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Jack Bunick's lawsuit, filed April 11 in Manhattan, also names CBS TV, Viacom Networks Inc. and Lopez's Nuyorican Productions company, reports the Associated Press. The suit claims that the series South Beach, executive-produced by Lopez, copies a script he wrote in 1999 for a pilot episode of a show that would have been called South Beach Miami.
A recurring theme in his script "is that the main character is from Brooklyn, New York, and that he is, in many ways, out of his element in South Beach, Miami," says the suit.
UPN's Web site describes South Beach as being about best friends Matt and Vincent, who "abandon their world as they know it and head to the alluring paradise of sandy beaches, beautiful people and hot spots in glamorous South Beach."
Bunick claims his agent spoke to a UPN executive and delivered a copy of his script to her in February 2000 but that he never was contacted by the network. He is seeking monetary damages and an injunction barring further broadcasting of South Beach, which debuted Jan. 11 but has since been canceled.
Lopez has not commented.
