Hollywood Road

Chapter 335 Settlement out of court

Murphy owed by Miramax is mainly the last box office of "Sin City" and other aspects of the director's share, and a small part of the later dividends of "Planet Terror", the total amount is about 4 million US dollars .

For Murphy in the past, four million dollars was quite a large sum, but after successively receiving high salary and income sharing, this share is no longer counted, but he will not give up easily. This is what he deserves Rights and income should also be used to show the determination to the outside world.

He will not be a director and investor who will swallow his stomach if he suffers a loss.

Hollywood itself is a business circle, and businessmen value profits. If they are owed this time and do not pursue it, other companies will surely follow suit.

Like him, Murphy will never overestimate the moral bottom line of Hollywood practitioners.

With Walt Disney completely controlling Miramax, Murphy issued a \u0026t;-\u003enovel recovery letter in the name of Stanton Studios, but the stone went into the sea, and even a wave did not stir it. From the beginning, the new management of Miramax seems to have no intention of dealing with him, a salary chaser.

Bill Rosses also called in the name of Murphy's agent, and the answer he got was to wait.

Just like all those who are owed wages, you can never count on capital conscience. If you don't take proactive actions, you may be waiting forever, and you won't be able to wait for good results.

Therefore, without hesitation, Murphy asked his accountant David to list the relevant details, attach it to the lawyer Robert's letter, and send it to the senior management of Miramax.

It may be that Miramax does not want to deal with a director who is worthless, or it may be that there are too many debts to worry about, or it may be that Miramax has not sorted out the mess. Ten thousand dollars of recovery letter, again no response.

If there is no response through the normal channels, then there is only one way.

Of course, this method is not to find someone to kill Michael Eisner, nor is it to threaten the management of Miramax with some shady means. It has not reached this point yet, and Murphy said that he is also a person with status and status. , the risk of doing so is completely out of proportion to the reward.

After consulting Bill Rosies and Robert, Murphy chose the most normal method - the law!

This is the most commonly used way to recover compensation in Hollywood. It is said that Peter Jackson is currently suing New Line Pictures to recover the $15 million compensation he deserved in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Many Hollywood companies have a bad reputation in this regard. It is not only Peter Jackson who is suing New Line Films, but also the actors of the crew and Tolkien’s copyright management agency. The box office revenue of the trilogy, in order to avoid paying more share, the actual box office revenue of these three films is much higher than the public box office data.

Robert also represented Murphy, and filed a lawsuit against Miramax and Walt Disney, the actual manager of the company, to the Delaware Commercial Equity Court, whether it was Stanton Studios, Miramax, or Walt Disney is actually registered in Delaware.

Then, Murphy learned from the Delaware Commercial Equity Court that it was not only him who sued Walt Disney, but also many shareholders of Disney.

Shareholders of Disney sued the management headed by Michael Eisner to the court. As for the reason, when Michael Ovitz left the position of Disney CO, the board of directors controlled by Michael Eisner, Without the approval of normal procedures, Michael Ovitz was paid in installments of nearly 200 million US dollars in liquidated damages.

In the next few days, Murphy learned more about this. The shareholders of Walt Disney sued the management not only for liquidated damages, but also for Michael Ace. accept.

To put it simply, there is a powerful force within Disney who is dissatisfied with Michael Eisner's domineering style and what he has done in recent years, and wants to replace him.

Now even Walt Disney, the parent company, is starting to have civil strife. Miramax may not have figured it out. Murphy thinks there is such a possibility. Miramax and Walt Disney may not really want to owe wages. Civil strife It will seriously delay their work efficiency.

But after thinking about it, Murphy would not withdraw the lawsuit, and there was no reason to accept the arrows that were shot. Besides, Miramax did not pay his share in arrears.

However, Walt Disney, which is in an eventful period, especially the management headed by Michael Eisner, does not want to add to the trouble of Stanton Studios. The lawsuit filed by Robert on behalf of Murphy seems to remind that most of the energy is on They are in the infighting.

The management of Miramax contacted Murphy through Bill Rossis, hoping that the two parties could reach an out-of-court settlement. After consulting various opinions, Murphy began to contact Miramax, if an out-of-court settlement could be reached , and he didn't want to fight a long and chatty lawsuit.

