3 Count: Hollywood Accounting

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1: ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Screenwriter Settles Profits Lawsuit Over Alleged Bait-and-Switch

First off today, Winston Cho at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that scriptwriter Anthony McCarten has settled his lawsuit against GK films over allegations of unpaid royalties related to the film Bohemian Rhapsody.

McCarten was the only “screenplay by” credit on the film and, according to him, was slated to receive 5% of net proceeds. However, he alleges that, despite the film earning more than $900 million on a $55 million budget, the studio alleged that the film was still showing a $51 million deficit, denying him of any royalties.

McCarten alleged that he should have received 5% of what GK Films paid for the movie. However, he claimed that he was never provided a clear definition of “net proceeds” and the company used complicated accounting to keep him from receiving his share. That lawsuit is now settled, though the terms of the settlement are confidential.

2: I&B Ministry Appoints Officers to Curb Online Piracy of Movies

Next up today, Aditi Agrawal at The Hindustan Times reports that, in India, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has designated a dozen nodal officers who will directly instruct intermediaries, including YouTube and Facebook, to remove allegedly copyright infringing material.

The new officers will only target content certified by the Central Board of Film Certification, meaning that it will only deal with complete films. In cases where the intermediary involved is not available or is uncooperative, the law then calls for the government to block access to that website.

The new officers were appointed under the Cinematograph Act of 1952, which was amended in August 2023 to allow the government to directly contact intermediaries over copyright infringement allegations.

3: PropellerAds Labels MPA’s Piracy Claims “Harassment” and “Defamation”

Finally today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes the advertising network PropellerAds has responded to a filing by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) with the United States Trade Representative (USTR), claiming that the group’s portrayal of them a “piracy” market is tantamount to defamation.

The USTR is undergoing its annual “notorious markets” review, where they ask stakeholders to list websites, countries and other foreign entities that are havens for piracy and copyright infringement. The MPA, in their submission, listed the advertising network PropellerAds, which is based in Cyprus. They cited that PropellerAds is the advertising partner for various pirate websites.

However, PropellerAds has since responded, saying that they are merely an intermediary between advertisers and websites. As such, they claim that they do not support nor endorse any of the content on those sites and that both the MPA filing and the USTR process are tantamount to harassment and defamation.

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