Quinta Brunson Accused of Stealing ‘ABBOTT ELEMENTARY’ and Facing Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

that's all she got and she betta have the smokin gun because the premise is very generic.

Need to see what she got.

If she can prove it that far, then it can be taken a step further and looked more into or potentially go to trial. Dudes are automatically disregarded and assuming that she has no case at all while overlooking the fact that these type of situations happen all the time in the entertainment world where their shyt literally gets jacked or elements of it as it gets passed around through different outlets.

 

[get these nets]

True, but it's not as cut and dry as that. She'll have to prove the people she gave the script to gave it to someone(s) at ABC.

She'll then have to prove that that person then gave it to Quinta.

Then she'll have to prove that whatever Quinta was working on with Disney didn't already have the same premise (via Warner Bros. by the way. Because with even just a little research I saw that this idea was initially pitched to WB. WB and Quinta then took it to ABC. And then after taking it to ABC they were still in development, nowhere close to making it)

All of these are months or even years long processes.

So, from the info in the above article, what she needs to prove is that between July 2020 when she said the production company Blue Park took it to Hulu/ABC, and September 2020 when the Pilot was shooting, that whatever Quinta, WB and ABC were working on all that time drastically changed from one thing that didn't resemble her idea, to the show we now know as Abbott Elementary.

Wouldn't the defendants have to prove that their ideas developed independently from the plaintiff's copywritten script?

If she can confirm that she pitched her idea(show premise + characters) to people attached to this show, wouldn't the burden of proof be on them?

 

[steadyrighteous]

Wouldn't the defendants have to prove that their ideas developed independently from the plaintiff's copywritten script?

If she can confirm that she pitched her idea(show premise + characters) to people attached to this show, wouldn't the burden of proof be on them?

You're right.

And I wasn't even stating all of that to completely dismiss her claim, I was more so laying out that there are way more levels of proof required, and the second one of those levels of proof fall through the suit is done.

I used to follow an entertainment manager/agent on Twitter, and he said of situations like this "there are people who sue and people who work" and that's always stuck with me.

If you sue, win or lose, right or wrong, it's likely you won't ever work again, because nobody wants to work with people who are quick to pull the lawsuit trigger. So even if you're in the right, it's best to leverage the situation into more working opportunities than to straight up sue. The money you win needs to be life changing to make it worth it.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

You're right.

And I wasn't even stating all of that to completely dismiss her claim, I was more so laying out that there are way more levels of proof required, and the second one of those levels of proof fall through the suit is done.

I used to follow an entertainment manager/agent on Twitter, and he said of situations like this "there are people who sue and people who work" and that's always stuck with me.

If you sue, win or lose, right or wrong, it's likely you won't ever work again, because nobody wants to work with people who are quick to pull the lawsuit trigger. So even if you're in the right, it's best to leverage the situation into more working opportunities than to straight up sue. The money you win needs to be life changing to make it worth it.

Life changing money is a broad general term considering the fact that not everyone in Hollywood is going to make it like that or have a self-sustaining long career. Even getting her name in the credits somewhere is enough to have her eating good for the rest of her life from syndication money even if she gets blackballed in the process.

With the way that people have been complaining about Disney (ABC's and Hulu's parent company) for years now, you can't bank on them doing right by her and she's gotta do what's best for her.

 

[Tetris v2.0]

I'd have to see the scripts side by side, but this seems like bullshyt as this general premise isnt exactly new but AE did it differently with its tone

AE is a dope show that's well acted and written, and my moms who was a Teacher/Principal/Prof for like 40 years, loves it and finds it authentic (except for the Principal character lol)

 

[SuburbanPimp]

Interesting, first thought would be it’s just money grab but it really depends on her script and how similar the storylines are. I think the premise itself is pretty vague and generic so I don’t think she has much there.

It’s really the performances that make Abbott really great to me. So she’d have to be really specific about what she is claiming is stolen

 

[Json]

Feel like this is going to be hard to prove since the mockumentary style isn’t unique to Abbott and beyond the pilot scripts, she’s have to prove something was lifted beyond young idealistic person enters…situation.

If Brunson pitched it to other studios then ABC just liked two similar pitches but picked one for whatever reason.

 

[drederick tatum]

Wouldn't the defendants have to prove that their ideas developed independently from the plaintiff's copywritten script?

If she can confirm that she pitched her idea(show premise + characters) to people attached to this show, wouldn't the burden of proof be on them?

The burden of proof is always on the accusing party. The defendants just have to deny the allegations. If they have evidence they didn't steal the show, which would be a very random thing, they'd have to provide it as evidence, but it's gonna be on her and her attorneys to prove they did.

 

[milanoAT]

That's how you know you're successful when people start throwing lawsuits your way claiming you stole their shyt. I doubt anything will come of this. There's nothing at all unique about the premise and characters of the show that could warrant a lawsuit... what separates this show from the others is Quinta's writing and sense of humor, and the actors in general really excel at their parts.

 

[jwinfield]

.....

 

[Uchiha God]

Nothing about Abbott Elementary is particularly novel and are all concepts we’ve seen multiple times and I’m sure countless other people write scripts using the same tropes every day. The show is successful due to its execution of said tropes.

Seems like a silly lawsuit to me

 

[Mission249]

Nothing about Abbott Elementary is particularly novel and are all concepts we’ve seen multiple times and I’m sure countless other people write scripts using the same tropes every day. The show is successful due to its execution of said tropes.

Seems like a silly lawsuit to me

Exactly. This about the fourth or fifth "mockumentary" since The Office. Should The Office should be threatening lawsuits?

It's all about the execution. Ava the principal is one of the funniest characters in the whole damn thing and it's all the actresses's personality. You can't write that down in a script.

 

[satireprod]

She ain’t steal shyt and this lawsuit isn’t going to accomplish anything other than blackballing the foolish young lady who filed this silly lawsuit

the bolded is exactly what's about to happen

cold reality, even if someone steals something from you in Hollywood (I don't think that's the case here but it happens) going through with a lawsuit, is effectively going the nuclear route

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

What is there to even steal? Its not like its some one and done blockbuster movie. Its a half hour comedy with a basic premise that just happens to be funny due to the writers and actors involved.

You can’t really steal the idea of a elementary school comedy

 

[Rell Lauren]

People get their work stolen all the time. She was smart enough to get it copyrighted.