Screenwriter Claims 'The Holdovers' Stole Unproduced Hospital Script

Simon Stephenson has sued Alexander Payne and the production team behind 'The Holdovers,' claiming the released film was constructed from his unproduced screenplay. The suit, filed on Wednesday, seeks to determine whether the legal rights to the story were violated.

The complaint identifies 46 specific incidents that appear in both scripts. Stephenson’s draft, titled 'Frisco,' was written between 2012 and 2013. It follows a tired doctor in a children’s hospital who befriends a sharp teenage patient. The pair travel to San Francisco, and the story concludes with the doctor resigning to travel across the country. The lawsuit argues these plot points were 'meticulously transposed' into 'The Holdovers' with only cosmetic changes.

Stephenson is credited on 'Paddington 2,' 'Luca,' and 'The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.' He wrote 'Frisco' based on his work as a pediatrician. The script ranked third on the Black List, an annual ranking of unproduced Hollywood screenplays. The complaint states that agents showed the script to Payne in 2013 and again in 2019. Payne passed on the project. A producing partner told Stephenson’s agent that Payne liked the material but was not interested in producing or directing it.

The legal filing names David Hemingson, the screenwriter for 'The Holdovers,' as a defendant. It also includes producer Mark Johnson, Miramax, and Focus Features. The suit alleges that Payne shared elements of 'Frisco' with Hemingson, which then appeared in the final 'Holdovers' drafts. The complaint uses a construction metaphor, stating that the defendants used 'Frisco' as the blueprint for their film.

Stephenson brought the dispute to the Writers Guild of America in 2024. The union declined to adjudicate the matter and referred him to legal counsel. Payne addressed the claim during a visit to the Sarajevo Film Festival. He called the allegation 'the stupidest thing in the world.'

The lawsuit is now pending in court. The parties are listed in the filing, which details the timeline of script readings and the specific narrative overlaps between the two works.