World Courant
EXCLUSIVE: Sky and the chief producer of Britannia have been slapped with a £6.5M ($8.5M) lawsuit within the UK by a author who claims the fantasy Roman Empire collection was stolen.
Britannia ran for 3 seasons on Sky earlier than Deadline revealed its cancellation in 2023. Starring The Strolling Useless actor David Morrissey as a army chief who spearheads the Roman invasion of Britannia, the drama aired on Amazon Prime Video and later Epix within the US
Benjamin Crushcov, a author and instructor, has alleged in a Excessive Court docket lawsuit that Sky and different defendants misappropriated his concept and authentic script for Britannia, after which conspired to cover-up the drama’s true origins.
James Richardson, co-founder of Britannia producer Vertigo Movies, is called as a defendant. The third defendant is Karen Hyland, a journalist whom Crushcov accuses of taking a duplicate of his work and handing it to Richardson.
In a joint assertion, Sky, Vertigo, and Hyland mentioned there was “no foundation” to the claims. In correspondence with Crushcov, Sky and Vertigo added that they have been unaware of his script till he complained.
In his particulars of declare, Crushcov mentioned he created a closely fictionalized historic drama, titled Tribus, as a part of his research at Tub Spa College in 2014. He mentioned his work has “quite a few placing similarities” to Britannia, which was greenlit by Sky in 2016.
Crushcov alleged that Hyland, a former tv author at Information UK, stole a duplicate of his script in 2016 and it was handed to Richardson. Crushcov didn’t present proof how his work modified palms, however alleged that Hyland and Richardson have been acquainted. Hyland denied to Crushcov that she contacted Vertigo.
Crushcov claimed Hyland had been captivated with serving to him pitch the present and on “a number of events” talked about sharing the concept with Richardson. Crushcov disclosed messages from Hyland wherein she mentioned 2016 can be the “12 months of Tribus” and that the collection would “find yourself on Sky Atlantic.”
Robin Mukherjee, an EastEnders screenwriter who mentored Crushcov at college, discovered that similarities between Tribus and Britannia have been “too many and too actual” to be dismissed as coincidence, in line with the court docket doc. A schedule of similarities highlights similarities between character names and plot strains within the two tasks.
Crushcov confronted Richardson together with his issues in March 2019. Vertigo’s then head of authorized affairs replied: “We do not consider that anyone concerned within the growth and manufacturing of Britannia was conscious of the tv collection you have been creating (previous to James receiving your letter in February 2019); it had not been raised by any third events nor had your script been given to any of the creators or writers.”
In January 2020, Crushcov despatched Sky a stop and desist discover about Britannia, prompting an investigation by the Comcast-owned broadcaster.
Sky responded to Crushcov a month later and mentioned the drafting of Britannia’s ultimate remedy was concluded in November 2013 by co-creator Terry Cafolla. Sky added {that a} ultimate draft of episode one was submitted in April 2016 when Jez and Tom Butterworth have been hooked up to the mission to additional develop it for the display. The broadcaster added that Richardson “has by no means had sight of your script” and “has by no means met” Hyland.
Crushcov alleged that Sky made “fraudulent misrepresentations” in its response. He mentioned Cafolla isn’t credited as a author on the primary episode of Britannia, and pointed to a 2020 interview with Jez Butterworth wherein the author talks about ranging from scratch on the present as a result of it “was at an deadlock.” It’s throughout this era that Crushcov argues that his work was misappropriated.
Crushcov is searching for £6.5M in damages and compensation, together with author and creator charges and misplaced earnings. He’s additionally searching for a public apology.
Sky, Vertigo, and Hyland mentioned: “We’re conscious of a authorized declare that has been made regarding the Sky TV drama collection Britannia. All events concerned think about there to be no foundation to this declare and are within the strategy of responding accordingly.”
Sky Sued By Author Who Claims His Concept Was Stolen
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