Filmmaker Michael Shanks Responds to Copyright Infringement Allegations — Along with Neon & WME

Michael Shanks, the writer and director of the upcoming horror-romance film Together, has issued a statement responding to a recent copyright infringement lawsuit filed against him. Calling the allegations “devastating” and emotionally taxing, Shanks insisted that the film’s narrative is “completely rooted in my own personal life.

”“The suggestion of copyright infringement not only undermines the work but also attempts to erase the emotional and professional journey I’ve taken to bring it to life,” he said.

Who’s Involved in the Lawsuit?

The lawsuit doesn’t just name Shanks. Actor-producers Alison Brie and Dave Franco, talent agency WME (which represents all three), and the film’s distributor, Neon, are also listed as defendants.Filed on May 13, the complaint alleges that Together is a “blatant rip-off” of Better Half, a 2023 indie film written and directed by Patrick Henry Phelan.

Neon & WME Fire Back

In a strongly worded joint statement, Neon and WME dismissed the lawsuit as a publicity stunt:“The plaintiff is doing nothing more than drumming up 15 minutes of fame for a failed project, demonstrated by the fact they contacted the press before filing their lawsuit and did so without doing the most basic due diligence.”

About the Film ‘Together’

Together premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was acquired by Neon for $17 million—the biggest deal out of Park City this year.

The film follows a couple who, after a bitter argument, wake up to find their bodies mysteriously fused together. As they navigate this surreal situation, they’re forced to confront the toxic emotional codependency that binds them.Shanks insists that the development timeline for Together contradicts the plaintiff's claims:“The facts matter. The timeline of my work on Together is documented and simply doesn’t align with what the lawsuit alleges.”

The Final Word from Neon & WME

Neon and WME concluded their joint statement with a detailed rebuttal:“There was zero outreach to the defendants to determine whether or not the Together script predated the plaintiff’s script — which it does. The fact is, Together’s writer-director Michael Shanks — not WME, Dave Franco, or Alison Brie — wrote the script and registered it with the WGA in 2019, nearly a year before the plaintiff submitted their script to WME.

Almost all of the supposed similarities were already present in Shanks’ original draft, much of it drawn from his own life and relationship with his longtime girlfriend.

”They further claimed that the lawsuit was a media tactic:“The plaintiff doesn’t care about the facts — they care about making waves in the press right before a film’s release to score a payday. We look forward to presenting our case in court.”