An Industry Insider Details More Regarding the Lucasfilm Lawsuit and Financial Standards

After debuting the video with Culture Casino yesterday, a friend and industry insider came forward with important information I thought should be shared with our readers. All of this in regards to the lawsuit against Lucasfilm.

Until further notice, we are keeping the source behind this message confidential.

Just saw your Acolyte video as I’m heading out today. With regards to the 5k payout, if memory serves, that number is a WGA rate for working on a single page of a TV script. I think it’s under schedule C. It’s typically $2.5-$5k, which is [tpyical]. It isn’t an arbitrary number. It’s the maximum amount within WGA standards of minimum work. Because Disney paid this, they can argue it as essentially single day script revisions, with no intention of a long term commitment because she was paid a page rate instead of a weekly salary. I bring this up because if there was something like a king term deal, UTA would be at the forefront with a suit instead of the client suing independently.

Now, UTA is a fairly incompetent agency, despite their standing. They “lose” scripts and phone numbers to big players that they don’t want to work with for whatever reason. But that’s another story. However, if this producer wins her lawsuit, UTA can’t claim their 10% as they didn’t throw in to help her secure the win. Because she’s doing this on her own, they have zero claim.

I can give you an example of this on the acting side. Johnny Depp, has on more than on occasion made deals with writers and directors to work on a project that was not brokered by his agents or managers. He met with someone, was offered a role, and made the deal without them. As a result his entire team didn’t make any money. This can be verified with his appearances in Kevin Smiths films, and apparently his cameo in 21 Jump street feature film. This is why agents hate it when you go around them to get their talent, and if a deal is made they try to work their way in, but it’s really difficult because their client agreed to do the project and their negotiating leverage is gone. So if this producer wins, she’ll keep the entire settlement, and UTA might end up suing her for their cut. I would not be surprised that if this suit goes the distance, she’ll be dropped by UTA and find new representation.

As always, we want to give readers and viewers the most information possible, even when that information is contradictory. Also, I continue to believe that the payment given from Lucasfilm to McCarthy was likely inflammatory… I believe that because she alleges she worked two weeks, she’s being compensated for one day. That said, the information above is important to know and may provide specific reasoning for why Lucasfilm used what they did.

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