Papers filed in THE LAST SAMURAI Lawsuit
March 4th, 2004
New Filing The Last Samurai
US CD California CV04-0013
Michael Alan Eddy
v.
Radar Pictures, Inc.; Interscope Communications, Inc.; Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.; Bedford Falls Company; Edward Zwick; Marshall Herskovitz; Writers Guild of America, West, Inc.; Does 1-20, inclusive
The first of six screenwriters hired to write the 2003 Warner Bros. movie The Last Samurai sued the films producers and The Writers Guild of America (WGA), claiming that they prevented him from receiving the proper credit due to him, and other early writers, for their work on the project.
According to Michael Alan Eddys lawsuit, Interscope Communications hired him in 1992 to write the screenplay entitled Eastern/Western, which eventually became The Last Samurai. After Eddy wrote the second draft, however, Interscope replaced him with a second writer, Garner Simmons, who wrote eight treatments of the screenplay now entitled West of the Rising Son in the first half of 1994. Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan became the third writer with the films executive producers, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, adding to the script. The rights to the script were later transferred to Radar Pictures.
Eddy asserts that when The Last Samurai began its principle photography in 2002, the producers attempted to rig the credit process by failing to submit to the WGA the names of the first three writers on the project, as required under WGA guidelines. In fact, the suit says, the sixth and last writer, John Logan, took story credit, implying that the story was based on his screenplay when many of the ideas for the film began with Eddy. Eddy also contends that Interscope and Radar falsely stated to the WGA that Eastern/Western and The Last Samurai constituted two different projects, thus preventing Eddy from benefiting from the WGA rule that the first writer of an original screenplay be given no less than shared story credit and that would entitle Eddy to nearly $190,000 in bonuses.
Eddy additionally contends that when he demanded in 2002 that he receive participating writers credit for his work on the film, he met with bizarre and secretive WGA procedures that denied him, as well as Simmons and Schenkkan, fundamental due process.
The suit says that in order to kowtow to the desires of the big studios, the WGA did not follow its regular guidelines that would allow for a complete review and appeal process in which the contesting writers are allowed to present arguments. Instead, Eddy and his colleagues were prohibited from presenting their arguments and the Samurai scripts were submitted out of sequence to reader s who had no training or direct supervision.
When the readers sided with the producers and the studio, Eddy alleges, he brought his case to the Guilds Board of Directors, who again told Eddy that he would not be allowed to present his arguments or attend the Boards meeting in another naked denial of due process, a sort of kangaroo court. Eddy further asserts that the Board never assigned a sub-committee to look into his case as they promised, and that they kept the minutes of their meeting a secret to avoid any kind of accountability.
The suit alleges that the WGAs credit process in the case of The Last Samurai violates a 2002 Ninth Circuit ruling in Jacobs v. CBS Productions, in which the court found that the WGAs credit arbitration procedures are patently unreasonable and indefensible and that the type of proceedings provided to Eddy, Simmons and Schenkkan provided too few procedural safeguards to constitute an adjudicatory proceeding.
The little guy writer is no longer protected by the WGA, but instead must protect himself or herself from the WGA and be constantly vigilant for traps laid by its staff, one hell-bent on power, self preservation and avoiding accountability, and a Board that operates in secret as if a politburo from the Cold War era, the suit claims.
Causes of action: Fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud; breach of written contract; breach of the duty of fair representation; breach of Minimum Basic Agreement.
Filing counsel: Neville L Johnson, Brian A. Rishwain, James T. Ryan, Johnson & Rishwain LLP.
US CD California CV04-0013
Michael Alan Eddy
v.
Radar Pictures, Inc.; Interscope Communications, Inc.; Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.; Bedford Falls Company; Edward Zwick; Marshall Herskovitz; Writers Guild of America, West, Inc.; Does 1-20, inclusive
The first of six screenwriters hired to write the 2003 Warner Bros. movie The Last Samurai sued the films producers and The Writers Guild of America (WGA), claiming that they prevented him from receiving the proper credit due to him, and other early writers, for their work on the project.
According to Michael Alan Eddys lawsuit, Interscope Communications hired him in 1992 to write the screenplay entitled Eastern/Western, which eventually became The Last Samurai. After Eddy wrote the second draft, however, Interscope replaced him with a second writer, Garner Simmons, who wrote eight treatments of the screenplay now entitled West of the Rising Son in the first half of 1994. Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan became the third writer with the films executive producers, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, adding to the script. The rights to the script were later transferred to Radar Pictures.
Eddy asserts that when The Last Samurai began its principle photography in 2002, the producers attempted to rig the credit process by failing to submit to the WGA the names of the first three writers on the project, as required under WGA guidelines. In fact, the suit says, the sixth and last writer, John Logan, took story credit, implying that the story was based on his screenplay when many of the ideas for the film began with Eddy. Eddy also contends that Interscope and Radar falsely stated to the WGA that Eastern/Western and The Last Samurai constituted two different projects, thus preventing Eddy from benefiting from the WGA rule that the first writer of an original screenplay be given no less than shared story credit and that would entitle Eddy to nearly $190,000 in bonuses.
Eddy additionally contends that when he demanded in 2002 that he receive participating writers credit for his work on the film, he met with bizarre and secretive WGA procedures that denied him, as well as Simmons and Schenkkan, fundamental due process.
The suit says that in order to kowtow to the desires of the big studios, the WGA did not follow its regular guidelines that would allow for a complete review and appeal process in which the contesting writers are allowed to present arguments. Instead, Eddy and his colleagues were prohibited from presenting their arguments and the Samurai scripts were submitted out of sequence to reader s who had no training or direct supervision.
When the readers sided with the producers and the studio, Eddy alleges, he brought his case to the Guilds Board of Directors, who again told Eddy that he would not be allowed to present his arguments or attend the Boards meeting in another naked denial of due process, a sort of kangaroo court. Eddy further asserts that the Board never assigned a sub-committee to look into his case as they promised, and that they kept the minutes of their meeting a secret to avoid any kind of accountability.
The suit alleges that the WGAs credit process in the case of The Last Samurai violates a 2002 Ninth Circuit ruling in Jacobs v. CBS Productions, in which the court found that the WGAs credit arbitration procedures are patently unreasonable and indefensible and that the type of proceedings provided to Eddy, Simmons and Schenkkan provided too few procedural safeguards to constitute an adjudicatory proceeding.
The little guy writer is no longer protected by the WGA, but instead must protect himself or herself from the WGA and be constantly vigilant for traps laid by its staff, one hell-bent on power, self preservation and avoiding accountability, and a Board that operates in secret as if a politburo from the Cold War era, the suit claims.
Causes of action: Fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud; breach of written contract; breach of the duty of fair representation; breach of Minimum Basic Agreement.
Filing counsel: Neville L Johnson, Brian A. Rishwain, James T. Ryan, Johnson & Rishwain LLP.
Comments
Only logged-in members can comment. You can log in or join today for free!
Advertisement
