Part 42: Did Charlize Theron Steal My Script? APEX vs THE ONLY WAY OUT
- Amy Giaquinto
- 3 hours ago
- 9 min read
Updated: 32 minutes ago
January 30, 2026
Despite the striking similarities between my screenplay THE ONLY WAY OUT and Charlize Theron’s film, APEX, there is no evidence of plagiarism. What initially felt like theft ultimately revealed a powerful case of parallel development.
I was reading the trades a couple weeks ago when I saw an ad for the new Charlize Theron movie, APEX, and I have to say I about blew my lid. The film's premise hauntingly similar to mine, (a grieving widow rock climber, hunted in the woods...), AND the trailer has several of the same set pieces I have in my script. I was definitely seeing red. Did Charlize Theron steal my script? She has read THE ONLY WAY OUT, two drafts of it. In fact, she and her development team had a meeting about it a few years back and she ultimately passed.
Then Netflix, who released APEX, also read my script. They, too, have seen a couple versions. Initially, though, they were so interested in the script they began shopping it around to other companies in the hopes they could find a producing partner and split the cost of production.
Did Charlize Theron Steal My Script?
In other words, here's a film coming out that's strikingly similar to mine in so many ways, but also different in so many ways, but close enough in so many ways to make me wonder, did someone at one of these companies steal my script and then retool it to a) be just close enough for me not to be able to sell my script and to b) be just different enough from mine to eliminate any hopes of me filing a successful lawsuit against any or all of the players?
I was losing my mind. My friends, family, and manager were losing their minds, too. However, since the film hasn't been released, we don't have the full picture, but that didn't stop any of us from making assumptions and leaping to conclusions. I thought about contacting the WGA and my manager suggested that, too. I thought about contacting an attorney and asking if they thought I'd have a case.
I realized that even if I did have a case and I chose to file a lawsuit, it'd be years of headaches, grief, and anxiety and it would cost me a lot of time and money I don't have fighting a case that was probably destined to fail. Copyright cases are notoriously hard to win. Also, it's so hard to win when you're the average person going up against massive corporations with very deep pockets.
But what if I sued and won? What if they settled? What would that get me? Money, most of which would probably go towards paying attorney's fees. And worse, the whole thing would destroy any hopes I had for selling TOWO or any other script in the future. Blame the victim is real, especially in Hollywood.
Comparing APEX and THE ONLY WAY OUT
It's just not fair, I pouted and stomped around my house. It's just not fair!
I spent a week with my heart broken, living in the land of fury and frustration. But that's an exhausting headspace to be in and I realized none of this was serving me. Quite the contrary, it was bringing me down, way down. My mood, my feelings, were NOT sustainable. I had to change my perspective.
So, I began telling myself and joking with family and very close friends, that plagiarism is the fondest form of flattery. About a day after that, I was hiking up a mountain to clear my head, and it dawned on me that maybe Charlize and Netflix weren't the assholes. Maybe I was. I had spent an entire week assuming the worst had happened, but I had no proof of any wrongdoing from anyone.
I reminded myself that there is such a thing as parallel development. That's when two writers from opposite ends of the world write something that's so eerily similar, you'd put money on the idea that one of the scripts had been plagiarized.
In fact, when I read scripts for The Sundance Labs, we'd occasionally get two scripts that were so similar, I'd wonder if a mistake had been made logging the scripts. We're talking two scripts with very similar premises, similar stories, different characters, similar arcs. Sometimes it was downright creepy. But then again, scripts are structured beasts, so we expect certain things to happen at certain times, so...
Parallel Development vs Script Plagiarism
Even so, when I'd read two scripts this similar, I'd always get a chill. The experience reminded me that no matter how separate and alone we may think we are, there's something subconscious at work within the human collective, something powerful that plugs us into the universal creative energy around us - even if that energy's coming from halfway around the world.
As my head was clearing, I reminded myself of a fun psychic seminar I went to with my mom's group on a rare mom's night out.
One of the "psychic" exercises was to write the main headline of a newspaper that none of us had seen, a newspaper that had been sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard. The first part of the exercise was to just write down the first words that came to mind. The second part was using those words to come up with the headline. It was as much an exercise in trusting your gut as it was a psychic game. Oh, and we had to hide our lists and responses.
When we were done writing what we thought the headline was, the psychic went around the room and asked for our headlines. Crazy as it seems, about 1/8th of us had headlines that were so similar you'd think we truly were psychic. The psychic revealed the newspaper headline. None of us was even in the same ballpark, but the fact that so many of us had the same ideas, almost verbatim, was eye-opening to say the least.
Was this what happened with my script?
Discovering the APEX Movie and THE ONLY WAY OUT Similarities
About that time, my dear friend sent me development information about APEX. Yes, it was written and sold after I'd had TOWO at Denver & Delilah and Netflix. But it looks like APEX's writer, Jeremy Robbins, wrote the script (an original script) on spec (which means he didn't get paid to write it).
Also, there's no record of him working with either Charlize or anyone at Denver & Delilah or Netflix to develop the script and he doesn't have any official connections to any of the major studios or any of the competitions TOWO has been a part of.
In other words:
Without seeing APEX, it appears there's no evidence of shared access or development crossover. Any surface similarities come from common survival-thriller conventions, not from shared authorship or source material.
I felt relief wash through my body. Yeah, some part of my reptilian brain didn't want to accept that, but the rest of my brain did and that made me feel better. But, that said, APEX did present a huge problem for THE ONLY WAY OUT. Between APEX and CLIFFHANGER, there's a danger that the market is now flooded with outdoor thrillers.
