Shyamalan Wins In “Servant” Copyright Lawsuit

On Friday, a U.S. federal jury unanimously ruled in favour of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and Apple in a copyright trial surrounding their supernatural thriller TV series “Servant.”

The seven-day trial saw Italian director Francesca Gregorini seeking as high as $81 million in damages after she accused the defendants of stealing elements from her 2013 coming-of-age independent feature “The Truth About Emanuel” without credit.

Gregorini’s film follows a delusional mother who treats a baby doll as if it were real, while a hired nanny corroborates that false reality.

“Servant” follows a Philadelphia couple who hire an 18-year-old as the live-in nanny of their infant son Jericho – who died and has been replaced by a reborn doll because the mother can’t handle the grief.

Along with the plot similarities, she told the jury about several shots and scenes in “Servant” she thought had been directly lifted.

Shyamalan testified on Wednesday that he and the producers of “Servant” had never seen or heard of the Gregorini film before the litigation, saying the situation was:

“Clearly, 100%, a misunderstanding…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.”

The jury was shown both the film and the first three episodes of “Servant”. The initial suit was filed back in 2020 shortly after the show first premiered. The series has subsequently ended after a four-season run.

Source: Variety

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