This kind of lawsuit may drag on for half a year or even longer, which consumes a lot of energy.

In addition, the high litigation costs of the lawsuit are also an important reason for Murphy to consider an out-of-court settlement.

Even though Robert Roberts has never lost a case in Hollywood litigation, Murphy still prioritizes out-of-court settlements.

He is very familiar with Robert's record of Hollywood success. In fact, this is not particularly unusual, because many lawsuits in Hollywood are mostly settled out of court, and the results are mostly kept secret. This has created a group of lawyers who have never lost in representing Hollywood business.

Indeed, since accepting Murphy's employment, Robert has been conscientious and a very professional lawyer, but he works for the American law firm Meyers, which is rated as the top law firm in the United States by the "American Lawyer" , the control over their lawyers is quite strong. If they have other ideas and delay the case, the lawyers of both parties will benefit in the end, and even the final agency fee is more than the 5 million US dollars that Murphy requested.

This is not an exaggeration at all.

However, entertainment lawyers are also an integral part of the mature Hollywood industry, and the services they provide are indeed convenient for employers like Murphy.

With Bill Rossis busy during awards season, Murphy commissioned Grace, along with Robert, to negotiate an out-of-court settlement with Miramax's representatives.

Murphy didn't want to drag down this lawsuit, and the new management of Miramax, who was eager to help the master fight for power, didn't want to distract their energy. The negotiations between the two sides went very smoothly, and it took only three days to reach an agreement. A formal settlement agreement was signed under the supervision of representatives of the Delaware Commercial Chancery Court.

The core part of the out-of-court settlement agreement is the director's share of Murphy owed by Miramax. The two parties finally reached an agreement on $4.5 million. At a price of 500,000 US dollars, Murphy bought out the later dividend rights of "Planet Terror" and "Sin City".

Because the offline share ratio stipulated in the director contract signed at the beginning was very low, Murphy also happily signed the out-of-court settlement agreement.

Since then, Murphy has basically no economic relationship with the two films "Planet Terror" and "Sin City" except for the share stipulated by the union.

In fact, after Murphy paid lawyer Robert 10% of the agency fee, the final share from Miramax was almost the same as the original amount plus normal interest.

This kind of out-of-court settlement not only avoids high litigation agency fees, but also does not need to involve Murphy's experience too much, otherwise the repeated hearings and court appearances will be annoying.

Similarly, this is also an important reason why many Hollywood lawsuits choose to settle out of court.

Murphy didn't want the lawsuit to distract him. On the one hand, he had to make some preparations for the awards season, and on the other hand, he was preparing to start filming the episodes of "A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones."

It couldn't be easier than shooting any of the big-budget films.

Since a joint production agreement has been reached with the 20th Century Fox film and television production department, and it is confirmed that the series will be broadcast on the Fox cable network, Murphy does not plan to shoot the pilot series like ordinary American dramas, and then make a decision after seeing the reaction. Is it to continue shooting, but to shoot ten episodes of the first season at one time.

The two parties also reached an agreement on investment and copyright. Each will own 50% of the investment. The copyright purchase cost of Stanton Studio will be directly converted into the investment of Stanton Studio in the form of investment. The production cost of the first season is temporarily Booked at $60 million.

In addition, Murphy also talked with David Ellison several times, and the agents of both parties also started negotiations. He realized that the funds that David Ellison could control before were far less than what was rumored. More, about forty to fifty million U.S. dollars.

It wasn't until the investment "Gone Girl" was a big success that David Ellison got the real right to use the foundation under his name from Larry Ellison, and he did have an enviable fortune in his hands. Big money.

This amount of money is enough for him to invest in non-super-big productions two or three times, and all of them fail, and he can still get up.

Sometimes things are so unfair. It is also the initial stage. Some people will fall into hell if they take one step, and some people will have a lot of opportunities even if they fall into the trap one after another.

Stanton Studios once again accepted a loan from David Ellison's foundation, totaling $15 million, which basically solved Murphy's funding for the production of "A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones".

Just like the same, David Ellison still needs to prove to the outside world with success that Murphy also likes such an interest-only loan, and both parties get what they need.

But after David Ellison's funding came in, Murphy ran into trouble, and then fired the screenwriter who assisted George Martin. (To be continued.)

Chapter 338: Holmes

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