This could get messy.
The team of the upcoming film Together, distributor Neon, writer and director Michael Shanks, and stars/producers Alison Brie and Dave Franco, and their rep WME, have been named as defendants in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement, according to a report on Deadline.
The filing states that the script for Better Half was originally 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.”
The official synopsis of Together reads “Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie (Dave Franco and Alison Brie) find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.”
Better Half, which was released through StudioFest “Follows Arturo, who is searching for true love, and Daphne, a polygamist allergic to commitment. They meet for a one-night stand, but they end up finding their missing halves when their bodies fuse during sex.”
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.”
The film is currently scheduled to be released on July 30th. Keep it locked to Horror News Network for more on Together.
