Opera singer who said she helped her screenwriter ex create Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant movie Florence Foster Jenkins loses legal fight for share of its £33m takings

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A professional opera singer who claimed to have co-created a Hollywood film starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant has lost her legal battle to get her hands on a slice of the profits.  

Julia Kogan, from Fulham, west London, claimed she had worked in a 'closely intertwined collaboration' with her screenwriter ex-boyfriend Nicholas Martin to create the award-winning 2016 film Florence Foster Jenkins.

The lauded soprano - who said the pair had started writing early drafts together in February 2013 - wanted a shared writing credit and what she believed what her rightful share of the takings.

Professional opera singer Julia Kogan (left, outside the High Court in London) has lost in court after claiming she co-created a Hollywood film with her screenwriter ex-partner Nicholas Martin (right, also outside court)

The movie netted £20m ($27m) in US cinemas, as well as another £12m ($17m) internationally.

But Mr Martin, who is based in London, had always insisted he was the sole author of the acclaimed script, with Ms Kogan described as 'simply a supportive girlfriend'.

Ms Kogan, meanwhile, claimed that she had not raised the issue of her contribution at the time they were together because she was frightened Mr Martin would end their relationship.  

Today, after a three-year court battle, Judge Richard Hacon ruled that Mr Martin was the sole author and owner of copyright in the script.

He said that, whilst Ms Kogan had assisted him with her knowledge of the world of opera, her contribution to the script 'never rose above the level of providing useful jargon'.

He said she also offered 'helpful criticism and some minor plot suggestions.'

The musical comedy-drama - directed by Stephen Frears - was based on the true-life story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York socialite with a notoriously bad singing voice who achieved her ambition to become an opera singer.

The film - which received both a Bafta and Oscar nomination - was Mr Martin's first Hollywood success.

Mr Martin, who is in his 50s and lives in Tooting, left school with no qualifications and worked as a bouncer and a croupier before training as a TV screenwriter.

He wrote episodes of Midsomer Murders and The Bill during a 20-year long television career, before finally breaking into the big time with the Hollywood script.

Ms Kogan said the pair had started writing early drafts together for Florence Foster Jenkins - which starred Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant (pictured) - in February 2013

Despite his background, Miss Kogan claimed he could never have written the story without her help and experience.

The court heard the couple met in 2011, with Mr Martin later saying he 'liked her intelligence and larger than life personality.'

She moved into his Tooting flat in February 2012, and the couple's 'romantic relationship' lasted three years until they split in October 2014.

Finding for Mr Martin, Judge Hacon said today: 'It was not in doubt that the couple frequently discussed the Florence project.

'I find that Ms Kogan's contributions as the sole writer of the text of the screenplay were limited to suggestions of technical musical language, with which she was undoubtedly more familiar than was Mr Martin.

'These were incorporated into drafts one to three and some of them found their way into the final screenplay.

The movie (shown above) netted £20m ($27m) in US cinemas, as well as another £12m ($17m) internationally

'But Mr Martin was the ultimate arbiter of what went into the screenplay drafts.'

He added: 'In my view the documentary and undisputed evidence supports Mr Martin's claim to have been the sole writer of the text of drafts one to three, with only limited input from Ms Kogan.

'This consisted of musical expressions of a technical nature, together with some minor editing changes.

'I think it is likely that Ms Kogan was also responsible for non-textual contributions to the first three drafts.

'But it was Mr Martin who decided which of Ms Kogan's ideas were to be used in the screenplay and which were not.

'In my judgement the textual and non-textual contributions made by Ms Kogan never rose above the level of providing useful jargon and some minor plot suggestions. 

Ms Kogan will now face paying the legal costs, which are likely to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.