EXCLUSIVE: Bohemian Rhapsody screenwriter Anthony McCarten has filed a breach of contract suit against Graham King and his GK Films for money owed on the 2018 Best Picture-nominated film about Quee…
The Two Popes
garnered nominations for its stars Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce. He has in the works the Kasi Lemmons-directed Whitney Houston filmat Sony. He is a producer on that film. It has traditionally been rare for writers to be able to receive gross pay, unless they are also producers or directors. That leaves them vulnerable to the net definition, something Eddie Murphy famously called “monkey points” during a suit against Paramount overremaining in the red despite grossing $350 million.
Relevant here, at the time he entered the Writer’s Agreement, McCarten was aware of the reputation major studios have for snatching losses from the jaws of profits-most notably, by “defining” profits in byzantine ways and then applying arbitrary, onerous distribution fees administrative fees, overhead fees, etc.
wasn’t telling him. “He”-Graham King, not Fox, and not any other studio-was going to make up for the low fixed fees by paying him out on the backend. But only “in success.” With this background, it made perfect sense that the definition would be that of GK Films, and the “net proceeds” those of GK Films.
Reps from Disney, which took over Fox assets and obligations, did not respond to requests for comment.