A lawsuit has been filed against Mark Williams, the co-creator of Ozark. The screenwriter who filed the case has claimed that Williams has wrongfully claimed a writing credit for his upcoming Liam Neeson film. Nick May, the screenwriter, is a career attorney at the Federal Trade Commission and the author of the screenplay of Blacklight. Williams, who has previously produced and directed films starring Neeson, had optioned May’s screenplay in November 2019.
According to Variety, the complaint states that Williams has taken the sole screenplay credit, and that May was given shared story credit. The complaint statues that Williams has only done minor changes to the script and dialogues. “This is thus the common Hollywood tale of established players stealing credit and money from creative newcomers,” reads a statement in the suit.
It is also reported that May’s contract entitles a 3% share in the net proceeds if he gets the screenplay credit, and the suit alleges that Williams is seeking to deprive him of his share of the backend profits. The suit also claims that Williams has violated May’s contract, which states that credit will be allocated according to established Writers Guild of America rules.