(2016) Tags: Focus
WORLDVIEW ENTERTAINMENT HOLDINGS INC ET AL v. Creative Artists Agency LLC
Between 2010 and 2015, Worldview invested more than $55 million into more than 20 movies suggested by Creative Artists Agency (CAA). CAA and Worldview had arranged a first look agreement, where Worldview could have the option to invest into desirable movies that CAA was developing for their high profile clients. Worldview now claims that these were not ‘first look’ movie projects, but undesirable projects that other financiers had already passed on.
Worldview alleges that these poorly performing movies were deliberately given to them by CAA and had a catastrophic effect on the company — while CAA pocketed millions in fees from these flops. Worldview alleges that CAA defrauded them by falsely presenting these money losing movies, which were actually very high risk. One of these movies was ‘Term Life’.
Worldview investors became concerned about the poor financial performance of their investments in CAA-packagod projects and, more broadly, with their overall relationship with CAA. Worldview received repeated pressure from CAA President Richard Lovett to finance the movie “Term Life”, which was important to actor Vince Vaughn, who at the time was a valued CAA client, because Vaughn’s sister, Victoria Vaughn, was a producer of the film.
Worldview began receiving pressure from CAA to continue to support the movie “Term Life” on terms that were unreasonable and that differed materially from the terms that originally had been proposed. Although the project had a blown budget and despite the fact that a CAA-arranged “co-financier” had withdrawn its commitment, Lovett repeatedly called Plaintiffs to pressure them to continue to fund the project even though Worldview had virtually no chance of making a profit on the film or even recouping their investment. Plaintiff’s concerns were met by silence, and they now know why: CAA had no intention of fulfilling its role as a partner and agent. In fact, CAA and its employees were actively betraying Plaintiffs and intentionally deceiving and manipulating them to advance CAA’s own agenda and to serve the interests of the Agency’s more important and favored clients and business partners.