Protocol Pictures partners Tony Leech and Brian Inerfeld filed a 60-page legal claim today against The Weinstein Company in New York State Supreme Court. The $50 million suit is over their removal from the animated film Escape From Planet Earth, 
and it is a colorful document containing a litany of volatile charges ranging from the assertion that Harvey and Bob Weinstein were out of control, and tried to hush up the plaintiffs by giving them $500,000 to keep quiet the complaint until the Oscars were over. Most of these kinds of battles get settled in arbitration, but you can read the entire complaint here:
The Weinsteins, who are in a dispute with Michael Moore over profits he said he’s owed on Farhenheit 9/11, were quick to hit back in the stereo effect of two high-powered attorneys. Said Bert Fields of Greenberg, Glusker, Fields, Claman & Machtinger LLP: “This is a completely frivolous lawsuit. The pleading contains little more than false, gratuitous, slanderous, preposterous and totally irrelevant personal attacks on TWC and its principals. Plaintiffs were let go after they refused to make the picture which TWC wanted. They were paid in excess of $2,000,000 which is what was called for by their contract. They then threatened to “go public” with false assertions about TWC’s principals unless they were paid money to which they were not entitled. Their conduct has been unethical and reprehensible. I can’t wait to get them under oath.”
Added David Boies of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP: “This is an irresponsible and baseless lawsuit filed as part of an attempt to extort millions of dollars from Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Company. Plaintiffs and their counsel threatened to attack Mr. Weinstein and the Weinstein Company publicly unless paid $5 million, an amount that bore no relationship to any possible amount in dispute. When their demands were refused, this lawsuit and their accompanying press campaign resulted. Plaintiffs and their counsel should be ashamed of themselves.”
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Bert Fields and David Bois provide Harvey and Bob with a big time defense line. Doesn’t guarantee victory, but it should be a ‘smash mouth’ game.
****Typo..meant Boies
tom you f-ed up man.
Not the first time…nor, the last.
Isn’t there any moral among thieves?
Can we all just get along….
LOL ^^
Bert Fields is a heavy hitter, no doubt.
I’ve barely started reading this lawsuit filing, and it instantly reads like a novel. I’m no Weinstein apologist, but this “legal” document seems utterly baseless and inept. Really. Have a read.
Totally agree, and its a reach. For example where it cites the Vanity Fair article’s statement that TWC “nearly exhausted” its credit line, it conveniently leaves out the next paragraph: “Negotiations with Goldman Sachs and the various Weinstein investors would drag on for months, but in the end Cohen forged a surprisingly simple deal that made everyone happy and erased the debt.”
This is why writers and directors have agents. Good luck with your suit.
You do business with TWC, sometimes you are The King’s Speech and sometimes you’re Company Men/Nowhere Boy.
and sometimes you’re Company Men/Nowhere Boy……and a hundred other movies they’ve left to rot!
Harvey is a dirtbag who only changes his spots when it suits his needs…..like during awards season.
Well, NOWHERE BOY just sucked. It was so lame. The performance was ok, but the movie was sooooo boring. Typical lame biopic. DOA. Nothing they could do with it.
COMPANY MEN was a TV MOW with once A-list actors with a tacked on happy ending that I doubt most of the people out of jobs happen into.
Both of these films crashed and burned because they just weren’t good, as opposed to THE KING’S SPEECH.
The King’s Speech was the Lifetime movie with the British accent. It just happened to be a very well-executed Lifetime movie with a British accent.
Bert Fields is the lawyer who tells everyone he never lost a case, right? And, as we found out in the Pellicano case, Bert Fields used the sleuth Pellicano during some lawsuits. Now that Pellicano is in jail, maybe Fields doesn’t have his ace in the hole?
obviously none of you know brian inerfeld. harvey’s swinging against the wrong cat.
yeah you heard me.
meow.
that’s a joke, right? all brian inerfeld has is a 310 area code, a strategically placed office, and an ability to fool newbies by channeling ari gold. he doesn’t get his clients deals that actually result in successful productions, and so it’s becoming pretty clear that causing a stink with the Weinsteins, whether its getting his client to air dirty laundry online or file fraudulent lawsuits, is the only way he can make himself relevant. weinstein is a prick for sure, but at least he’s the real deal and not a complete hack. I think it’s safe to safe harvey will be okay. As for brian’s client, good luck getting another project set up.
I take it you’re the newbie in question?
nope. but nice try.
Some pretty libelous stuff there. Love to know what he ever did to you.
Inerfeld and Harvey are both snakes. But, if Brian really thinks he’s gonna take on Harvey then he deserves to go bankrupt.
Bert Fields has always scared the crap out of me.
In a related story, Protocol Pictures is now out of the business.
LOL, but also Quoted For Truth.
Is anyone surprised by this. This is part of the TWC’s business plan. They fully expect lawsuits against them. They usually negotiate deals and they never expect to keep their end of the deal. Most don’t sue. They just lick their wounds and move on. Be fun to see what happens here. Wonder if the plaintiff lawyers are on a %?
Goodness gracious this is preposterous. Harvey Weinstein is a gentleman and a scholar by golly he would never cheat anyone at all he’s a prince among men he deserves the Nobel Prize for honesty and fair business practice. Anyone who would criticize my old pal Harvey is crazy just like me. You’d have a dickens of a time proving anything bad about Harvey in court by golly.
Donald Rumsfeld
Attorney for TWC
Comparing Inerfeld to Ari Gold is classic. All bark, absolutely no bite there. Wasn’t he fired from his first boutique agency? Nice guy but a complete schmuck.
Don’t know anything about Protocol but have yet to meet anyone in the industry with + things to say about the way Weinstein(s) does business. Seems like screwing people is his M.O.
