EXCLUSIVE: Bohemian RhapsodyAnthony McCarten, screenwriter, has filed a breach-of-contract suit against Graham King (and his GK Films) for money owed in connection to the 2018 Best Picture-nominated movie about Queen and its legendary singer Freddie Mercury.
Today’s lawsuit reveals a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of what happens when participants rely upon studio net points deals. According to Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation accounting statements, the film’s $55 million budget grossed $911 millions worldwide. Bohemian Rhapsody$51 million in the red.
The lawsuit is somewhat complicated because King, the producer, and GK Films, are named but not Fox and Disney, who acquired the studio. Bohemian RhapsodyIn its extensive library. The reason for this is, McCarten’s suit maintains he made a deal directly with King to receive 5% of GK’s take. King eventually turned all those deals over to Fox and Disney. McCarten asserts that the accounting definitions of deal transactions changed and that he hasn’t been paid any money from his backend agreement. He also claims that King has been unresponsive and has refused to pay him.
This is a problem McCarten (CAA-repped) and Kinsella Weitzman Weitzman Iserkump Holley, LLP lawyers would like to see solved “monetary damages in an amount to be proven at trial,”This is a complete review of the movie. “a judicial declaration of the parties’ contractual rights and duties in connection with the Writer’s Agreement…By this Action, McCarten seeks to hold GK Films to its promise in the Writer’s Agreement,”According to the LA Superior Court filing of 50 pages Wednesday, the scribe cited the first of three deals he made with WAGW, Inc in 2015. “amount equal to 5% of 100% of the ‘Net Proceeds.’”
Fox boarded the Queen biopic in 2016, and the studio is insisting McCarten is only due any profits via their “’Defined Net Proceeds’ definition, rather than GK Films’ standard ‘Net Proceeds’Definition, modified through good faith negotiations
Deadline has been told by representatives of GK Films that Fox/Disney should be included in this action. They will be reaching out immediately to discuss any future responses.
“Even worse, it is not even clear that GK Films has ever had a standard definition on any film,”According to the filings of Nicholas Soltman, an associate of Dale Kinsella, According to the suit, the parties did not intend to develop such a definition. ‘comput[ing]’And ‘determin[ing]’Net proceeds at all
McCarten is an elite screenwriter of fact-based biographical movies. Bohemian RhapsodyRami Malek won the Best Actor award. The Theory of EverythingThe same was done for Eddie Redmayne. Darkest HourGary Oldman claimed the prize. Recent developments include The Two PopesNominations were received for the film’s stars Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce. He is currently working on the Whitney Houston film directed by Kasi Lemmons I want to dance with someoneSony. He is a producer of that film. Writers have never been able to get gross pay unless they are also producers and directors. This leaves them vulnerable to net definition, as Eddie Murphy famously called it. “monkey points”Paramount during a lawsuit over Come to America Despite grossing $350 millions, the film remained in the red. Deadline published a Warner Bros profit report that stated that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had grossed $938 million but that the film was in the red at $167 million.
McCarten, per the suit, anticipated that he would be negotiating his film fee as he was going through the motions. Come to AmericaSituation like the one he’s in now and thought a solution had already been reached.
Relevant here, at the time he entered the Writer’s Agreement, McCarten was aware of the reputation major studios have for snatching losses from the jaws of profits-most notably, by “defining”Profits in a bizarre way and then applying arbitrary, excessive distribution fees administrative fees overhead fees etc. McCarten was also aware that indie producers like GK Films (which had famously finance the $156-170 million) could be financed. HugoThe company, along with other big-budget projects, offered slightly less upfront money than major studios but had more favorable backend definitions. GK Films was a firm believer in the reputation. For example, late in the negotiations, when he was frustrated over the low fixed fees that would inspire the side letter, McCarten called Denis O’Sullivan, a then-GK Films executive. O’Sullivan told McCarten, “The number is what it is, but Graham wants me to tell you that as he did with Cameron Diaz on Gangs of New York, he will take care of you in success.”
McCarten, no industry naïf, understood what Graham was telling him, and what he
wasn’t telling him. “He”-Graham King, not Fox and not any other studio, was going to make up the low fixed fees by paying him on the backend. But that’s not all. “in success.”This background made it easy to decide that GK Films would be the definition of the term “GK Films” and that the definition would be the “GK Films Definition”. “net proceeds”GK Films. Simply put, McCarten understood that GK Films’ “Net Proceeds” would actually resemble 5 percent of what GK Films made on the Picture-the difference between GK Films’ actual and “net”Proceeds being the home-video royalty and unrecouped expenses for development (if any). And there was no question GK Films’ “net proceeds”He would prefer a definition than what a studio called its net profits definition.
Disney reps, which took over Fox assets, obligations and liabilities, did not respond directly to requests for comment.