Page 58 - RICHERT VS. SORKIN THEFT OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT AND THE WEST WING

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Ms. Sally Burmcster November 16, 1995 Page 3
LAW OFFICES OF.DAVID EVA}Ig
1992 bascd simply on a statement by Reiner that he had an exciting Fgr€tproject ,o:tl a.ryct€t
ui6 it r (which couldn't b6 revealed at that time to Sorkin) that he wanted Sorkin to
"ttrittdyfor, Sorkin accepted this-blind enga-geTgn! but somehow I doubt it. u.f;t"-u r"i""npt and that
Wi att tno* tt"iricr must have discussed "The President Elopes" with Sorkin when he hired him. na6EonaUy, Sorkin admits that he met with Redford and was told the story and characters of '"Ihe Pnrsident Elopes" pliog to beginning his draft agd that he had a copy of the Ganz-Mandel draft and read at least pan of it at that time.
5. Reiner and Horn atso appear to be claiming that they bought_and-used_only the.premi9!_oj
']'{" purchased the righa-from Universal,' [Reiner] said- 'We basically bought the idea of a single
"The President Elopes" Nbw York Timcs, November 12th, Section H, pag-e 40
ihesident having-to date, and we took iiftom there."). Besides the fact thatpaying-sgrygthTg itl
by itself is probibly not legally protectable) is hard to believe, Hom and Reiner are overlooking the tiny fait that t'f,ese ale-noi rwo projects sharing onl]' the same premise and ngthilg else. There are
the neighborhodb of $5,000,000 (the number I've heard) for a gqe-line premise
_(tnttiptt
many stoyline, character-anl sccne similariiies as wel[. Then there's the little matter of Redford's unbroken involvement in the project from 1984 or so through two months prior to principal photography.
Again, because the movie is opening tomorrow I urge you to act immediately to mitigate tire him done to my client. I beli-eve the evidence is clear and compel{ng tlat tfe pp-arbitration decision must be overturned and irrcducible story credit reinstated, and further that the credits for this film should be entirely rc-arbitrated. We aie well aware of the seriousness gf reygrsgs 4e guild's decision this closeio the release of the film. Howevel, glvgn thqt S" guild declined to do its own independent investigation (as we requested earligr) of the,relationship betwecn "The President El6pes" and'fireamerican hesident, " and given that the entire basis- for_the pre: arbitration deiision is now gone, it is the only appropriate action for the guild to take. I know I don't have to tell you that ii is the guild's obUgation to diligently and-ry gmd faith protect the legitimate entitlenients of its membErs, but it is imperative,that the guild take corrective action immediately in this matter to mitigate the harm done my client as a result of the errCIneous pre- arbitration decision. In this regalii, we respecfully request a written rcsponse today, as well as confirmation of any communications the guild has with Castle Rock, Columbia Pictures and Universal Pictures (the foreign distributor) concerning the credits for the picture.
Thank you for your immediate anention to this matter.
Doreen Braverman Bill Richen
Michacl Zweig, Esq. I-ee Ko[igian, Esq.
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