Did Mark Wahlberg and The Rock rip off ‘Ballers’?

Ballers was a big hit for HBO during its premiere season, but did it take ideas from another script to get there?

It goes without saying that nearly every time there is a successful new show on television, someone is going to step up and declare that their idea was stolen from there in the process. HBO’s latest hit, Ballers, is the latest to be dragged into court over possibly stealing ideas without crediting the initial writers.

According to Deadline, screenwriters Everette Silas and Sherri Littleton are alleging that elements used in Ballers were stolen from a treatment the pair pitched to a production company that Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson both had ties to; Mayhem. The treatment, entitled The Offseason, was even pitched to star both Wahlberg and Johnson, putting them in a series that focused on football players’ lives outside of the game itself.

However, while the pair negotiated the screenplay with Mayhem, the deal fell apart when they refused to sign off rights to the work. They now feel that some of that screenplay has been unfairly used in Ballers, a show that obviously has very similar subject matter.

In the lawsuit, the screenwriters are alleging that two key elements prove that their script was stolen. Included in those elements were a mock-trailer the pair made for their pitch meetings. While some of these could be seen as circumstantial – a football show showing pictures of stadiums, helmets, and flashy sports cars is hardly unique – the use of a specific nationality for the star’s wife could be a bit more telling. In this case, both proposed a Columbian woman as the main character’s partner. Additionally, one was named Annamaria while the other was named Annabella. There are also instances of players snorting cocaine off of naked women in both.

Circumstantial or not, the plaintiffs in this case may have some legs to stand on and may deserve at least some sort of credit mention in the show. It still depends on how a judge sees the evidence and whether they allow the case to proceed to trial though.

Ballers has been renewed for a second season and will likely return during the summer of 2016.