Genre giant NEON is hosting a special Next Wave of Horror panel at San Diego’s Comic-Con International later this month, bringing the cast and crew of some of the studio’s upcoming horror hits together for discussions and sneak peek footage.

Joining the Next Wave of Horror panel on July 25 are Osgood Perkins (Longlegs, The Monkey) and Tatiana Maslany for the mysterious upcoming Keeper, Together’s writer/director Michael Shanks, stars/producers Dave Franco and Alison Brie, and Shelby Oaks’ debut feature filmmaker, Chris Stuckmann. The panel will also give fans a sneak peek at exclusive footage from all three of these upcoming films.

Source: Fangoria

Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie (Dave Franco and Alison Brie) find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.

Alison Brie is set for the lead role in an FX drama pilot that hails from Hannah Fidell and Gina Welch.

The official logline states, “A violent confrontation drives a high-end DC madame (Brie) to turn on her partner and enter witness protection in seaside Maine with her adolescent daughter.”

The project was first announced in March 2023 with a pilot commitment. At the time, David Chase was attached as co-creator and executive producer, as the show was based on one of Chase’s previously unproduced scripts of which Fidell had written a contemporary take. According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, Chase exited the project due to scheduling conflicts with a film he is prepping.

Fidell and Welch serve as writers, executive producers, and co-showrunners. Fidell will also direct. Nicole Lambert of Riverain Pictures remains onboard as an executive producer. FX Productions is the studio.

Brie earned strong acclaim for her work on the AMC drama “Mad Men,” on which she starred as Trudy Campbell. She would then go on to star in the beloved NBC sitcom “Community,” which is currently prepping a followup movie at Peacock. She subsequently played lead roles in the Netflix animated series “BoJack Horseman” and the live-action show “GLOW.” Her work in “GLOW” earned her two Golden Globe nominations. Her film credits include “Somebody I Used to Know,” which starred in, produced and co-wrote with her husband, Dave Franco. Other films on her resume are “The Lego Movie” franchise, “Promising Young Woman,” and the upcoming “Masters of the Universe” movie.

Fidell made her feature directorial debut with “A Teacher,” which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, with Fidell also having written produced the film. She subsequently adapted it into a limited series of the same name at FX with Kate Mara and Nick Robinson in the lead roles. Fidell served as writer, director, showrunner, and executive producer on the show. She has also written and directed the films “6 Years” and “A Long Dumb Road,” the latter of which she also produced. She recently directed episodes of shows like “Pam & Tommy,” “The Act,” and “Casual.”

Welch was the creator, executive producer, and showrunner on “Clipped, the FX miniseries about former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and coach Doc Rivers. Welch also worked on the FX series “Under the Banner of Heaven” as well as shows like “The Terror” and “Station Eleven.”

Brie is repped by WME, Rise Management, and Sloane Offer. Fidell is repped by Untitled, UTA and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz. Welch is repped by Untitled, CAA and Johnson, Shapiro, Slewett, & Kole.

FX has a number of pilots in the works at present, including the recently announced drama “Disinherited” from Peter Gould, the “Snowfall” spinoff starring Gail Bean and Isaiah John, and the drama “Seven Sisters” starring Elizabeth Olsen and Cristin Milioti.

Source: Variety

Michael Shanks, the director behind the Alison Brie and Dave Franco-led horror film Together, is speaking out against the copyright infringement lawsuit filed over the film last month.

The movie, the first feature from Shanks, stars Brie and Franco as Millie and Tim, a fictional married couple who are drifting apart. But as the story progresses, they become closer than ever in a literal, physical sense. The film, in theaters July 30, sold for a reported $17 million after a bidding war at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

However, in a suit filed on May 13, producers Jess Jacklin and Charles Beale claimed that Together is a “blatant rip-off” of their 2023 independent film, Better Half, stealing several plot and thematic elements, including the central concept of a couple who “wake up to find their bodies physically fused together as a metaphor for codependency.”

Although Better Half was written and directed by Patrick Henry Phelan, Jacklin and Beale’s production company, StudioFest, is the only plaintiff named in the suit.

“My client’s original work was stolen,” Jacklin and Beale’s lawyer Dan Miller alleged in a statement to EW last month. “The similarities between the two works are staggering and defy any innocent explanation. We intend to hold the defendants accountable, and look forward to trial.”

