Producers of ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ settle lawsuits against each other
By Pankaj Ladhar of Manos • Alwine P.L.
Lots of Miami residents are Martin Scorsese fans, so we thought this might be an item of interest: a former producer on Scorsese’s upcoming movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” has settled her lawsuit against the remaining producers of the project, and the production company behind the film has also ended its countersuit against the producer.
The reasons behind the settlement are not clear, but generally, parties to a lawsuit settle when they are able to reach a mutually satisfactory compromise and want to avoid the time and expense of a lawsuit.
The producer has said that she spent years adapting Jordan Belfort’s book “Wolf of Wall Street” into a film project. She claims she commissioned the scriptwriter and helped get star Leonardo DiCaprio interested in the project.
The producer has said that in exchange for her work, she was promised a back-end deal that would have given her at least $700,000 in compensation and the right to actually produce the film.
But the production company cut her compensation to $250,000, gave her only an “executive producer” credit and eliminated the back-end deal. It said it had no obligation to provide the compensation and credit the producer thought she was entitled to receive.
Press coverage of the settlement indicated that both the producer and the production company were represented by attorneys in their dealings with one another. Many entertainment professionals find it well worth their while to hire an attorney to represent their interests. When things are going well, it can be hard to imagine why you would need a lawyer on your side, but as we all know, fortunes can change in a heartbeat.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, “‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Producers Settle Dueling Lawsuits,”Matthew Belloni, Oct. 3, 2012