Top Gun: Maverick writer’s cousin claims he wrote key scenes, was never credited, sues studio

Bad news for Paramount Pictures, the studio behind Top Gun: Maverick, as a cousin of the film’s screenwriter Eric Singer has claimed that he was neither credited nor compensated for writing key scenes in the film. He claims that he wrote several important scenes in the film and was part of the initial discussions in the pre-production stage.

Writer not compensated?

Eric Singer’s cousin Shain Gray alleges that he worked on the script for five months with Singer and director Joseph Kosinski and kept “meticulous, time-stamped files” documenting his contributions. He has now filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures.

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Shaun Gray primarily works as a visual effects artist.

His lawsuit states, “This action seeks justice for Gray, a talented screenwriter, manipulated and exploited by Hollywood power players, and demands accountability from Defendants that profited prodigiously by misappropriating Gray’s creative work.”

Shaun Gray had worked with Singer before Top Gun happened. He is listed as an uncredited “writing consultant” on Only the Brave, written by Singer and directed by Kosinski. He is also identified as Singer’s writer’s assistant on The International.

Meanwhile, J.J. “Yank” Cummings, a former Navy fighter pilot who served as an adviser on the film has agreed to seeing Shaun work on the film and participate in a series of meetings about the script. He said in an interview, “In the early days, it was me, Eric, and Shaun. We spent five days straight in a hotel room in San Diego going through the screenplay line by line. About a month later, Eric, Shaun, and I did five days in Eric’s Santa Monica office and Joe dropped in for the last two days to review our work. So yes, we logged a lot of time together.”

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In his lawsuit, Shaun claims joint ownership of the film’s copyright and alleges he is entitled to an injunction that would preclude Paramount from infringing on his copyrighted material during the pendency of the suit.