Philly native Quinta Brunson hit with copyright infringement lawsuit over ‘Abbott Elementary’

Philadelphia native Quinta Brunson’s hit ABC comedy Abbott Elementary earned a bunch of Emmy nominations last week, but now Brunson and the network are being sued for copyright infringement in a lawsuit that calls the show a “veritable knock-off.”

In a filing in the Southern District of New York last week, aspiring writer and actress Christine Davis claims that Brunson, ABC, and other defendants built Abbott on the back of her own 2018 script titled This School Year. Davis is asking for an unspecified amount of damages.

Davis’ suit claims that many elements of Abbott, such as the “look and feel of the inner-city school, the mockumentary style, unique plot synopsis, set design and unique characters” were taken from her script. This School Year, which is set at a New York City public school, was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2020, and with the Writers Guild of America in 2021. Abbott premiered on ABC and streaming service Hulu in December.

» READ MORE: ‘Abbott Elementary’ is full of Philly references. Here’s a list of all of them.

Davis’ script, the suit says, revolves around a “young, idealistic teacher … trying to convince everyone that the school needs to be reformed,” and features a mockumentary style because the “principal hires filmmakers to make a documentary of the school.”

In addition to the style and plot of the script, Davis’ suit claims that Abbott’s main characters are “nearly identical in type” to those in This School Year — including Brunson’s Janine Teagues. Other characters in the show, such as Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Barbara Howard, are “also nearly identical” to Davis’ characters, the suit alleges.

Davis claims that she showed her script to defendants Shavon Sullivan Wright and Cherisse Parks at Blue Park Productions in summer 2020, and the group had several meetings about the This School Year pilot script. Wright and Park, the suit says, were “aware that Hulu and ABC were looking for Black, female-led comedies,” and took the script to the streaming network, which appeared to have passed on picking it up.

Then, the suit says, in September, ABC “commenced production on Abbott Elementary, a new, Black, female-led comedy with substantial similarities” to Davis’ This School Year.”

Neither ABC nor Brunson has yet publicly commented on the suit.

News of the suit comes as Abbott earned seven Emmy nominations, including outstanding comedy series, lead actress in a comedy, and writing for a comedy. That development is a historic one — Brunson is the first Black woman to earn three nominations in the award show’s comedy category — and, at 32, she is the youngest Black woman ever nominated for an acting statuette in the comedy category, Variety reports.

“Crying shaking and throwing up has new meaning to me because I real life did all three,” Brunson tweeted after the Emmy nominations were announced. “Still speechless. Congrats to the entire staff and cast of Abbott Elementary. And I want to share this moment with all of the people who watch and love the show. Emmy nominated, baby!”

Abbott was also renewed for a second season in March, with ABC announcing its renewal via a mock memo from principal Ava Coleman (played by Janelle James), a beloved character from the show. Its second season is set to premiere Sept. 21.

Set in Philadelphia, the show quickly became a local favorite, not only because of Brunson’s connection to the area, but also Abbott’s deep bench of Philly references and the state of the city’s public school system. In January, City Council even passed a resolution celebrating Brunson. Introduced by Councilmember Helen Gym, the resolution praised Abbott for showing the world “the heart and grit of our city.”

You can read the full lawsuit below: