Studiofest LLC v. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC

# Litigation Brief: Studiofest LLC v. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC **Case No. 2:25-cv-04294 (C.D. Cal., filed May 13, 2025)** --- **Plaintiff:** Studiofest LLC, a New York limited liability company (production, financing, and distribution company) **Defendant:** William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC (talent agency); Dave Franco and Alison Brie (actors/producers); Michael Shanks (writer-director); Neon Rated, LLC (distributor); and Does 1–10 **Core allegation:** Studiofest alleges that after its casting director submitted the *Better Half* screenplay to WME agents for Franco and Brie in August 2020, Defendants copied the script wholesale and produced the competing film *Together* (dir. Shanks), which was sold to Neon for approximately $17 million following a bidding war at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Defendants allegedly lifted plot, themes, characters, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, and sequence of events—including an identical Spice Girls *Spiceworld* vinyl record ending—from Plaintiff's protected work. **Asserted IP:** - Copyright Registration No. **PA 2-492-220** — *Better Half* motion picture (registered August 20, 2024) - Copyright Registration No. **TXu 2-479-695** — *Better Half* screenplay (registered April 7, 2025) **Relief sought:** Compensatory damages, disgorgement of profits, and a permanent injunction against further infringement of Studiofest's copyright interests in *Better Half* **Why it matters:** The accused infringing film sold for a reported $17 million in one of the largest acquisition deals in Sundance history, with WME itself brokering the sale through its WME Independent division—making this a direct challenge to whether Hollywood's dominant talent agencies can use confidentially submitted scripts to package competing projects for their own clients.