'Crash' stars still waiting on checks...
07-26-06, 01:14 AM
#1
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Thread Starter
'Crash' stars still waiting on checks...
Pretty interesting.......
LOS ANGELES, July 24 — When a movie costs $7.5 million to make and takes in $180 million around the world, it seems logical to think that the people who created the film would have become very rich.
At the Independent Spirit Awards in March, Bob Yari, right, stood with other members of the "Crash" production, including Paul Haggis, the film's director, and Matt Dillon, second and third from left.
With “Crash,” this year’s Oscar winner for best picture and last year’s sleeper hit at the box office, that has not been the case.
The movie’s co-writer and director, Paul Haggis, has so far made less than $300,000 on the film, a pittance by Hollywood standards. The eight principal actors in “Crash,” including Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon and Don Cheadle, have been expecting large checks for months, after deferring their usual fees in exchange for a percentage of the film’s profits. Recently, their representatives say, they each received checks for $19,000.
The wheels of Hollywood’s money machine always turn too slowly for profit participants, players who agree to take a slice of a film’s revenues in lieu of large salaries up front.
But the pace of payments on “Crash” has especially disappointed those who deferred and reduced their salaries in 2004 to get the movie made.
The pressure has led Lionsgate, the domestic distributor of “Crash,” to try to broker a deal to advance payments to Mr. Cheadle and Mr. Haggis, in the interest of maintaining good relations.
That deal has so far faltered and is contributing to tensions between the cast, producers, writers and director of the film on one side, and Bob Yari, the producer and financier in charge of disbursing payments, on the other. In particular, representatives for Mr. Cheadle, a producer and leading actor on the film; Mr. Dillon; Mr. Haggis; and his co-writer Bobby Moresco have been pressing for explanations as to why payments are so slow in coming.
“We haven’t audited, so we can’t tell if it’s right or wrong,” said Peter Dekom, the lawyer for Mr. Haggis and Mark Harris, another producer, who said he had recently hired an accountant to conduct an audit. “But it’s always a big deal when you go out in the world, and you look at the video units sold, the $55 million of domestic box office, the fact that the movie’s doing well overseas, and then you look at the accounting statements, and it’s Hollywood accounting.”
Mr. Yari, a relative newcomer to Hollywood — “Crash” was his first major hit — said he was aware of the dissatisfaction, but that he was completely up to date on payments.
“They have been correctly paid,” he said in a recent interview. “They will be paid more. This is the process. We’ve done everything aboveboard. If we wanted to not pay people and have them sue us, we wouldn’t pay them at all.”
Mr. Yari said that monies collected from Lionsgate went into a fund before being disbursed, further delaying payment to profit participants, and that little money had come in from foreign distributors, though the film long ago ended most of its theatrical runs. He also said that Lionsgate, which has so far paid him slightly more than $10 million, owes him another $10 million. A Lionsgate executive said that a large sum was expected in the fall when the studio’s pay-television deal with Showtime yields revenues.
The rising tension is the latest knot in a tangle of strained relations over “Crash,” a movie about racial tension in the traffic-clogged sprawl of Los Angeles. Mr. Yari has sued two of his co-producers, Cathy Schulman and Tom Nunan, for breach of contract, while they have countersued for fraud and a similar breach. A lawyer for Ms. Schulman said she and Mr. Nunan have been paid no producer fees as yet.
“We certainly haven’t been paid on ‘Crash,’ we haven’t even seen a statement, and you’d think we’d see that,” said Melvin Avanzado, Ms. Schulman’s lawyer. “Everyone is chomping at the bit because the movie’s a success.”
A lawsuit filed by Mr. Yari against the Producers Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over their procedures for assigning producing credits was recently dismissed, though Mr. Yari has said that he intends to pursue the case further.
Mr. Yari is also in an accounting dispute with one of two central financiers of “Crash,” DEJ Productions, which is now owned by First Look Studios.
