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The producers of the 2009 mega-flop Transylmania (aka Dorm Daze III) have been sued for allegedly failing to repay nearly $22M obtained in financing for the film. Third Eye Capital filed the suit (read it here) today in LA Superior Court alleging fraud and breach of contract. According to the suit, producers Scott and David Hillenbrand perpetrated a fraudulent scheme to obtain the financing, failed to repay the money and used much of it for personal expenses. The film was branded a vampire spoof based on the popular Twilight franchise and HBO’s True Blood, but had no relation to either, according to the suit. Hill & Brand Productions, Hill & Brand Entertainment, among others, are named in the complaint. Representing the Hillenbrands, attorney Kim Swartz of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp responded: “This is a completely meritless lawsuit. The plaintiffs saw the finished film numerous times before they chose to invest. In any event, David and Scott Hillenbrand and their team … did everything they could to try to get their investors a return on their investment, even to the Hillenbrands’ own financial detriment.” Additionally Kurtz noted that “the Hillenbrands look forward … to prosecuting their own claims.”
‘Transylmania’ Producers Sued Over Financing For 2009 Flop
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Please tell me that’s a typo and it should read $2-POINT-2 million. There is absolutely no way, in any universe, that movie should cost $22 million dollars and I would seriously question the intelligence of any financier who couldn’t figure that out. If “third eye capital” really ponied up that much cash for something that could have been shot for half a million bucks…I’ve got a charming little Indie we could shoot for just under $150M. Call me. Big kiss.
Max Byalistock!
22 million. Wait. That’s a typo correct? You mean 220K? Or 22K?
Holy hell there really is a sucker born every day.
These bros may be thieves, but come on, anyone who can raise/con investors for $22 million for a piece of crap movie like this needs to be given SOME props, even if it’s through a prison glass window. Plexiglass high five!
The questions I have to ask about this case are…
1. Did any of these financiers read the script?
2. If they did, was the script they saw so radically different from the one that ended up on screen it constitutes fraud rather than run of the mill rewrites?
3. Why did the financiers think that a movie with the alternate titles “Transylmania” and “Dorm Daze III” would make their $22 million back with a profit outside of some elaborate tax shelter scheme? Don’t both alternatives just scream “DANGER! BAD MOVIE ALERT!”
I don’t understand why this movie didn’t make 150M at the BO. If only they spent 1M more on P&A perhaps….
Incredible–how can people enter into a multimillion dollar deal without (apparently) even seeing the product or doing any reasonable dilligence. It’s not as if they invested in the production of a project which turned out to be unwatchable, they invested in a pre-existing film which already was unwatchable. Incredibly stupid.
Apparently that Third Eye didn’t come in all that handy when it came to warning you about working with those con artists. Really? $22 Million for a B…no a C movie, especially with their track record?! Tsk, Tsk. It holds the distinction of being the lowest earning wide release in box office history. And they’re even trying to get financing now for another film they’re selling as “oscar-worthy” drama. How are these guys even still in business?
So let me get this straight: These guys advanced $22M in 2009 for a film that was produced in 2007, and nobody bothered to actually watch it before funding? And it wasn’t until the “latter part of 2010″ that the “Lender learned that the Film was not a ‘vampire spoof’”? TWO WHOLE YEARS after funding?
And they agreed to close a giant P&A financing deal without actually confirming that there was indeed a domestic DVD deal with Lionsgate in place, as the producers had represented?
I have no doubt that the Hillenbrands are probably as guilty as these guys claim, and that they probably ‘repurposed’ a large portion of the P&A funds, but if I were the guys at Third Eye Capital, I would be suing/firing my entire underwriting staff and my counsel for such a complete disregard for basic due diligence.
Oh, and I would probably lose the name Third Eye. Even someone with one eye could have seen these hucksters coming…
Dear private capital investors: I am uncertain in the logic of throwing $18 million in P&A after a $5 million direct-to-DVD “National Lampoon”-branded horror comedy. My faith in the 1% is shaken.
Another thing – who invests that kind of dough in a film with no known actors in the cast, without reading the script, or in this case, since the movie was completed, actually watching a rough cut of the movie to know what you’re investing in, and then throws more money after bad money as it’s all going south. It amazes me that not only are the Hillenbrands still in business, but so is Third Eye. Probably not for long.
Unbelievable.
From the suit:” Much more creative then the film was the fraudulent scheme perpetrated by the Hillenbrands…” LOL
Strange, my first comment (of two) disappeared, so they’re out of order now.
Basically it said I guess that Third Eye didn’t protect the investors from being conned. $22 million dumped into a completed “B”….no, make that a “C” movie, with their track record? Really? “Translymania” holds the record for the lowest grossing box office for any wide release ever. Even worse, the Hillenbrands are trying to finance a new film they claim is an “Oscar-worthy” drama. Stupid meet Shady.
Even if you win your case, GOOD LUCK COLLECTING. We won a judgement against them for non-payment of PR services for this movie and have not been able to collect a dime. They are crafty at hiding behind LLCs to avoid paying their bills.
Third Eye Capital was not stupid, au contrair! The Hillenbrands are toast with the signing of the key officer certificate and their lying ann knifing.
Also, just need to share this quote from an article on Third Eye which was written upon their winning “Best Credit Fund Manager” in Hedgeweek.
“Third Eye provides direct loans to Canadian companies that tend to be perceived as risky because of their size or development stage. “The key theme in all our investments is that they require a type of analytical framework and due diligence intensity that banks aren’t necessarily well equipped to handle,” Bhalwani says. “Our returns are essentially coming from exploiting this inefficiency in analysis.””
Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!