A film financing company claims Emmett/Furla Films owes it over $2.6 million for a loan for the now shuttered Motor City and it wants the courts to ensure it can get the cash back. In its Petition for Provisional Relief Pending Arbitration (read it here) filed Wednesday, Row 1 Entertainment says that it provided a short-term bridge loan to EFF last July for $1,735,000. The money
was intended for pre-production financing for Motor City and was supposed to be paid back on October 9, 2012. However, EFF suspended production on Motor City on September 1 because of scheduling and release date hassles. The Albert Hughes directed project has not been resurrected, star Gerard Butler is going after EFF for pay-or-play money and Row 1 says despite repeated efforts it hasn’t gotten its dough.
Related: ‘Motor City’ Stalls Before Reaching Start Line: Crew Sent Home
“As a result of Defendants’ failure to timely pay the full amount of the principal and interest owed under the Loan Agreement, additional interest and late fees have accrued. As of the date of the filing of this Petition, the amount Defendants owe to Row 1, including the principal sum, interest and late payments, totals $2,682,743.83. Defendants continue to incur 5 % late fee charges every 30 days they fail to repay the Amount Due,” says the petition. Row 1 says it has instigated arbitration proceedings with EFF and filed Wednesday’s civil case issuance of Writs of Attachment “to prevent Defendants from further dissipating the funds owed to Row I and thereby rendering the eventual arbitration award ineffectual.” The company also wants all legal costs covered and the usual “for such other and further relief as the Court many deem just and proper.” Row 1 Entertainment is represented by Brian Wolf and Daniel Gutenplan of Lavely & Singer.
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No surprises here – these guys are among the worst to deal with in the world. They breach agreements all the time, they never keep their word when they say they are going to pay, and it is always a mess to deal with them. We always wish that they would simply disappear but then some other Russian oligarch gives them money and they are back on the scene making weird offers and trying to play in the big leagues. I heard the unions have had a field day going after their productions for various violations here and there as well. Randy is a real piece of work, a wild dangerous cat who growls real loudly when he wants to make a scene. Hopefully this will mark the beginning of their disappearance.
Who the hell is paying Gerard Butler 5M for a film that shouldn’t cost more than 15M?
According to the press release Butler’s salary was $4 million for the film, the additional $1.1 million in his lawsuit was for the monies he had to pay to the producers of Olympus Has Fallen to obtain a hard end-date for that film so he could start on Motor City on time. I’m in his camp for suing these guys.
Anyone who has done business with Randy Emmett will not be surprised to hear any of this.
What he said…
As a former “employee” back in the very early days ’98, ’99.. this is awesome! I spent most of my time hiding Randy from the throngs of people that he owed money to…..
I’ve heard stories of many others that are still owed money. These guys run a shady operation.
You are right and nobody will feel sorry for them. What goes around comes around.
If Emmett/Furla raised hundreds of millions of dollars in equity, then why would they need to take a bridge loan at such high rates? Something’s fishy
Smoke and mirrors.
You get big enough….people get seriously jealous and nasty.
There is ALWAYS two sides to every story
Hard to believe many in our industry should , and could , throw stones.