Beyonce Sued For Allegedly Lifting Short Film To Create 'Lemonade' Trailer

Beyonce Knowles-Carter unleashed "Lemonade" without much advance hype, but about a week before an her album dropped amid an accompanying HBO special, she posted a trailer on YouTube. 

According to a new lawsuit filed in New York, this trailer was copied without permission from a short film titled "Palinoia."

The plaintiff in the case is Matthew Fulks, who identifies himself as both an independent filmmaker as well as the creative director at WDRB. Fulks says he conceptualizes, writes and directs TV advertisements for the Louisville, Kentucky-based news station.

In the complaint, Fulks theorizes how defendants including Sony Music, Columbia Recording and Beyonce's Parkwood Entertainment got access to "Palinoia."

Fulks says he was contacted about the opportunity to direct a video by the Columbia-signed musical group MS MR, and as a result, links to "Palinoia" were sent to others including Bryan Younce, who has created videos for Beyonce and has been credited on her self-titled 2013 album. The lawsuit claims that in July, 2015, Younce requested Fulks' email and that later he send the plaintiff a note acknowledging that he had received his "info" with an invitation to submit a treatment for consideration by Columbia.

 Five months later, the filming of "Lemonade" began.

Fulks is sour at what he sees.

"The number of aesthetic decisions included in Plaintiff's PALINOIA Work that are parroted in Defendants' LEMONADE Trailer demonstrates that the LEMONADE Trailer is substantially similar to the PALINOIA Work," states the complaint. "The misappropriated content includes both the particular elements that the Plaintiff chose to comprise the PALINOIA Work and the coordination and arrangement of those particular elements."

Specifically, the complaint cites nine visual similarities comprising 39 seconds of a 60-second trailer. The images allegedly taken come without any linear narrative raison d'etre. The visual similarities cited are "graffiti and persons with heads down," "red persons with eyes obscured," "parking garage," "stairwell," "black and white eyes," "title card screens," "the grass scene," "feet on the street," "side-lit ominous figures," all adding up to a supposed total concept and feel substantially similar to the short film.

 The lawsuit, filed by attorney Amy Cahill at Cahill IP along with Robert Clarida, also claims similarities in auditory time and includes an unusual graphical element to demonstrate this:

 Fulks is demanding all profits attributed to exploitation of his work including from sales of the "Lemonade" album. A representative for Parkwood Entertainment hasn't yet responded to a request for comment. Here's the "Lemonade" trailer and the "Palinoia" film for full comparison.  

culled -hollywoodreporter.