Along with Michael Shanks, the writer and director of upcoming body horror film Together, actor-producers Alison Brie and Dave Franco have been named as defendants in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement.
Other defendants in the suit, filed today, include WME, which reps Shanks, Brie and Franco, and the film’s distributor, Neon, which snapped up rights out of the Sundance Film Festival for $17 million, in the biggest deal of this year’s edition.
A spokesperson for WME called the lawsuit “frivolous and without merit, adding, “The facts in this case are clear and we plan to vigorously defend ourselves.” We’ve also reached out to Neon for comment.
The complaint alleges that Together is a “blatant rip-off” of Better Half, a 2023 indie written and directed by Patrick Henry Phelan. Phelan, a former New York assistant director and USC MFA graduate, made the film as his feature debut through the production company StudioFest, the sole plaintiff in the suit.
According to the filing, the script for Better Half was pitched to Franco and Brie in August 2020, when a casting director sent the material to their agents at WME and approached them for the lead roles. It’s alleged that Brie and Franco rejected the offer because “they wanted to produce the film themselves and have WME package the project with one of the agency’s own writers.” StudioFest became aware that Franco and Brie were producing and starring in Together in January 2025, ahead of the film’s Sundance launch.
“Together is a blatant rip-off of Better Half,” the suit states. “Both works center around a couple who wake up to find their bodies physically fused together as a metaphor for codependency. The similarities do not end there. Defendants lifted wholesale creative elements, including but not limited to, plot, themes, characters, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, and sequence of events.”
StudioFest is seeking damages and an injunction to prevent further infringement of its copyright.
Together follows a couple that wakes up after a bitter argument to discover their bodies have been inexplicably fused together, forcing them to confront the toxic codependency that binds them. The film is slated for release on July 30.
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