M Night Shyamalan wins Copyright Trial

M Night Shyamalan is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in cinema.

However, the director recently found himself in legal trouble concerning his Apple TV + series, Servant.

Servant is a psychological horror show that began in 2019 and ended with the conclusion of its fourth season in 2023.

The series was massively popular, but not for the Italian-born director Francesca Gregorini. 

Taking M Night Shyamalan to court, Gregorini alleged that the Servant showrunner and his team had copied narrative elements from her film The Truth About Emanuel (2013).

The film was about a woman who treats a baby doll as her child and a nanny who participates in the delusion.

It starred Jessica Biel, Kaya Scodelario, Alfred Molina, and Frances O’Connor in lead roles.

It was reported that Gregorini was seeking up to $81 million from Shyamalan in damages.

In court, Shyamalan said: “This accusation is the exact opposite of everything I do and everything I try to represent.

“I would have never allowed it. None of the people that I work with would ever do anything like that.”

Gregorini said that scenes in Servant depicted a nanny treating a doll as a real child and fainting.

She added that the scenes had been blatantly copied from The Truth About Emanuel.

Defending himself, Shyamalan continued: “We’ve all seen it hundreds and hundreds of times.

“Hitchcock has done it in Rebecca, Notorious, maybe Saboteur. It’s just a thing no one owns.”

Shyamalan’s legal team argued that there were several differences between the two projects in that Servant was a horror series.

Meanwhile, The Truth About Emanuel was a coming-of-age drama.

During the trial, the jury viewed the film as well as the first three episodes of the show. 

Shyamalan’s attorney, Brittany Amadi, said: “Ms. Gregorini is seeking a windfall here.

“She’s seeking $81 million for work she didn’t do. The truth is the creators of Servant do not owe anything to Ms Gregorini.”

The Truth About Emanuel unfortunately was a commercial failure when it was released. 

The film only earned $226 in Los Angeles and $9 from one viewer in Philadelphia. 

Meanwhile, M Night Shyamalan was born Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan in Pondicherry, India.

This is not the first time he has faced accusations of plagiarism.

In 2003, a screenwriter named Robert McIhinney, alleged similarities between Signs (2002) and his unpublished script Lord of the Barrens: The Jersey Devil.

In 2004, Margaret Peterson Haddix claimed that The Village (2004) shared similarities with her novel Running Out Of Time (1995).