On January 12, screenwriter Simon Stevenson («Luke», «The Adventures of Paddington 2») sent an email to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) asking to organize a call to discuss an important issue. He later accused the authors of The Holdovers of plagiarizing his script «line by line».
Simon Stevenson talks about his script for the drama Frisco. The story centers on a middle-aged pediatrician who is tired of life and the 15-year-old patient he is caring for. At the same time, The Holdovers, written by David Hemingson, is a drama revolving around a middle-aged boarding school teacher who is tired of the world and the 15-year-old student he is forced to care for.
The Holdovers, directed by Alexander Payne, received 5 «Oscar» nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. This film is considered a favorite and has every chance to win awards during the ceremony that will take place on the night of March 11. Interestingly, the voting has already been completed, so the accusations of plagiarism on the eve of the announcement will not affect the results.
At the heart of Stevenson’s complaint is the allegation that Alexander Payne had access to the Frisco script both in 2013 and in late 2019, just before Payne approached Hemingson about collaborating on the project. This claim is confirmed by emails involving several Hollywood agencies and producers.
Although Hemingson is credited as the sole screenwriter of The Holdovers, Payne has acknowledged in several interviews that he shaped the script. Hemingson has an atypical career trajectory for a «Oscar» nominee. He worked as an entertainment attorney at Loeb & Loeb before becoming a television writer in the mid-90s. The Holdovers is his feature film debut.
Payne and Hemingson began working together on The Holdovers shortly after Payne’s second reading of Frisco’s script, but he found the «not quite what he was looking for in the».
Simon Stevenson spent two months trying to bring the issue to the attention of the US Screenwriters Guild, sending emails and making calls. He claimed that the script was copied virtually line for line, and the scenes in the «Oscar» dominant were almost unchanged.
«By «meaningful integrity» I mean literally everything: story, characters, structure, scenes, dialogues, everything»,” he wrote in one of his emails.
In making his case, Stevenson argued that there were only a few elements in The Holdovers that had nothing to do with Frisco.
However, his appeals were to no avail. He was told that the WGA would not intervene in the case and made it clear that it was not the guild’s problem, even though Stevenson, Hemingson and Payne are members and The Holdovers is also nominated for a WGA award. The US Writers Guild advised Stevenson to take legal action:
«A lawsuit remains the most appropriate option in these circumstances»