If a writer options their screenplay for a fee tied to the film’s budget and that budget is later increased, is their manager obligated to disclose the bump and renegotiate their pay if the manager is also a producer on the project?
The answer to that question appears to be no, at least in the case of screenwriter Kurt McLeod, who sued Zero Gravity Management alleging it had a conflict of interest when it negotiated his deal for writing Copshop.
U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter, in an order issued on Tuesday, found that Zero Gravity and its founders Eric and Mark Williams won’t have to face a suit accusing them of prioritizing their payout for producing Copshop to the detriment of their client by failing disclose that the budget for the movie had been substantially raised. He found that it’s “simply too speculative” for McLeod to...
The answer to that question appears to be no, at least in the case of screenwriter Kurt McLeod, who sued Zero Gravity Management alleging it had a conflict of interest when it negotiated his deal for writing Copshop.
U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter, in an order issued on Tuesday, found that Zero Gravity and its founders Eric and Mark Williams won’t have to face a suit accusing them of prioritizing their payout for producing Copshop to the detriment of their client by failing disclose that the budget for the movie had been substantially raised. He found that it’s “simply too speculative” for McLeod to...
- 1/10/2024
- by Winston Cho
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Disney, 20th Century Studios and CAA won’t have to face a copyright lawsuit brought by production executive Madison Jones, who accused them of conspiring together to steal ideas from a screenplay he pitched for Ad Astra.
U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter found that the makers of the 2019 sci-fi film couldn’t have ripped off Jones’ work since they didn’t have access to his screenplay, which was completed after Ad Astra was already written. And even if they did read the script, the movies aren’t similar enough to prove copyright infringement, according to a summary judge order issued on Tuesday.
Peter Ticktin, a lawyer for Jones, said his client plans to appeal a decision by the judge barring a forensic search of the hard drive of writers James Gray and Ethan Gross. He argued that it could’ve shown that they engaged in fraud to back up...
U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter found that the makers of the 2019 sci-fi film couldn’t have ripped off Jones’ work since they didn’t have access to his screenplay, which was completed after Ad Astra was already written. And even if they did read the script, the movies aren’t similar enough to prove copyright infringement, according to a summary judge order issued on Tuesday.
Peter Ticktin, a lawyer for Jones, said his client plans to appeal a decision by the judge barring a forensic search of the hard drive of writers James Gray and Ethan Gross. He argued that it could’ve shown that they engaged in fraud to back up...
- 11/30/2023
- by Winston Cho
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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