Page 46 - RICHERT VS. SORKIN THEFT OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT AND THE WEST WING

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Jef f rey l.le I I s, 613 l,lestbourne Dr 1ve Phoner 31O.657,3?27 /^ FAXI 31O"657.
AN *AHER,rrfrko*P"khq C t q.4&,,,
tdcA Deelslon Denylng RiChertIl Q7v Story Credit lg Curlous Cell.v
Attn: llarJor te Sehrartz, L.A. Tlees Syndlcate
NO EI,IBARGO lynood. CA 99069
(11.6.95)
[Verslon t 1 I
Ltfe ls unfalr, as Presldent John F. Kennedy on6e reperked. lt cgn be esPeclel !y eo In Hol lywood, Hhere u?liavory behavlor has been obgerved at hlgher levels than elee*here" Case ln potnt: Screenur- Iter EllI Rlchertts clatn that he Has shafted by the tlrlter's Gutld of Anerlca's arbltrstlon board in handlng over gole screenurlttng credlt to Aaron Sorktn for the Just-!el6ased ss$antlc conedy ilThe Anerlcan President. i
Dlrected by Rob Relnern 'Prestdenti ls about a nldsyed U.S- Chief Executlve (t'lt6haet Dougles) who f al ls of or an envlronnentel lobbylst (Annette Benlng) and is tested emotlonsl ly and pol tticei ly as a rng- ult. Rlehert ls tha author of Feveral drafts of 'The Presldent Elo- pes'rf a slnllar coaedy that he first crote tn 19gl that Robert Red- ford's tlildvood Enterprlses and Unlvefsal Picturea bought ln 1986.
nThe Pregident Elopes'never becerDe a nerviei iThe Aoericgn Presl- dentn dtd. For a tlne' Radford vas coErlttad to gtar ln tPragldent' but salkeCl etray [n late lg94 over rcreetlve differencas'eith Relner. But he's stllI vary Euch lnvolved, for rhat Redford told Relner and Sorkln sbout rThe Psesldent Elopesn -- and rhen he told thetn -- ls vhat Richert's coapialnt ls founded upon. (Fedford ras unavallable for connent. )
I I { I
The crux of the matterr as defined by Trltere Guttd fules, ls the notlon of 'verbally transnitted' natertal, and uhether the paaslng along of stoty polnts fson Rlchert's scripts, going froa Redford to Feiner a,nd Sorkln, shoned up ln rThe Anericin Presldent.n The IJGA rules stata thet'even tf the raetertal of the prisr wrtter tlsl oral-
ly transnittedn by a producer ta e ertter, then the person nho nrote the original story ls due Fen trreducible shared gtery credlt.i
Lqst surlqer the tlGA denled Rlchert whst nany ln the industry (1n- cludlng ar-lll lduood erecutive Barbara l{altby, cho yorked slth Redf ord for lO years) feel eas a desenvad stofy credit on tThe Aoerican Pres- ldent.' (He vae aleo turned dsvn on appeht.) Rlchert betleves thiE happened beceuse the board r*as itotally coredn but prlnartly because Sorkln and hls attoDney, Rlchard Heller, tnisaepnesented the facts, orr ln the oldrf ashloned EenEe, I ied to the [JGA. 'r
Sorkln says that he 1s ithe orlgtnal sriter'of *The Anerican Pre- sident* and that inothlng untonard or covert or slnlster hes occured hrere,n Reiner'says he inever resd any ef [Richertte I yorlc and uas unarrere of hie existence until he protestad Aeron's credit.h Caetle
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