Michael Shanks, the writer and director of the forthcoming body horror flick Together, has issued a statement in response to a recently filed lawsuit accusing him of copyright infringement.
Noting that the allegations are “devastating” and have taken “a heavy toll,” Shanks asserted that the relationship tale is “completely rooted in my own personal life.”
The filmmaker goes on to say that the suggestion of copyright infringement “not only undermines the work but also attempts to erase the emotional and professional journey I’ve taken to bring it to life.”
Along with Shanks, actor-producers Alison Brie and Dave Franco are named in the lawsuit, along with WME — which reps all three — and the film’s distributor, Neon. Filed May 13, the suit (read it here) alleges that Together is a “blatant rip-off” of Better Half, a 2023 indie written and directed by Patrick Henry Phelan.
In their own joint statement, Neon and WME said, “The plaintiff is doing nothing more than drumming up 15 minutes of fame for a failed project, demonstrated by the fact they contacted the press before filing their lawsuit, and did so without doing the most basic due diligence.”
The companies added that “the plaintiff doesn’t care about the facts, they only care about making waves in the press right before a film’s release in order to get a payday. We look forward to presenting our case in court.”
Premiering to critical acclaim at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Together was snapped up by Neon for $17 million in the biggest deal out of Park City this year. Slated for release on July 30, the film 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.
Asserting in his statement that “the facts matter,” Shanks claims that “the timeline” of his work on Together “is documented” and doesn’t line up with what the lawsuit alleges. Read his full statement, along with that of Neon and WME, below.
Michael Shanks:
Have you ever been in a relationship so long that the line between you and the other person starts to blur?
I’ve been with my partner for over 16 years— almost half my life. That entanglement of identity, love, and co-dependence is what inspired TOGETHER. It’s not just a script; it’s a reflection of something deeply personal. Tim’s story, his love for Millie, his relationship to his family, his relationship to unfulfilled ambitions as a musician, is completely rooted in my own personal life. I lost my father at a young age in the same way our main character does, his trauma is rooted in my own. To have this called into question is not only deeply upsetting but entirely untrue.
I wish I didn’t have to clarify this, but I completed the first draft in 2019 and registered it to the Writer’s Guild of America that same year. In October 2020, I received development funding from Screen Australia to further the project. In 2022, my agent at WME introduced me to Dave Franco. From our very first meeting, we bonded over our love of horror, and I pitched him TOGETHER—a script I had been trying to get into production for years, with no luck. Soon after, he and Alison Brie came onboard to act in and produce the film.
To now be accused of stealing this story—one so deeply based on my own lived experience, one I’ve developed over the course of several years—is devastating and has taken a heavy toll.
The suggestion not only undermines the work but also attempts to erase the emotional and professional journey I’ve taken to bring it to life. But more importantly: the facts matter. The timeline is documented. The drafts, submissions, and correspondence are all there.
I stand by TOGETHER, its origins, and the years of work it took to make it real. To make this independent film was an absolute dream come true that required years of hard work and no shortage of luck. It’s been the most insane whirlwind of good fortune to have collaborated with so many amazing artists to make this film a reality and I’m so excited to share it with the world later this year.
Neon/WME:
The plaintiff is doing nothing more than drumming up 15 minutes of fame for a failed project, demonstrated by the fact they contacted the press before filing their lawsuit, and did so without doing the most basic due diligence. There was zero outreach to the defendants to determine whether or not the ‘Together’ script predated the plaintiff’s script, which it does. The fact is, ‘Together’s’ writer-director Michael Shanks — not WME, Dave Franco or Alison Brie — wrote the script for ‘Together’ and registered the initial version with the WGA (Writer’s Guild of America) in 2019, almost a whole year before the plaintiff sent its script to WME. Almost all of the alleged similarities were in Shanks’ original 2019 script, much of it inspired by his own life and relationship with his longtime girlfriend. The plaintiff doesn’t care about the facts, they only care about making waves in the press right before a film’s release in order to get a payday. We look forward to presenting our case in court.