“We’ve amicably exchanged statements, and we believe we need to go to an audit,” said Henry Winterstern, the chief executive of First Look. He said that Mr. Yari owed him money from an earlier movie, “Matador.” Mr. Yari said he knew that DEJ was “unhappy.”
In Hollywood it is not unusual for squabbles to erupt over dividing the spoils when a small film becomes a very big hit. But part of what is creating bruised feelings with “Crash” is the sense among the starring cast members that their initial sacrifice has not been acknowledged with a gesture, whatever the precise state of collection accounts.
“You’d think that for a movie that won best picture, what you would do is write the actors a check against their profits, or you give them a car, or something,” said a representative for one of the leading actors, who spoke on condition of anonymity because his client had barred him from speaking on the record. “That would be the classy thing to do.” He added: “The money is dribbling in. It’s almost offensive how little money it is.”
The deal to advance money to Mr. Haggis and others has stalled because Mr. Yari declined to give a letter agreeing that payments be directed to the creative talent, according to a Lionsgate executive. Mr. Yari said he did not know Lionsgate required such a letter.
Documents show, and the principals’ representatives say, that so far none of the profit participants has received more than a low six-figure sum for their work. Moreover, Mr. Haggis and Mr. Moresco were both in dire financial straits when they made the movie in 2004, but deferred their salaries — about $94,000 and $47,000, respectively — to gain approval to move ahead on the film. The deferred salaries were paid in the middle of 2005, after the film broke even, and the money made its way through the accounting system.
But by the time the Academy Awards rolled around in early March, Mr. Moresco and his wife, Barbara, for example, were still short of cash, living in a rented house in Burbank, Calif. Mr. Moresco and Mr. Haggis both declined to comment for this article.
“Crash” has taken in $55 million at the domestic box office and $39 million in foreign box office sales. It has sold 5 million units — about $85 million worth — of DVD’s.
Mr. Yari raised a large part of the production budget from a German tax fund, the rest from banks and with guarantees for video distribution from DEJ. After seeing the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival in fall 2004, Lionsgate bought all domestic distribution rights for $3.3 million, with premiums added should “Crash” become a hit.
The principal players who deferred and reduced their salaries are due from 2 to 4 percent of Mr. Yari’s profit pool, according to people familiar with the deal. The percentages are tied to tiered benchmarks of the film’s revenues.
Mr. Yari said that payments had been slowed by the fact that the German tax fund had to approve them, which had added months to the process.
But Mr. Dekom, the lawyer for Mr. Haggis, said he believed that Mr. Yari had more money than had been paid out. “To the extent that Bob Yari is sitting on cash and not disbursing it to people who put their hearts and souls into the movie, that would be wrong,” he said. “At the very least they should accelerate payment.”
LOS ANGELES, July 24 — When a movie costs $7.5 million to make and takes in $180 million around the world, it seems logical to think that the people who created the film would have become very rich.
At the Independent Spirit Awards in March, Bob Yari, right, stood with other members of the "Crash" production, including Paul Haggis, the film's director, and Matt Dillon, second and third from left.
With “Crash,” this year’s Oscar winner for best picture and last year’s sleeper hit at the box office, that has not been the case.
The movie’s co-writer and director, Paul Haggis, has so far made less than $300,000 on the film, a pittance by Hollywood standards. The eight principal actors in “Crash,” including Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon and Don Cheadle, have been expecting large checks for months, after deferring their usual fees in exchange for a percentage of the film’s profits. Recently, their representatives say, they each received checks for $19,000.
The wheels of Hollywood’s money machine always turn too slowly for profit participants, players who agree to take a slice of a film’s revenues in lieu of large salaries up front.
But the pace of payments on “Crash” has especially disappointed those who deferred and reduced their salaries in 2004 to get the movie made.
The pressure has led Lionsgate, the domestic distributor of “Crash,” to try to broker a deal to advance payments to Mr. Cheadle and Mr. Haggis, in the interest of maintaining good relations.