In a statement to Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday, Shanks called the allegations “entirely untrue,” and argued that Together is not just a script but “a reflection of something deeply personal.”

“I’ve been with my partner for over 16 years– almost half my life. That entanglement of identity, love, and co-dependence is what inspired Together,” Shanks said. “It’s not just a script; it’s a reflection of something deeply personal. Tim’s story, his love for Millie, his relationship to his family, his relationship to unfulfilled ambitions as a musician, is completely rooted in my own personal life. I lost my father at a young age in the same way our main character does, his trauma is rooted in my own. To have this called into question is not only deeply upsetting but entirely untrue.”

He went on, “I wish I didn’t have to clarify this, but I completed the first draft in 2019 and registered it to the Writer’s Guild of America that same year. In October 2020, I received development funding from Screen Australia to further the project. In 2022, my agent at WME introduced me to Dave Franco. From our very first meeting, we bonded over our love of horror, and I pitched him Together — a script I had been trying to get into production for years, with no luck. Soon after, he and Alison Brie came onboard to act in and produce the film.”

“To now be accused of stealing this story — one so deeply based on my own lived experience, one I’ve developed over the course of several years — is devastating and has taken a heavy toll,” Shanks added. “The suggestion not only undermines the work but also attempts to erase the emotional and professional journey I’ve taken to bring it to life. But more importantly: the facts matter. The timeline is documented. The drafts, submissions, and correspondence are all there.”

The director concluded his statement by saying, “I stand by Together, its origins, and the years of work it took to make it real. To make this independent film was an absolute dream come true that required years of hard work and no shortage of luck. It’s been the most insane whirlwind of good fortune to have collaborated with so many amazing artists to make this film a reality and I’m so excited to share it with the world later this year.”

Shanks’ statement comes after a May 21 letter to the plaintiffs’ lawyers, obtained by Variety. In the letter, attorney Nicolas Jampol urged the plaintiffs to drop the lawsuit, warning that if they pursue it further the defendants will seek compensation for their attorneys’ fees.

“Accusing people of copyright infringement — especially ones who have dedicated their lives to creating original works and performances — should not be done lightly,” Jampol wrote. “This is particularly true when the works are as obviously dissimilar as these.

A statement made on behalf of NEON, WME, Brie, Franco, and the director, was also sent to EW on Wednesday.

“The plaintiff doesn’t care about the facts, they only care about making waves in the press right before a film’s release in order to get a payday. We look forward to presenting our case in court,” the statement concludes.

Better Half’s synopsis describes the film as “a surreal, satirical comedy about a man and a woman who have a one-night stand and wake up to see that they have become literally and physically attached — an attachment that seems to be progressing toward total connection/immersion unless they figure out how to reverse it.”

The suit claimed that Brie and Franco were pitched Better Half in 2020 but that they and their agents at William Morris Endeavor turned it down. In emails reviewed by EW, the casting director sent a script and synopsis to Franco and Brie’s agents at WME in August 2020.

After clarifying whether the note was an offer for the couple to star in the movie together, Franco’s agent responded, “Dave is going to pass, but thank you for thinking of him.”

The lawsuit alleged that the defendants rejected the initial offer “because they wanted to produce the film themselves and have WME package the project with one of the agency’s own writers.” It highlights several alleged similarities between the two films.

“This lawsuit is frivolous and without merit,” a WME spokesperson told EW at the time in response to the allegations. “The facts in this case are clear, and we plan to vigorously defend ourselves.”

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Earlier this week, Alison Brie and Dave Franco attended the Taormina Film Festival to premiere their upcoming movie, Together! I have updated our photo gallery with 230 HQ/MQ photos of Alison Brie attending the photocall, premiere, and after party.

You can see all the images by clicking on the preview links below – enjoy!

Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie (Dave Franco and Alison Brie) find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country. Abandoning, all that is familiar in their lives except each other.

With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.

Written and directed by Michael Shanks, NEON will release Together in theaters on July 30, 2025.

Alison Brie was a guest on the podcast “Here To Make Friends” recently. You can watch her interview via the video below or listen to the interview via HeadGum.com!

Alison Brie (Mad Men, Community, GLOW) joins Liz and Jessi to recap a friend’s wedding that turned into an all-night party on the balcony! Plus Alison’s hilarious Betty Gilpin audition story, the importance of “mutual glom”, and an eyewear fashion question that splits the room!