Starz’s ‘P Valley’ hits with lawsuit, accused of ripping up Nicci Gilbert’s play about strip clubs

Starz’s ‘P Valley’ hits with lawsuit, accused of ripping up Nicci Gilbert’s play about strip clubs

Not good news for popular tv series, P Valley! While fans are looking forward to the second season of the hit show, it looks like there’s some trouble going on behind the scenes. On Wednesday (January 12), a lawsuit claiming copyright infringement was filed in Atlanta, Georgia. The plaintiff in the lawsuit is a 90s R&B singer Nicole ‘Nicci’ Gilbert-Daniels. Gilbert claims the hit show has some notable similarities to her musical theater play, “Soul Kittens Cabaret,” which was released on DVD in 2011. P Valley created by KAtori Hall, and based on her 2015 play, “P*ssy Valley,” is about some people who work at The Pynk, a strip club in Chucalissa, Mississippi.

Nicci Gilbert

Legendary Television, Chernin Entertainment and Executive Producers of “P-Valley” Liz Garcia and co-production Patrick-Ian-Polk also named in the lawsuit. Reportedly, the lawsuit alleges that the series is a “Really Unauthorized Plagiarism in 2020 of Plaintiff’s ‘Soul Kittens Cabaret’,” and that the defendants “Intentionally and illegally using Plaintiff’s works to create the TV series ‘P Valley’.”

Nicci Gilbert alleging that, on her behalf, the entertainment attorney Leroy Bobbit presents “Soul Kittens Cabaret” as a musical drama for the Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer at her Los Angeles office in 2014. The lawsuit states that Feltheimer was provided with two copies of her script and the DVD “SKC”. According to Gilbert, after giving the script to Lionsgate and they expressed great interest in the play, she never received a response from the Lionsgate team again. The lawsuit states,

“During the Lionsgate SKC pitch, Feltheimer expressed his enthusiasm and interest in writing ‘SKC’ as a musical drama for Lionsgate and even said that he loved the character named ‘Tata Burlesque’.. Feltheimer further explained that he enjoys reading scripts and will be reading the script over the weekend, sharing it with the Lionsgate team and following up with Bobbit,” it continued, noting that she hasn’t yet. never heard from Feltheimer or Lionsgate again.”

Nicci Gilbert no stranger to television, the “If You Love Me” singer produced and starred in TV One’s hit the reality show “R&B Divas” and produced “From The Bottom Up” for BET her.

“P-Valley” first aired in July 2020 as extension for the second season just two weeks after its premiere, it quickly became a hit show on the STARZ network. The series has received nominations from the GLAAD Media Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, TCA Awards and NAACP Image Awards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8FubGEMvxQ

Gilbert is asking for actual and statutory damages, as well as a jury trial in the civil case. According to sources, a spokesman for Lionsgate says the company does not comment on legal issues in the lawsuit. Represent Starz also chose not to comment on the matter.

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[VIA]