That deal has so far faltered and is contributing to tensions between the cast, producers, writers and director of the film on one side, and Bob Yari, the producer and financier in charge of disbursing payments, on the other. In particular, representatives for Mr. Cheadle, a producer and leading actor on the film; Mr. Dillon; Mr. Haggis; and his co-writer Bobby Moresco have been pressing for explanations as to why payments are so slow in coming.
“We haven’t audited, so we can’t tell if it’s right or wrong,” said Peter Dekom, the lawyer for Mr. Haggis and Mark Harris, another producer, who said he had recently hired an accountant to conduct an audit. “But it’s always a big deal when you go out in the world, and you look at the video units sold, the $55 million of domestic box office, the fact that the movie’s doing well overseas, and then you look at the accounting statements, and it’s Hollywood accounting.”
Mr. Yari, a relative newcomer to Hollywood — “Crash” was his first major hit — said he was aware of the dissatisfaction, but that he was completely up to date on payments.
“They have been correctly paid,” he said in a recent interview. “They will be paid more. This is the process. We’ve done everything aboveboard. If we wanted to not pay people and have them sue us, we wouldn’t pay them at all.”
Mr. Yari said that monies collected from Lionsgate went into a fund before being disbursed, further delaying payment to profit participants, and that little money had come in from foreign distributors, though the film long ago ended most of its theatrical runs. He also said that Lionsgate, which has so far paid him slightly more than $10 million, owes him another $10 million. A Lionsgate executive said that a large sum was expected in the fall when the studio’s pay-television deal with Showtime yields revenues.
The rising tension is the latest knot in a tangle of strained relations over “Crash,” a movie about racial tension in the traffic-clogged sprawl of Los Angeles. Mr. Yari has sued two of his co-producers, Cathy Schulman and Tom Nunan, for breach of contract, while they have countersued for fraud and a similar breach. A lawyer for Ms. Schulman said she and Mr. Nunan have been paid no producer fees as yet.
“We certainly haven’t been paid on ‘Crash,’ we haven’t even seen a statement, and you’d think we’d see that,” said Melvin Avanzado, Ms. Schulman’s lawyer. “Everyone is chomping at the bit because the movie’s a success.”
A lawsuit filed by Mr. Yari against the Producers Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over their procedures for assigning producing credits was recently dismissed, though Mr. Yari has said that he intends to pursue the case further.
Mr. Yari is also in an accounting dispute with one of two central financiers of “Crash,” DEJ Productions, which is now owned by First Look Studios.
“We’ve amicably exchanged statements, and we believe we need to go to an audit,” said Henry Winterstern, the chief executive of First Look. He said that Mr. Yari owed him money from an earlier movie, “Matador.” Mr. Yari said he knew that DEJ was “unhappy.”
In Hollywood it is not unusual for squabbles to erupt over dividing the spoils when a small film becomes a very big hit. But part of what is creating bruised feelings with “Crash” is the sense among the starring cast members that their initial sacrifice has not been acknowledged with a gesture, whatever the precise state of collection accounts.
“You’d think that for a movie that won best picture, what you would do is write the actors a check against their profits, or you give them a car, or something,” said a representative for one of the leading actors, who spoke on condition of anonymity because his client had barred him from speaking on the record. “That would be the classy thing to do.” He added: “The money is dribbling in. It’s almost offensive how little money it is.”
The deal to advance money to Mr. Haggis and others has stalled because Mr. Yari declined to give a letter agreeing that payments be directed to the creative talent, according to a Lionsgate executive. Mr. Yari said he did not know Lionsgate required such a letter.
Documents show, and the principals’ representatives say, that so far none of the profit participants has received more than a low six-figure sum for their work. Moreover, Mr. Haggis and Mr. Moresco were both in dire financial straits when they made the movie in 2004, but deferred their salaries — about $94,000 and $47,000, respectively — to gain approval to move ahead on the film. The deferred salaries were paid in the middle of 2005, after the film broke even, and the money made its way through the accounting system.
