The team behind Fox's hit comedy series "New Girl" is being sued for plagiarism by two screenwriters who have demanded an injunction to stop filming and distribution of the show, Defamer reported.
"New Girl," which is in its third season, has a plot that is identical to a script written by Stephanie Counts and Shari Gold as seen in documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
"Any differences between the scripts are so small and insignificant that they cannot be afforded copyright protection, and are, in fact, nothing more than transparent attempts to hide Defendants' blatant plagiarism," the lawsuit reads.
Counts and Gold are suing the show's creator, Elizabeth Meriwether, executive producer Peter Chernin, Fox and WME.
According to the court filing, Counts and Gold took a script called "Square One" to multiple talent agencies between 2006 and 2011. One of the agencies was Endeavor, which has since merged with William Morris Agency to become WME.
Meriwether and Chernin are both represented by WME, and the "Square One" screenwriters believe that Meriwether "implausibly maintains" that she never saw the script.
Counts and Gold allege that they even asked for Zooey Deschanel to play the lead. Deschanel has received a Golden Globe nomination each season for her portrayal of Jess Day, the central character in "New Girl."
The two screenwriters were reportedly offered a $10,000 settlement from FOX back in 2011, when they first sought legal counsel.
The scripts for "New Girl" and "Square One" are essentially the same, according to the lawsuit, which has a long list of similarities between the shows.
Some of the most notable similarities include the shows' respective protagonists, who are both quirky, awkward women in their 30s; the catalysts of both plots, which are humiliating breakups that happen after cheating; and identical personality traits of the sets of three roommates in each script.
Both scripts also feature a cynical roommate who works as a bartender, a character obviously personified in Nick Miller, who is played by Jake Johnson on the show.
Counts and Gold are asking for a public apology and damages.
The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, calls for "compensatory damages, statutory damages, punitive and exemplary damages to punish the defendants, as well as an injunction halting the further copying, filming, reproduction, performance and distribution of 'Square One' as 'New Girl,'" according to Defamer.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
