiered at the 2023 Brooklyn Film Festival.3Brooklyn Film Festival. Better Half Together premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where Neon acquired worldwide rights for a reported $17 million.4Variety. Sundance: Together Horror Film Sells to Neon It opened theatrically on July 30, 2025, and grossed roughly $34.7 million worldwide.5Box Office Mojo. Together
How StudioFest Says the Defendants Got Its Script
A copyright plaintiff in this kind of case generally has to show the defendant had access to the earlier work and that the two works are substantially similar. StudioFest’s access argument rests on an email trail.
According to the complaint, StudioFest’s casting director Lois Drabkin emailed WME agents T.J. Bernardy and Jessica Kovacevic on August 19, 2020, extending a formal offer for Franco and Brie to star in Better Half. Drabkin attached the full script and a synopsis. Bernardy confirmed the offer was for both actors and replied the next day that Franco was passing.6The Wrap. Together Movie Alison Brie Dave Franco Sued Better Half Copyright Infringement StudioFest alleges that exchange gave the defendants direct access to the screenplay, and that instead of simply declining, Franco and Brie set out to make a similar film with a WME-affiliated writer.7Variety. Alison Brie, Dave Franco Together Copyright Lawsuit
The Specific Similarities Alleged
The complaint catalogs overlapping details it calls “staggering” and says they “defy any innocent explanation.”8The Hollywood Reporter. Dave Franco, Alison Brie, WME Hit With Idea Theft Lawsuit Over Together According to StudioFest, both films:
- Invoke Plato’s Symposium and the myth of humans originally having four arms and four legs before Zeus split them, and use that myth as thematic framing for the fusion.
- Pair a teacher character eager to propose with a commitment-phobic punk artist whose stalled career and reluctance trace back to parental trauma.
- Open with conjoined-creature imagery: a drawing of conjoined figures in one, conjoined dogs in the other, plus an early scene involving two rodents stuck together.
- Contain a bathroom sequence in which the protagonists are attached at the genitals and try to hide from a person waiting outside, with a shot of that person’s feet beneath the door.
- End with the couple accepting their situation as a vinyl copy of the Spice Girls album Spiceworld plays, featuring “2 Become 1.”1Deadline. Together Lawsuit Complaint
The Spice Girls element is confirmed in the finished film: “2 Become 1” plays during the ending, and the couple’s connection to the band is set up earlier through a vinyl record given during their courtship.9Screen Rant. Together Ending Spice Girls Almost Didn’t Happen
The Defense: Independent Creation and an Earlier Timeline
The defendants argue Shanks wrote Together on his own, and that his paper trail predates the moment StudioFest’s script reached WME.
Shanks said in a public statement that the film is “completely rooted in my own personal life,” drawn from his long-term relationship and his own experiences with loss and anxiety. He called the allegations “entirely untrue” and “devastating.”10Deadline. Together Lawsuit: Michael Shanks, Neon, WME Statements He says he completed his first draft in 2019 and registered it with the Writers Guild of America that year, received development funding from Screen Australia in October 2020 (roughly two months after StudioFest’s script went to WME), and was introduced to Franco through his WME agent in 2022.11Variety. Together Michael Shanks Lawsuit Response
A joint statement from Neon and WME stressed that Shanks’s WGA registration in 2019 came “almost a whole year before the plaintiff sent its script to WME.” They characterized the suit as an attempt to generate publicity and secure a “payday” before the film’s release, and said StudioFest failed to verify the timeline before filing.10Deadline. Together Lawsuit: Michael Shanks, Neon, WME Statements WME separately called the case “frivolous and without merit.”7Variety. Alison Brie, Dave Franco Together Copyright Lawsuit
Defense attorney Nicolas Jampol of Davis Wright Tremaine described the two works as “not remotely similar” and “obviously dissimilar,” and warned in a May 2025 letter that the defendants would seek attorneys’ fees if the case continued.12Entertainment Weekly. Alison Brie, Dave Franco Together Director Slams Copyright Lawsuit Franco and Brie themselves have not commented publicly on the lawsuit.8The Hollywood Reporter. Dave Franco, Alison Brie, WME Hit With Idea Theft Lawsuit Over Together
What the Court Ruled on the Motion to Dismiss
On February 20, 2026, U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss. She ruled that StudioFest had “plausibly alleged enough protectable similarities in plot, sequence of events, and theme” to move past the pleading stage.13Bloomberg Law. Dave Franco, Alison Brie Can’t Avoid Copyright Suit Over Film
The court acknowledged that some individual elements, like the general idea of conjoined lovers or a reference to Plato’s Symposium, may be unprotectable on their own. But Judge Staton found the combination of overlapping details sufficient. She pointed to the bathroom concealment scene, the drawings that foreshadow fusion, the awkward proposal scenes, and the recurring Spice Girls and vinyl motif as examples of protectable expression that together raised a plausible claim. The court also rejected the argument that differences in how the couples become fused defeated the overall similarity in plot structure and theme.14Cardozo AELJ. The Together Lawsuit: What Will Matter After the Motion to Dismiss
The ruling does not mean infringement occurred. It means the allegations are detailed enough to warrant further proceedings rather than dismissal.
What StudioFest Is Asking For
StudioFest is seeking unspecified damages to be determined at trial, disgorgement of profits, statutory damages, attorneys’ fees, and injunctive relief. The complaint cites the $17 million Neon acquisition price as context for the commercial stakes.1Deadline. Together Lawsuit Complaint With the film’s worldwide gross now approaching $35 million, the potential damages pool has grown.5Box Office Mojo. Together
Where the Case Goes From Here
After the motion to dismiss was denied, the defendants filed their formal answers between March 6 and March 9, 2026.15CourtListener. StudioFest LLC v. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment LLC Docket As of mid-2026, no trial date or discovery schedule appears on the public docket. Both sides will next exchange documents and take depositions.
Discovery is likely to turn on the competing timelines. The defendants’ 2019 WGA-registered draft, any later revisions, and internal communications at WME around the time the Better Half script arrived in August 2020 are natural targets for document requests. StudioFest points to the documented delivery of its script to the defendants’ agents months before Shanks received Australian development funding. The defendants say Shanks wrote his script before he ever heard of Better Half, and that the two projects are fundamentally different works. How those accounts hold up under discovery will shape whether the case settles or goes to trial.