But by the time the Academy Awards rolled around in early March, Mr. Moresco and his wife, Barbara, for example, were still short of cash, living in a rented house in Burbank, Calif. Mr. Moresco and Mr. Haggis both declined to comment for this article.
“Crash” has taken in $55 million at the domestic box office and $39 million in foreign box office sales. It has sold 5 million units — about $85 million worth — of DVD’s.
Mr. Yari raised a large part of the production budget from a German tax fund, the rest from banks and with guarantees for video distribution from DEJ. After seeing the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival in fall 2004, Lionsgate bought all domestic distribution rights for $3.3 million, with premiums added should “Crash” become a hit.
The principal players who deferred and reduced their salaries are due from 2 to 4 percent of Mr. Yari’s profit pool, according to people familiar with the deal. The percentages are tied to tiered benchmarks of the film’s revenues.
Mr. Yari said that payments had been slowed by the fact that the German tax fund had to approve them, which had added months to the process.
But Mr. Dekom, the lawyer for Mr. Haggis, said he believed that Mr. Yari had more money than had been paid out. “To the extent that Bob Yari is sitting on cash and not disbursing it to people who put their hearts and souls into the movie, that would be wrong,” he said. “At the very least they should accelerate payment.”
07-26-06, 01:38 AM
#3
DVD Talk Legend
Is this similiar to Randy Quaid suing for his Bareback Mountain backpay? Didn't he get a settlement of some kind? Rich or not, people should get paid if it's decided upon in their contract. Having been screwed by a company before I can relate...
07-26-06, 01:47 AM
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We all learned a lesson about race relations, now lets learn the lesson about getting paid.
Not the point. I'm sure you would survive off the basics. But if you made an agreement to cut your fee and inexchange take a percentage, you need to be paid that.
I think they'll live.
07-26-06, 02:41 AM
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Originally Posted by hardercore
"This movie did not deserve to win Best Picture." That's all I can think about whenever the film Crash is mentioned.
That was certainly relevant to the topic at hand.
As already stated, this is definitely BS. It was a leap of faith for such well-known actors to defer their salaries and they're getting burned on it. Whether they need the cash or not, it was a deal that was agreed upon and needs to be lived up to.
07-26-06, 04:42 AM
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Okay, in gratitude to Sandra Bullock for her patience waiting to be paid, I will agree to have sex with her. Just doing my part.
And Don Cheadle too, as long as he uses the Cockney accent from Oceans 11. Not Matt Dillon though, he's creeped me out since the 70s.
And Don Cheadle too, as long as he uses the Cockney accent from Oceans 11. Not Matt Dillon though, he's creeped me out since the 70s.
07-26-06, 06:10 AM
#9
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Originally Posted by JumpCutz
“Crash” has taken in $55 million at the domestic box office and $39 million in foreign box office sales. It has sold 5 million units — about $85 million worth — of DVD’s.
07-26-06, 07:54 AM
#11
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Yes people please don't bootleg these movies because only the studios are allowed to steal from the workers.
07-30-06, 10:06 PM
#15
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Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt
All I know is that if Ludacris doesn't get his check, things are going to get ugly. 
07-31-06, 12:23 AM
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Well, someone's collecting the checks for this thing, but now you'll just see A-listers less likely to take a back-end deal for small budget flicks after the financial mess that was Crash. Why would Sandra Bullock ever do another drama movie for scale and get cheated when its a hit when she can easily make $10 million guaranteed for a big budget romantic comedy other than to try to win an Oscar?
07-31-06, 04:36 AM
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I'd guess that this is just how their deals are structured. Mistakes can be made, but sometimes people just don't even understand their own deals.
But who knows. They'll audit, and they'll get their advances more than likely. Just to keep em happy.
But who knows. They'll audit, and they'll get their advances more than likely. Just to keep em happy.
