StudioFest accused the filmmakers behind Together of copying protected elements from Better Half, a screenplay by Patrick Phelan. On February 20, 2026, a federal judge allowed the copyright claim to proceed past a motion to dismiss, finding that StudioFest had adequately alleged similarities in plot, sequence, and theme. That ruling did not decide that infringement occurred.
What StudioFest alleges
StudioFest LLC filed its copyright-infringement complaint on May 13, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. It named WME, Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Michael Shanks, and Neon Rated LLC as defendants. The complaint calls Together “a blatant rip-off of Better Half”; that is StudioFest’s characterization, not a court finding. The complaint sets out the plaintiff’s account of the dispute.
According to StudioFest, it owns rights to Phelan’s Better Half screenplay and sent the script and a synopsis to Franco and Brie’s agents at WME in 2020 as part of a pitch for the actors to star. The complaint says they passed on the project. These details describe what StudioFest alleges; they are not findings that the defendants received, used, or copied the screenplay.
The complaint describes both works as stories about a couple whose bodies physically fuse, with the relationship framed around codependency. StudioFest also alleges parallels involving Plato’s Symposium, efforts to separate, and the Spice Girls song “2 Become 1.” The lawsuit concerns alleged similarities in creative expression, not ownership of the general idea of conjoined lovers.
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What the judge decided—and what the ruling does not decide
On February 20, 2026, the court denied a motion to dismiss brought by WME, Franco, and Brie. A summary of the decision says the judge found that StudioFest had sufficiently pleaded similarities in plot, sequence of events, and theme. The claim therefore cleared this early procedural challenge; the court did not determine that Together infringed Better Half. Loeb & Loeb’s summary of the ruling describes the court’s reasoning.
The premise versus the specific story choices
The court distinguished the broad concept of lovers whose bodies become joined—which the case summary describes as too generic to be protected by copyright—from the particular alleged story elements and their arrangement. For purposes of deciding whether the complaint could proceed, the court found adequate allegations around a couple waking physically joined, struggling to separate, and ultimately accepting their fate while dancing together. It also considered the alleged shared inversion of the Symposium myth and the pivotal use of the song.
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This distinction matters: copyright does not give one writer control over a broad premise. The question raised by StudioFest’s claim is whether protected expression in the screenplay was copied, assessed through the works’ specific elements and how they are arranged.
Not every claimed similarity carried the same weight
The court was less persuaded, at this stage, by alleged similarities in mood, pace, dialogue, characters, setting, and selection or arrangement of elements. The plot, sequence, and thematic allegations were sufficient to deny dismissal, so the court did not need to resolve every asserted parallel to reach that result. The case summary and reporting describe the ruling as a pleading-stage decision, not a final judgment on liability.
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Timeline of the dispute
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2020 | StudioFest says it sent the Better Half script and synopsis to WME as part of a casting pitch; the complaint says Franco and Brie passed. |
| May 13, 2025 | StudioFest filed its copyright-infringement complaint in the Central District of California. |
| February 20, 2026 | The court denied the motion to dismiss brought by WME, Franco, and Brie, allowing the claim to proceed beyond that challenge. |
What is known about the responses and the reported sale
Variety reported that a WME spokesperson called the lawsuit “frivolous and without merit.” That is the agency’s reported response, not the court’s view. Variety’s coverage also reported the response.
StudioFest’s complaint states that Together sold to Neon for a reported $17 million after its Sundance premiere. The amount is attributed to the complaint and is not independently confirmed by the sources cited here.
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Why the case’s later status should not be assumed
The February 20, 2026 ruling establishes only that the claims against the motion’s challenge could continue at that point. The sources cited here do not establish what happened on the docket afterward. It would be inaccurate to describe the case as currently pending, settled, dismissed, or adjudicated based only on the motion-to-dismiss ruling.
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