[Terry Mross]

It'll go only as far as the attorney is willing to take it. If Disney slips some money under the table the poor guy's attorney will suddenly have "other" business come up and will have to remove himself from the case.

Beleive me, movie studios steal all the time. When you send out a script you're taking a gamble. But send it out you must.

I have a friend who had a play running while at the same time the "movie version" was being made down the street. The movie was BOILER ROOM. There were lots of similarities but my friend was helpless. To sue for copywrite infringement in America you gotta' have some deep pockets to hire an attorney who is willing to fight the long battle. The studios know this.

Ever heard of COMING TO AMERICA? Art Buchwald won the case and was given a percentage of the profits. Of course, according to the studio, this is one Edie Murphy movie that didn't turn a profit. So, even if you're as big as Art Buchwald you still can't win.

[pogo101]

Oddly enough, my first lawyering job was with the firm (and office thereof) that represented Buchwald in his action against Paramount. A pyrrhic victory: we made 'em open their books, but there was little in the way of "net profit" there, as you obviously know.

[Political Junkie Too]

And shortly after that, Buchwald suffered a debilitating stroke.

-PJ

[kitkat]

Terry, I've wondered just how much of a script Buchwald wrote. I know he submitted it to the studio and that he got no credit for it. But what was reported at the time was that his script was no more than a few sentences long. Actually, they claimed it was just a germ of an idea. That never made sense to me. Any truth to it?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Reminds me of the movie, "A BUG'S LIFE" and "ANTS"... two studios made two different films, because of creative differences.