Issa Rae is being sued by three Los Angeles screenwriters who claim that the movie she produced, One of Them Days, is a rip-off of their film.
Legal documents viewed by Complex show that writers Tyrone Perry, Shon Oku and Joshua Isaacson filed the lawsuit against Rae’s company, ColorCreative, TriStar, Sony Pictures and screenwriter Syreeta Singleton on July 30. Isaacson, Oku and Perry are alleging that the film, which stars Keke Palmer and SZA, copies their 2020 script called One of Those Days and features 29 similarities in plot structure, character arcs and overall tone.
According to court documents, the trio of writers shared their screenplay outside of their group for the first time in 2023 when they gave it to Danny Hamouie. The following April, Perry, Oku and Isaacson submitted the script to producers Roman Arabia and Xavier Charles, who declined the project. Charles previously worked on Rae’s Insecure series for HBO.
Soon after that, Rae’s production company announced One of Them Days. To prove their point about the similarities between the film and their script, the writers hired veteran screenwriter John Brancato (of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Catwoman) to compare the bodies of work. Brancato noted that the similarities were “substantial.”
Perry, Oku and Isaacson are requesting a jury trial, attorney’s fees and damages.
One of Them Days hit theaters in January of this year. It grossed over $51 million on a $14 million budget, and a sequel is currently in the works.
In January, Rae revealed in an interview why she decided to bring the movie to the screen — explaining that she was a fan of the screenwriter who she’d previously worked with. “Oh my god, as soon as I read the script! You know, I’m a big fan of Syreeta Singleton’s writing,” said Rae. “We work together on Rap Shit and on Insecure. And she just writes the best female characters, the best female friendships.”
“And so, given that this was set in LA, where I’m also from, and was a buddy comedy that I hadn’t seen in a while, I just immediately identified with the characters, and I was like, ‘We have to make this happen,’” she added.
