Paramount Pictures created the cousin of a writer Top gun: MaverickHe claims that he had written the script and opened another front in the legal dispute over alleged copyright infringement in the writing process for the film.
In a lawsuit submitted on Wednesday in front of the California Federal Court, the studio claims that Shaun Gray had deliberately hid his role in writing key scenes in order to set up claims on ideally and to look for a common property of the script. It accuses him of fraud and violation of its copyrights.
With the success of Top gun: MaverickGray “saw an opportunity to shake off”, says the complaint.
In an explanation, Marc Toberoff, a lawyer from Gray, said that the counterclaims of Paramount should “frighten the writer and intimidate” by “asserting his car rights”.
“After Paramount had probably closed a secret deal with Eric Singer, they try to accuse Gray for the alleged deception of the singers when Gray became victim,” added toberoff. “However, there is a saving grace, Paramount's counterclaims serve as the bell rang, which Shaun Gray actually wrote most of the most important character -defining action scenes Top gun: Maverick. “”
Gray is the singer's cousin, who was recruited by Kosinski to write the film after working with him Only the brave. He argued that as a co -author of the script, he should be attributed to him from his role in writing central sequences for the film. This includes the opening, in which Maverick, played by Tom Cruise, crosses a high-tech prototype battle aircraft, exceeded speed records before the aircraft fails, and another scene in which he triggered elite pilots during a training exercise, and cultivated in a dog construction with a trainee.
Gray has never reached a work -made deal that regulates the employment relationship of a production company with a writer and gives it the copyright to a script with paramount, unlike others Top gun: Maverick writerPresent Open the door so that it claims the common authorship of the script.
According to court documents, Paramount brought three screenwriters for the film for the film. Singer – and of Association, Gray – were brought in the middle of the writing process with two writings before and after the designs American hustle and bustle The writer submitted his own.
If it had known about Gray's participation in the film, Paramount claims that it would have followed other options that had not brought the film about its title. The first prevents singers from working with gray behind the scenes. Another is the scenes that Gray wrote; Another parts not with the next wave of screenwriters for the film.
“Gray has not tried to negotiate a script contract with a script contract [Paramount]either individually or together with singer, although he knew that [Paramount] (Like any mainstream studio), it would not knowingly enable an author to work on a script for a large film without a labor contract, ”writes Molly Lens, a lawyer for the studio, in the complaint.
In January 2023, more than half a year after the publication of Top gun: MaverickGray sent Paramount a written statement by his lawyer, in which he claimed that he had a role in the writing of the film and kept him out of the studio that the singer would be included as a writer according to the complaint. Gray wrote that he feared that when Singer pushed for the studio, she was a contract as a description of the scene with a loan together [them] to lose the project completely. ”
The Writers Guild of America began its process in 2019 to determine the writer for the film. Paramount emphasizes that gray, the understanding that the union's decision is binding, has decided not to be silent instead of making a claim. Gray wanted singers to get a writing loan and a share of this bonus, says the studio.
And since Gray claims that he had written several scenes without concluding an agreement with Paramount, it is argued that he was violated against his copyrights. The sequences he wrote “use a significant protected expression in possession of [Paramount] From Top Gun – most importantly, the character of Maverick itself, ”says the complaint. With the lawsuit, Gray has“ effectively admitted to violations [Paramount’s] Copyright in top gun and cheated “the company because of its participation in the film.
Last month, the Gray's offer for a court decision rejected that he was a common author of a script that would have entitled him to a share of profits from the film and at the same time could advance his copyright injury claims.
Gray's credits shows that he was in an episode of staff author Shantaram and was the singer of the writer assistant for The international. He mainly worked as a digital artist, also on The magicians, despite And Two and a half men.