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| Wahlberg (left) and Johnson |
Actors Dwayne
Johnson, also known as “The Rock,” and Mark Wahlberg have been sued for $200 million over
their HBO series “Ballers”.
In the suit,
Everette Silas and Sherri Littleton say “Ballers,” a comedy TV series which
stars Dwayne Johnson “borrows
heavily” from their own work, “Off Season.” Wahlberg is executive producer of
the hit series.
Silas and Littleton cite “certain aesthetic elements, including, without
limitation, physical appearance of the characters and their vehicles, and
plots, scenes, as well as story lines.”
They also say that
the theme of both works centres “around the fast paced and lavish lives of
professional football players in the off season and depicts … the antics that
these football players engage in, such as partying, fights, infidelity, drug
use, and contract talks, and the steps they take and sacrifices they make to
keep those antics from becoming public.”
According to them, around
May 2007 copies of their “Off Season” screenplay were personally given to Steve
Mayer, an executive of IMG Productions, a sports production company, and to
Chris Albrecht, another IMG executive, and, at that time, the acting chief
executive officer of HBO. The suit claims that HBO thus “had direct access to
the materials since its CEO was given a copy of the materials.”
Apart from Johnson and Wahlberg, others named in the suit
are HBO, “Ballers” creator
Stephen Levinson, 7 Bucks Entertainment and Leverage Management.
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