As a seasoned movie enthusiast who has seen more films than I can count on my hands (and toes), it’s always disheartening to hear about copyright infringement cases like this one involving Netflix’s ‘Rez Ball.’ Having spent countless hours poring over scripts and following the creative process, I can’t help but feel a twinge of empathy for Rob Grabow, the producer who alleges that his script for ‘The Gift of the Game’ was copied to make ‘Rez Ball.’
A film producer has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, accusing them of copyright violation. He claims that the script for a project he is working on was copied to create the movie titled “Rez Ball“.
Rob Grabow claims in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in a federal court in California that the movie under scrutiny appears to have borrowed aspects from his script titled “The Gift of the Game“. Similar to the film “Rez Ball“, it narrates the journey of a high school basketball team situated on a Native American reservation, with dreams of winning the state championship. The plot also delves into themes of community, race relations, and poverty.
2024 saw Grabow attempting to connect with Brit Hensel, a camera department colleague from the show “Reservation Dogs,” to present himself and evaluate her possible interest in directing his screenplay. A copy of his copyrighted work, accompanied by a non-disclosure agreement, was then forwarded to her.
According to the statement in the complaint, after reviewing the script, Hensel informed Grabow that she found a lot of promising aspects within the storyline. However, she also mentioned that some more work on the script might be required. She offered her suggestions and feedback on the script if Grabow was interested.
In subsequent conversations, Hensel is said to have sought details about investors, potential talent, and the progress of the project. However, she chose not to become involved with it. Grabow claims that she disclosed information about his film to Sterlin Harjo, who was the director of Reservation Dogs and wrote the script for Rez Ball.
The legal action alleges that the stories exhibit significant resemblances, as they both feature a prominent Native American male high school student who is the star basketball player and ultimately makes a game-winning free throw at the state championship. In these screenplays, the mother character of this character consistently abstains from attending his games due to her apprehension about witnessing him face failure in pursuit of his ambitions.
In both the Disputed Work and the Authentic Work, the main character shares a trait: they have a parent who was a renowned high school basketball player in the locale depicted in the movie. This parent broke the state high school scoring record, earned a Division I basketball scholarship, but unfortunately didn’t manage to leave their hometown to play college basketball.
In his work, Grabow, the director of “The Year of the Dog”, includes a scene depicting some team members failing to place their hands over their hearts during the playing of the national anthem.
According to Devin McRae, a legal representative for the producer, there was a lengthy conversation between Grabow and Hensel about this particular scene. Grabow elaborated on an idea he had, which was that some of the characters in the scene would not be placing their hands over their hearts. He revealed this concept to Hensel, explaining that it stemmed from a friend of his who is Lakota Native American and does not put his hand over his heart during the national anthem.
Some apparently similar aspects of these stories are shared montages depicting the tournament’s course, a main character who was once a professional player now serving as a coach, and a romantic interest who doesn’t seem particularly interested in basketball.
As a devoted fan, I’m emphasizing that my interpretation of “Rez Ball” seems strikingly closer to Grabow’s screenplay compared to the source material, the book “Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation.” It appears there are significant differences between the movie and the original story.
In recent years, there’s been an effort by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to prevent copyright infringement claims from being thrown out too quickly. For instance, in 2022, this court overturned the dismissal of a lawsuit claiming that filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan copied an independent movie for his Apple TV+ series Servant. This decision came after similar reversals in copyright lawsuits against Disney for allegedly lifting ideas for the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and against the creators of The Shape of Water. These cases were found to have been prematurely dismissed because there was room for reasonable disagreement on whether the works were substantially similar.
Netflix didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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2024-11-15 03:54