Page 31 - RICHERT VS. SORKIN THEFT OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT AND THE WEST WING

"The American President" September 29, 1995 Page 2
that the irreducible shared story minimum should apply to Aaron Sorkin in this arbitration. Richard Heller also argued that in the alternative, if the Special Committee determines that the irreducible shared story credit should not apply to Aaron Sorkin, then this rule should be waived in this arbitration and the Arbitration Committee should instead base their decision solely on the written material.
William Richert & Kyle Morris claimed that since they wrote an original screenplay for this project in 1981, they should be entitled to the irreducible shared story credit in this arbitration. lt is William Richert & Kvle Morris, position that the irreducible shared story credit should not be wajved in this case and that the rule should be applied in accordance with the Screen Credits Manual' William Richert & Kyle Morris supported their ctaim by citing story similarities between their screenplay "The President Elopes" and Aaron Sorkin,s final shooting script. William Richert & Kyle Morris asserted that the similarities between the two scripts are more than coincidental and establish that Aaron Sorkin did have access to their rnaterial.
ln addition to the writers'testimony concerning the development of this project the Special Committee also considered the chain of title documents in determining this issue. The chain of title documents show the following: Wa6 Disney Pictures developed "The president Elopes" project in I 9g l . This property was then optioned by ABC Motion Pictures and was thereafter acquired by Universal Pictures and Wildwood Enterprises. Additional writers were employed by each company. Robert Redford was attached to star in the UniversalMildwood property. ln 1992, castle Rock independently employed Aaron sorkin to write an original screenplay "The American presldent". ln 1993, Castle Rock acquired the UniversalAl/ildwood property in order to gain
the involvement of Robert Redford in their project.
ln light of the unusual circumstances in the development of this project ii'iciutii,ig iire faci thai Castie Rock empioyei naron Sorkin ro wriie an originai screenplay prior to acquiring the universal property, the Special committee determined that the irreducible shared story credit rule should be waived in this arbitration. The Special Committee noted that "The president Elopes" and "The American President" projects were initially developed independently of one another and merged at a later date.
ln making its decision, the special committee cited page 17 of the screen Credits Manual which states in pertinent part that the rules: '...are not to be considered rigid or inflexible. New conditions, new problems, new methods of work frequently require an alteration of the rules.,, The special committee
25