FOLLOWING FILMS

In a dramatic twist that could shake Hollywood, high-profile attorney Larry Klayman has filed a lawsuit on behalf of author and screenwriter Darren Hunter, accusing Netflix and the creative team behind Don’t Look Up—including screenwriters Adam McKay and David Sirota—of copyright infringement. The complaint, Hunter v. Netflix, et al., filed in Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit Court, alleges that the critically acclaimed Netflix hit unlawfully copied major elements from Hunter’s book The Million Day Forecast. The lawsuit paints a detailed picture of alleged duplicity, claiming that Don’t Look Up, which has reportedly grossed over $1 billion, borrowed plot points, themes, and character arcs from Hunter’s 2017 novel. Notably, both the book and the film involve a young female astrophysicist who faces governmental pressure to remain silent about an impending cosmic disaster. In both works, a polarized society grapples with a looming threat that serves as a metaphor for climate change and poll...

Today I'm joined by Douglas E. Mirell,   partner at Greenberg Glusker LLP,  to discuss the NO FAKES legislation. Since October 2023, Doug has strategized with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists about getting as many stakeholders as possible to agree upon acceptable final language for the NO FAKES Act, bipartisan AI legislation that was formally introduced in the U.S. Senate on July 31, 2024. Included within the coalition of frequently adversarial organizations that have endorsed the NO FAKES Act are the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association, OpenAI, IBM, Creative Artists Agency, and William Morris Endeavor – along with SAG-AFTRA. The NO FAKES Act seeks to prevent individuals and companies, including social media sites and other platforms, from producing or distributing unauthorized digital replicas embodying the voices and/or visual likenesses of living or deceased human beings.