‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Writer’s Cousin Sues Paramount, Claims He Wrote Key Scenes in Film

Writer and visual effects artist Shaun Gray claims he was not credited or compensated for his work on the 2022 action film.

(L-R) Erik Davis, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joseph Kosinski, Miles Teller, and Jennifer Connelly attend a special CAA screening in support of Paramount Pictures' "Top Gun: Maverick" in New York, on Nov. 11, 2022. Monica Schipper/Getty Images For Paramount Pictures

The cousin of Eric Warren Singer, one of the screenwriters behind the 2022 film “Top Gun: Maverick,” has brought a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, claiming he wrote parts of the screenplay but was not properly credited or compensated for his work.

Shaun Gray, a writer and visual effects artist, filed the civil action in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York on April 27, court records show.

“This action seeks justice for Gray, a talented screenwriter, manipulated and exploited by Hollywood power players, and demands accountability from Defendants that profited prodigiously by misappropriating Gray’s creative work,” the complaint reads.

Paramount Pictures’ sister brand, Paramount Streaming Services, as well as its parent company, Paramount Global, are also named in the suit.

Gray alleges that after Singer was hired by Paramount Pictures to pen the screenplay for the Tom Cruise-led film, he was asked to help co-write the project in June 2017.

“Over the next five months, Gray actively participated in story meetings with Singer and the Film’s director, Joseph Kosinski,” the lawsuit states. “Gray himself wrote key scenes for the screenplay that became the Film’s central edge-of-your-seat dramatic action sequences that made it a smash hit.”

“Top Gun: Maverick,” a sequel to the 1986 film “Top Gun,” sees Cruise reprise his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Now a decorated test pilot, Mitchell must train an elite group of graduates from the Navy’s Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program to complete a dangerous mission.

Following its theatrical release, the film was streamed on Paramount+ and shown on Paramount Global’s cable channel, the Paramount Network.

The action drama, which garnered six nominations at the 2023 Oscars, winning Best Sound, is among the top five highest-grossing films of all time, Box Office Mojo reports.

In his suit, Gray claims that he “maintained meticulous, time-stamped files and emails,” documenting his alleged work on the film.

“Singer and Kosinski consistently praised Gray for the many pivotal and impactful scenes that he wrote,” the filing states. “Gray also exercised decision-making and editorial authority over revisions to other scenes in the screenplay suggested by Singer and/or Kosinski.”

The civil action holds Paramount Global and its subsidiaries liable for copyright infringement for the “extensive use and exploitation” of Gray’s alleged work.

The Epoch Times reached out to representatives for Paramount and Singer for comment, but responses were not received by publication time.