Producers sue Paula Abdul, saying her Bravo series Hey, Paula was their idea

Pilgrim Films and Television is suing Paula Abdul and her producing partner David Russo over Paula’s forthcoming Bravo reality series Hey Paula.

The lawsuit [PDF], revealed by TMZ.com, says that Russo worked with Pilgrim to create the show, which was to be aired on Oxygen.

“Abdul and Russo secretly shopped the project to other potential producers,” the lawsuit says, even though Russo “was thoroughly immersed in all of PFTV’s development and marketing activities related to Hey Paula and he was well aware of PFTV’s contact to air the Hey Paula show on the Oxygen cable network.”

TMZ reports that “the project fell apart after Abdul demanded final editorial control over the final product” but “PFTV was trying to get the show back on track by selling it to Oxygen.”

Russo’s lawyer said, “The allegations are baseless.” And Paula told TMZ, “While I’m not going to respond to this baseless lawsuit, I will say that ‘Hey Paula’ is based upon my life and my ideas. Last I heard, I still own my own life.”