Stephanie Counts and Shari Gold have filed a lawsuit with the California federal court aimed at the creative team, Fox and William Morris Endeavor over the Zooey Deschanel comedy New Girl.
The two writers contend that the show is based upon their script and idea, which they had called Square One, according to The Hollywood Reporter. They want an injunction against the show, a public apology and monetary damages.
The complaint alleges that the differences between the script for their idea and the Fox show are minimal and "cannot be afford copyright protection." WME is included in the lawsuit because Gold and Counts' Square One script was put through the company.
The two shopped the script to WME and said that they were told it was garnering interest and things seemed to be going well until suddenly they were struggling to get any attention from WME and the show that eventually became New Girl by Elizabeth Meriwether was suddenly being worked for TV. Counts and Gold allege that Fox tried to quiet the two with an offer of about $10,000.
The show's plot is also supposedly based upon Counts' "real-life experience when she discovered her husband was having an affair, leading her to move into a three-man bachelor pad." There are also other similarities like characters' personalities and that Deschanel's friend is named "C.C."
Though New Girl has just been hit with a lawsuit, the show has been fairly popular and Prince will be appearing in the upcoming post-Super Bowl episode. The musician is reportedly a fan of the show and wanted to do something more than make a cameo appearance.
image: Fox