Most entertaining detail from that complaint was this:
“…at this same meeting, and with his children present, Harvey Weinstein attempted to consume an entire bowl of M&M candies despite being diabetic. When a TWC executive sought to retrieve the bowl of candy out of obvious concern for Harvey Weinstein’s health, he fought to keep it, and in the tumult the M&Ms ended up scattered all over the floor. Then, instead of watching the reel, Harvey Weinstein got down on his hands and knees and began eating M&Ms off the floor.”
Trust me, that complaint is so worth the read.
“Mmmmmmmmmm, floor pie!”
regardless if this is true or not, so funny!
Just because Bert Fields is representing the Weinsteins does not automatically mean they are right. It just means they have enough money to hire a heavy hitter to defend their atrocious behavior. The fact that complaint is inartfully written, which diminishes the merit of their suit, pretty much indicates that Bert will make minced meat of their attorneys. But it does not mean that their complaint is without merit. It is pretty much representative of the experiences that many, many, many producers and artists have had with the Weinsteins over the years. The only Hollywood talent that Harvey shows any respect to are the actors. They are the only people that walk away after working with them that have positive things to say about him or their experience working with his company. A smart move on Harvey’s part. After all, actors are the faces of your films. He wines them, dines them and treats them like kings and queens and then when they in front of the press and media they talk about how wonderful he is. Only the people who have worked behind the scenes with him, who he has abused and tormented ruthlessly, know the true Harvey Weinstein.
Andrea and the Anonomous person who commented on Brian Inerfeld. How may I say you know Brian? Ari Gold? Uh he’s a agent by the way, not a producer. I have known Brian for years and although he is a tough cookie he is a straight shooter….He’s never acted like someone he ain’t and that’s the truth. Tony and Brian are getting a raw deal plain and simple and the Weinstiein’s think they can mow over whomever they want and not suffer any consequences. Those two put ALOT of work into this project only to have it molested my those two brothers…
Brian is a putz and by convincing Tony Leech to take this case on, he single handily destroyed Tony’s career. Do you think for one second anyone will ever hire Tony after this? What’s Brian trying to prove here? I mean seriously, 50 million dollars. Anyone who knows anything about studio financing knows that number is a load of crap and no way would he ever make that type of money off this film. So, if you’re saying he’s a straight shooter by logic of his own lawsuit, he’s not. Also, all those stories about Harvey are irrelevant and I don’t remember reading anything that said, Harvey was in breech. Now, Harvey is a dick, but Brian destroyed Tony’s career and took down whoever works at Protocol along with him. Now, you tell me where you find logic in this and how he’s a straight shooter.
MMs? That is awesome.
“…Harvey Weinstein got down on his hands and knees and began eating M&Ms off the floor.”
inerfeld & leech already won and they know it.
bert fields can go back to watching “murder she wrote” reruns.
Inerfeld wants to be Weinstein. That’s how he conducts himself. Now that he is getting a taste of his own medicine he decides to sue. And I wouldn’t compare him to Ari Gold. Ari Gold is successful.
Ari Gold is fictional. Dumbass.
SUCCESSFUL in the show moron.
I wasn’t aware valid comparisons could be made between REAL people and characters on a show. You’re right, I stand corrected. Ari Gold is WAY more successful than Brian Inerfeld. So are Jack Bauer and Richie Rich.
I wasn’t aware you spent your day on this site. How’s that job hunt going dumbass? Now you can tell your mom you’re “in the biz”
Skimmed the best parts of the complaint. Even if only 50% of it is true, ti sure sounds like a class-A clusterf#@k. Yahooo!! Would have loved to been a fly on the wall. And, I like M&M’s, so you never know, I might have joined Harvey on the floor. They hadn’t been there that long!
it’s called the “3 second” rule. If you drop an M&M on a typical carpet, it’s OK to eat it if you pick it up within 3 seconds. That’s why Harvey scrambled.
Harvey please call me. I want to set up the sponsorship with M&Ms and TWC. How about an animated series about a runaway M&M? It would win an Emmy.
Winning
Or was this just a nutty typo in the complaint, and it should have read:
“…at this same meeting, and with his children present, Harvey Weinstein attempted to consume Eminem, despite being diabetic. When a TWC executive sought to retrieve the rapper out of obvious concern for Harvey Weinstein’s health, he fought to keep it, and in the tumult the Eminem ended up scattered all over the floor. Then, instead of watching the reel, Harvey Weinstein got down on his hands and knees and began eating Eminem on the floor.”
The documents are worth a KINGS Ransom…to read each and every word and the #’s …no matter what will happen…Now everyone knows the NUMBERS…of the deal…and all the other #’s that you usually have to learn the hard way…
Years ago this was always a secret…and to know the numbers that were agreed to…and for what and when…and how…that is the GIFT of this FIGHT…we may never know the truth about what happened…but what is real is the NUMBERS …and that is power for anyone who ever wants to do business with the Weinsteins…or any other Exec Producers or Studios…:) Now you know what to expect…and how to make a better deal…and to make this a Education not a Scandal or a place to pick sides…to see the documents and not hear say…They all deserve to be thanked…for this Opportunity to know ‘THE NUMBERS’… Yes…a new film I will write and sell to Harvey…That M&M scene is brilliant…:) I’ll make it Reese’s Peanut BITES…either way…Blessings to them all…and I wish they would have JUST made the movie…instead of acting like they were all in the Movie…:) THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS SPEECH…coming to a Court house soon…:) Hopefully…it will all work out…right???? LOL
I am grateful for this knowledge…a true gift…:)
Blessings to all…
Sirtony