Quinta Brunson and the American Broadcasting Company are being sued just one day after getting nominated for seven Emmys.
Christine Davis, who wants to be a writer, actress, and performer, is suing Brunson and ABC for stealing her ideas, according to Radar Online. Davis says Brunson and the network stole the idea for and setting of her show, This School Year, which is also set in a school.
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In her lawsuit, the aspiring writer expressed that both parties used Abbott Elementary to reproduce the “look and feel of the inner-city school, the mockumentary style, unique plot synopsis, set design and unique characters” from her original script without Davis’ consent. Davis is said to have written the script for This School Year in 2018 and registered it with the US Copyright Office in March 2020, one year before Abbott Elementary debuted on ABC.
Davis is said to have given the script for This School Year to Shavon Sullivan Wright and Cherisse Parks at Blue Park Productions in July 2020. The person who wanted to be a writer said that she talked about her work in “at least three meetings.”
According to the court documents that Radar got, the two women told Christine that “ABC and Hulu were looking for black female-led comedies.” Davis said that Wright and Parks put her show on Hulu, but that it didn’t help in any way. Davis said that ABC would start filming Abbott Elementary in September 2020 and that Quinta Brunson would be the show’s main actress and creator.
“Also, all of the main characters are shockingly and significantly alike. From a group of three young teachers whose jobs are almost the same,” says the lawsuit against Brunson and ABC.
According to the court documents, Davis’s show is a comedy about a public school in New York City where the principal hires filmmakers to make a school documentary.
Christine’s version of the show is said to be about a principal who thinks her school is doing well and that “teachers and students will follow her agents.” But the teachers have their own ideas for the documentary and the school, which surprises the principal. The main character of This School Year is Ms. David, who is described in court documents as a “young, idealistic teacher who wants tenure and is also trying to convince everyone that the school needs to be changed.”
Christine Davis’s lawsuit requires Quinta Brunson and ABC to give back all the money they made from the time Abbott Elementary was on TV. Quinta Bronson and ABC haven’t said anything about it yet.
