‘The Holdovers’ filmmakers accused of plagiarism and copyright infringement in new lawsuit
Screenwriter Simon Stephenson has sued the filmmakers and companies behind The Holdovers, alleging the Oscar-winning film copied elements of his unproduced 2013 screenplay, Frisco. The case matters because it raises a copyright dispute over whether similarities between the two scripts resulted from copying.
Stephenson alleges that director Alexander Payne received copies of Frisco before declining to make it, and that 46 incidents from the script later appeared in The Holdovers. Frisco follows a paediatrician and a young patient, while The Holdovers centres on a teacher and pupil; the lawsuit also points to a line about a medical conference that was removed from a 2021 draft. Stephenson seeks damages, legal fees and an injunction against further infringement.
In short
- Simon Stephenson has sued over alleged copying in The Holdovers.
- He claims 46 incidents from his 2013 script were reused.
- The lawsuit seeks damages, legal fees and an injunction.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Stephenson’s case, if supported by evidence, is that the filmmakers had access to Frisco and that the number and specificity of similarities—including material in an earlier draft—are unlikely to be explained by coincidence alone. Copyright protection would mean little if distinctive expression could be reused after a script was rejected, so a legal remedy could protect writers’ work and fair compensation.
The case against
The filmmakers could argue that similarities in stories about an adult and a young person, or in familiar dramatic situations, do not by themselves establish copying of protected expression. The films differ in their central characters and setting, and the court would need to assess the scripts and evidence of access closely; an injunction or damages would be unwarranted if the parallels are general, coincidental or independently developed.
Explained simply
The Holdovers is a 2023 film directed by Alexander Payne, set at a boarding school in the 1970s. It follows a teacher and a pupil who remain at the school over the Christmas holidays. Simon Stephenson is a screenwriter whose earlier, unproduced script, Frisco, is about a paediatrician and a young patient.
Copyright law protects creative work from being copied without permission, but similar themes or story elements do not by themselves prove that copying took place. Disputes can turn on how specific the similarities are and whether the later creators had access to the earlier work. The case therefore concerns how those questions apply to two screenplays with different central characters.