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Contracts Keyed to Knapp
Locke v. Warner Bros., Inc
Facts
Plaintiff Locke entered into a settlement agreement with movie star Clint Eastwood. As part of that agreement, Mr. Eastwood secured a production agreement between Defendant Warner Brothers movie studio and Plaintiff. The agreement gave plaintiff a “non-exclusive first look deal” which allowed plaintiff to submit to Defendant any picture in which Plaintiff was interested in developing. Defendant had the option to pass on each project which Plaintiff submitted. The agreement also gave Defendant the option to use Plaintiff as a director for one of its movies, or to pay her a fee. Plaintiff was never given an opportunity to develop a movie with Defendant, nor was she afforded the chance to direct a movie. Plaintiff brought suit against Defendant alleging breach of contract for failing to consider her for any projects. Plaintiff further alleged fraud on the part of Defendant for entering into a contract with no intention of honoring the agreement. On summary judgment, the trial court dismissed Plaintiff’s causes of actions, holding that since Defendant had the option of both passing on Plaintiff’s movie ideas and giving Plaintiff a director role, the Defendant was not required to have a good faith reason for declining to exercise its right to develop her material. The trial court further stated that it’s not the court’s role to substitute its judgment for a film studio’s when the studio is making a creative decision. On appeal, Plaintiff alleged that Defendant breached the agreement by refusing to consider the agreement in good faith, and that Defendant fraudulently entered into the contract with no intention of honoring the agreement. On appeal, Plaintiff introduced the testimony of a Warner employee who recounted a conversation he had with a Warner executive. In that conversation the Warner executive stated that Defendant was not going to work with her. Plaintiff also introduced testimony from another Warner employee that recounted a conversation in which the employee was told that Warner was not going to make a movie with her.
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