If APEX does well at the box office, TOWO has a good shot at getting produced, but it might not be anytime soon. The market will have to give signs consumers want another film with a female character battling bad guys in the mountains. If the movie does bad, nobody's going to want to touch TOWO.
I feel like I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. Again.
But this time I wasn't going to sit around and wait for my team to get this issue figured out. I immediately went to work figuring out how to reposition TOWO in the market. And the very first thing I did was a deep dive comparing APEX and THE ONLY WAY OUT.
To my relief, despite several set pieces being the same and despite the main character being a grieving widow (like my main character), the differences are actually quite profound, which reinforces the parallel development idea.
In other words, THE ONLY WAY OUT operates at a different level than APEX. The story is about moral reckoning under extreme pressure, a reckoning with lifelong consequences, not just survival escalation. This is why I've positioned it as a prestige thriller rather than a pure action flick.
But to be sure, I ran THE ONLY WAY OUT through ChatGPT and had it analyze the similarities and differences between TOWO and APEX. Keep in mind Apex has not yet been released. Still, here's what I got.
1. Origin & Intent
Apex | Your Script | |
Genesis | Original spec written for the action/survival market | Author-driven spec grounded in moral reckoning + relational stakes |
Primary goal | Deliver a financeable, exportable survival action movie | Tell a human story under extreme pressure |
Lane | Genre-first, function-forward | Character-first, meaning-forward |
This is important because intent shapes the execution of the script and final film.
2. Protagonist Function
Apex | Your Script | |
Protagonist role | Survival avatar / endurance engine | Moral agent forced into impossible choice |
Inner life | Minimal by design (keeps momentum) | Central to the story’s propulsion |
Arc driver | Physical escalation | Ethical escalation |
Even if two characters face similar danger, what the danger is for is different.
3. Antagonistic Force
Apex | Your Script | |
Threat type | External hunters / predators | External threat + internal reckoning |
Villain function | Sustain physical jeopardy | Force irreversible moral decisions |
Meaning | Man vs man | Responsibility vs avoidance |
Genre overlap ≠ thematic overlap.
4. Set Pieces (the part you’re worried about)
Here’s the key distinction professionals make:
Apex | Your Script | |
Set piece purpose | Increase pace, danger, spectacle | Reveal character through consequence |
Environment use | Obstacle course | Moral testing ground |
Escalation logic | “What’s harder next?” | “What does this choice cost?” |
5. Structure
Apex | Your Script | |
Engine | Relentless forward momentum | Pressure-cooker inevitability |
Act progression | Survival → more survival → climax | Avoidance → confrontation → reckoning |
Ending function | Resolution of physical threat | Resolution of moral debt |
Repositioning a Survival Thriller in a Crowded Market
With this information in hand, I reworked my pitch deck, created an investor deck and a .pdf detailing the differences because when someone sees my logline, they're going to ask a lot of questions, thanks to APEX. And they might even think that I stole aspects of Jeremy's script, which of course I did not and can prove through a paper trail.
This made me feel so much better. In fact, I went from being furious to laughing to hoping APEX kills it at the box office. I also now feel like I should reach out to Jeremy Robbins, strike up a conversation, congratulate him on a job well done and perhaps, ask how he thinks our brains were operating on similar wavelengths. Who knows? Maybe he's my long, lost brother from a previous life or something crazy like that.
And so, it's with a new perspective and new pitch decks in hand that I have taken control of some of the outreach for THE ONLY WAY OUT. I've created a spreadsheet of companies to whom I'd love to pitch and when I'll contact them about pitching. I have a master plan that's been shared with my producers.
Solidifying My Associate Producer Position - Working to Become a Co-Producer
I also crafted an Associate Producer's agreement to make sure that I get an AP credit no matter what happens to the film. During that process, Steve brought up that he wants the AP credit to be the minimum credit I'd get because he and Marty may choose to bump me up to Co-Producer due to all the work I'm doing for the film. Who-hoo!
Not only that, but TOWO was chosen as a Semifinalist in the B!TCHFEST FILM FESTIVAL and Screenplay Competition this year, so that's exciting. More laurels for this script. Yay!
And so, the saga continues, but since I'm actively participating in outreach efforts to get another producer and financier attached, I don't feel so left out in the dark. I also feel like I have a greater sense of control, which is crazy because the odds of hearing back from anyone to whom I've sent and will send emails is slim to none.
Still, doing something is always better than doing nothing.
Turning a Screenplay Into a Novel
And because this is such a good story, I've decided to adapt THE ONLY WAY OUT into a novel. And you know what's great about this? I should be able to piggy-back on APEX's marketing. In other words, you know those recommendations that say if you liked this, you'll like this... That's right, my novel should pop up.
And wouldn't it be ironic if my novel was then optioned? And wouldn't it be great to tell a production company that the award-winning script is ready to go? Yeah, that's my dream. That's my goal. And I have until April to get the novel out. Not a lofty goal. Nope, not at all. Stay tuned for more!
WGA Registration vs Copyright Registration
One more thing, before I go, I wanted to say something about WGA Script Registration versus Copyright registration.
For legal purposes, potential copyright infringement cases and good, old fashioned legal CYA, always COPYRIGHT your script. WGA registration is a good back-up plan, but registering your script with the Library of Congress is the gold-standard when it comes to protecting your IP. That said, WGA Registration is the industry-standard way to protect your work, so you might want to talk to an attorney to see which route is best for you.
To be continued...
For those of you following my ACDF Surgery Recovery saga, check out the latest video. This one's great for anyone with anxiety!