Creative vision shouldn't be for the taking

Photo courtesy of Chris Pizzello via the AP

Photographer and director Petra Collins recently accused “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson of using her creative ideas and ripping off her style for the hit show. In a freshly resurfaced interview with Hungarian magazine PUNKT, Collins explains that she worked on the project originally before being fired by HBO partway through for being “too young.” The situation is being unfairly concealed and is an act of the television industry taking advantage of female creators.

In the interview, Collins discussed how she struggled with speaking out about this over the past few years. She had to deal with people coming to her and asking if her work was inspired by “Euphoria” and how it is similar to the show’s style when it was actually taken directly from her creative world.

PUNKT has allegedly removed Collins’ claims that her work was stolen. According to screenshots that are spreading across the internet, Collins told the interviewer she created the idea for the show, even doing casting, only for HBO to fire her. “I had to change my style because of ‘Euphoria,’” Collins said.

Collins has gone on to be very successful, working on projects like directing singer Olivia Rodrigo’s hit music videos and doing magazine projects with actress Alexa Demie. She is praised for her unique style in photography and directing. Hopefully she will no longer have to receive questions of if she copies the style of “Euphoria” with the recent spread of her comments.

For people who doubt Collins’ claims, if you look at her work over the years, her fantastical and dreamy style predates HBO’s “Euphoria” by years. She also worked with many of the show’s actors before it aired, such as Barbie Ferreira, Hunter Schafer and Demie, backing her claims that she worked with casting before being fired from the production.

If you look at the aesthetic differences between Season 1 and Season 2 of “Euphoria,” you can see where they lost the creative input of Collins. Season 2 makes a clear break from the dreamy, colorful world created by Collins for Season 1 that emulates the feeling one gets from her photography. Many viewers, myself included, noticed a stark difference in the ambience of Season 2, and when I heard that Collins helped create the show without credit, it all made sense. Without her on board for Season 2, it felt lacking – her presence and creative mind was missing.

This is not the first offense for Levinson in terms of being accused of ripping off the ideas and creations of female directors. Earlier this year, a Rolling Stone article came out with interviews from cast and crew from HBO’s “The Idol.” “The Idol” was originally to be directed by Amy Seimetz but was taken over by Levinson and Abel Tesfaye, best known as “The Weeknd.” The show was canceled after only one season following major backlash and controversy about the production, including the overhaul by Levinson from Seimetz’s original vision for the show.

In 2023, we are still allowing male directors and major companies to use women for their style, creativity and ideas only to fire them and use their creative property without credit. This routinely happens to women in the creative industries, specifically film and television. This is the second time this year that Sam Levinson and HBO have been accused of doing this exact thing, yet no actions have been taken and there is a lack of public pushback.

Since the beginning of time, women have been making strides in every industry from science and biology to art and writing, but time and time again a man will come along and take credit for her advances with ease. This is just another industry that needs to be checked and restructured because this is never acceptable in a field where ideas equal inventions. Stealing other directors’ worldbuilding, casting and concepts is plain thievery.