Overview
- Simon Stephenson filed a copyright-infringement complaint on Oct. 28, 2026 in a California federal court, asking for unspecified damages and a court order that could bar further exploitation of The Holdovers.
- The complaint says Payne read Stephenson’s unproduced screenplay Frisco in 2013 and again in 2019 and then steered material from it into The Holdovers through his work with writer David Hemingson.
- Stephenson’s lawyers point to detailed parallels they say go beyond shared ideas, alleging 46 corresponding incidents and matching structural elements that show copying of protected expression.
- The suit names Payne, Hemingson, producer Mark Johnson and multiple production and distribution entities including Miramax and Focus Features as defendants.
- Legal observers note the case now sits against a changing federal landscape where appeals courts have warned against early dismissal of copyright claims and where injunctions blocking finished films remain rare.