This week, Gregorini filed a lawsuit against Apple; Shyamalan; Basgallop; Shyamalan’s production company, Blinding Edge Pictures; and others alleging copyright infringement. According to Gregorini’s complaint, Basgallop and Shyamalan say that neither has seen The Truth About Emanuel, and that any similarity between the two projects “is a coincidence.” An Apple representative didn’t respond to requests for interviews with Shyamalan and Basgallop, or for comment on the case. M. Night Shyamalan’s publicist also didn’t respond to a request for comment or interview. Gregorini sees the lawsuit as a way to stand up against a culture of theft that she said is endemic in Hollywood; ideas aren’t protected by copyright, and it’s difficult to prove, even with copyright protection, that elements of specific works have been actively stolen. (Gregorini grew up in the entertainment industry: Her mother is the actor Barbara Bach, and her stepfather is Ringo Starr.)

But there are also distinctions that Gregorini hopes can set her case apart. For one thing, The Truth About Emanuel wasn’t just an idea—it was a movie that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013, and that starred Jessica Biel, Kaya Scodelario, and Alfred Molina. Gregorini first registered the screenplay with the Writers Guild in 2012. Since then, she has directed episodes of the BBC America hit Killing Eve, the Amazon series Electric Dreams, and the AMC drama Humans, among other projects. If producers feel that they can take without impunity from “a movie that was in dramatic competition at Sundance … and [from] a filmmaker who had an established career in Hollywood,” she said, “what is happening to everybody else?”

Gregorini’s lawsuit runs point by point through the similarities she notes between Servant and Emanuel. Both are dark psychological thrillers rooted in the relationship between a grieving mother and an enigmatic teenage nanny, who willfully joins in the mother’s delusion that the doll she’s caring for is a real child. Both employ shock reveals early on to inform viewers of the charade. Both nannies form attachments with naive young men whom they compel to steal a bottle of wine, and both nannies face male antagonists who uncover, and then threaten to reveal, the deception involving the doll. Emanuel and Servant both take place in large Gothic houses with ornate wallpaper and antique rocking horses. Stylistically, Gregorini points out scenes that establish a sexualized undertone between the mother and the nanny that are almost identical in setup and resolution, as well as the use of certain camera angles and music to create tension.

There is one major difference, however. When she wrote Emanuel, Gregorini pulled the story from her own grief over her inability to conceive a child, and from her relationship with Bach, who was frequently absent when Gregorini was growing up. The film is anchored in this sense of longing both to mother and to be mothered, and in the dynamic between two female characters who provide each other with a particular kind of affection that they’re craving. Servant, whose 10 episodes were all written by Basgallop, and whose six executive producers are all men, uses the same setup but largely ignores the emotional component of the relationship between Dorothy (played by Lauren Ambrose) and her nanny, Leanne (Nell Tiger Free). Dorothy is portrayed as an overambitious figure of fun immersed in her delusion; Leanne is a cipher whose true identity and motivations sustain the mystery of the series.