The beloved—albeit prematurely canceled—dating show FBoy Island may not be the legit brainchild of its former streaming platform HBO Max, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York.
A producer named Jack Piuggi of Flipp Productions is suing HBO, Warner Bros. Discovery, and other production companies for copyright infringement, alleging that they stole his concept for a documentary and turned it into FBoy Island, a dating show where women attempted to identify 24 men as womanizers (“FBoys”) or those genuinely seeking love. Piuggi also claims his ideas were used for the influencer documentary Fake Famous, which debuted on HBO in 2021.
Piuggi says he had been working with production companies Grand Street Media and Good For You Productions on developing a show called Instafamous when he first noticed his concepts in Fake Famous, which aired the following month, according to legal docs obtained by The Daily Beast.
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Piuggi then learned his ideas were allegedly being used on FBoy Island through his friend Garrett Morosky, who appeared as a contestant on the reality show. Piuggi had recommended the actor to producers to be cast in Instafamous before he was ultimately cast in and won Season 1 of FBoy Island.
The suit primarily points to Lowell Freedman and Jesse Guma, co-founders of Grand Street Media, for sharing his ideas with HBO. Piuggi alleges that the two have “indirect but clear relationships” with HBO’s parent company, WarnerMedia.
In a statement, Piuggi and his attorneys claim that HBO has “developed a clever system that allows them to steal show concepts through the use of independent contractors with 1099 status” so the media giant can deny culpability.
“This is how they get away with stealing people’s concepts,” Piuggi said in the statement. “It’s genius. 1099s allow the studios to blame the independent contractors for any theft of services or creative work, while remaining legally insulated. Then, the production companies spring up under new names. It’s been like this forever, but I have proof the whole system is a sham.”
Piuggi is far from the first writer to accuse a big network of copyright infringement: Last year, ABC and comedian Quinta Brunson were sued by writer Christine Davis for allegedly stealing the concept for the hit sitcom Abbot Elementary. Given how powerful of a force HBO (sorry, Max?) is, fighting the media giant will certainly be an uphill battle.
