Another Rudin Lawsuit

[zainmax]

Posted: 12/25/17 at 8:23pm

This guy reminds me more and more of David Merrick. I'm not really sure why he thought that he could get away with not paying the school.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marchershberg/2017/12/25/scott-rudin-finds-coal-in-his-christmas-stocking/#47a2f432889d

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 12/25/17 at 8:29pm

I appreciate the chances he took on many wondrous productions of plays that might never make it to Broadway otherwise, but this is just out of line. Along with blaming the closing of Shuffle Along on Audra's pregnancy, he surely needs some lessons on morality and publicity.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 12/25/17 at 10:16pm

I am no fan of Rudin, but I'm willing to bet that there is more to this story than the Forbes article seems aware of. Sadly, naiveté is Forbes' signature in theatrical matters it seems.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 12/25/17 at 10:33pm

HogansHero said: "I am no fan of Rudin, but I'm willing to bet that there is more to this story than the Forbes article seems aware of. Sadly, naiveté is Forbes' signature in theatrical matters it seems."

I'm with you on this one. It doesn't surprise me that Rudin would rather cut costs than please people, but this article reads as surprisingly slanted. I really don't think Rudin would just randomly decide to not pay the entity granting him an exclusive right of production...  

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/25/17 at 10:43pm

if this story is true wtf is Rudin thinking?? is it possible there’s been some kind of clerical error and they meant to pay?? it seems like this small amount of money (to them) shouldn’t be at all a big deal especially when it comes to having exclusive rights producing Williams’ plays.

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 12/26/17 at 9:56am

The story says he agreed to give school percentage of "revenues."  Doesn't specify net vs gross.  Could this really be yet another entertainment lawsuit about how books are kept and revenues vs expenses are recorded?  And since, to my recollection, the show never sold particularly well, it could be doubtful the show ever had a week it was in the black (and therefore there was no net revenue)?  And the school, knowing this, is filing suit to see if it can get Rudin to give them something rather than incur court costs?  Just a thought...

[HogansHero]

Posted: 12/26/17 at 10:37am

no. It's on the gross, just like all royalties. Something else is afoot.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/26/17 at 11:02am

Royalties are not paid just when you turn a profit -- on the grosses would be correct.

 

 

[PatrickDennis92]

Posted: 12/26/17 at 11:22am

I would be surprised to learn that they didn’t require Rudin to pay an advance of a somewhat significant size against future royalties. Not that it’s all that common especially for a major producer to pay up in advance, but Glass Menagerie is in a class well above average in terms of value of the property by itself. My guess is the school signed something that their lawyers didn’t understand based on a points system rather than gross specific royalty payments, and with caveats regarding weekly expenses or recoupment, etc— something more like what new or less “valued” writers would agree to in order to get their show produced, and that the poor performance at the box office meant Rudin never owed more than whatever advance he paid. Of course I am literally speculating that entire scenario; I have no information at all. I just find it very difficult to believe that Rudin wouldn’t pay his bills. The scenario I described is one way this could have unrolled as it has.

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 12/26/17 at 12:07pm

@HogansHero & @dramamama611 thank you..

[HogansHero]

Posted: 12/26/17 at 3:35pm

The university's lawyers understand everything. They do this every day. There is nothing unusual with this agreement. The article does not mention that the option was apparently assigned by Rudin's entity to the production entity (called something like Laurette Broadway LLC) and perhaps that has something to do with this but it is still not clear. They also say they have not been provided the weekly reports, which is also high unusual. My guess is this gets straightened out, because it has implications for Rudin beyond this show. 

There would be an advance, but likely nowhere near the amount due.