LOS ANGELES – A Hollywood scriptwriter on Jan. 29 was turned back by the state of California Second Appellate District, Division Four Court of Appeals in a lawsuit accusing Warner Bros. movie studio of stealing a treatment he wrote.
A treatment is a short outline in story form of the plot of a script before a script is written.
Plaintiff Giovanni Gambino appealed a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in favor of Warner Bros. with a grant of summary judgment, on allegations of breach of contract and confidence.
Gambino alleges the two-page treatment of a synopsis of a proposed film titled "Father and Son" was used as a basis for a 2014 Warner Brother's film titled "The Judge."
“Warner Bros. proved it received a first draft of the screenplay for 'The Judge' from a different source, containing all the elements Gambino claims were taken from the treatment, before Gambino claims he submitted his treatment to Warner Bros,” Justice Brian S. Currey wrote.
Currey found Gambino’s breach of contract claims failed as a matter of law and affirmed the Superior Court’s judgment granting summary judgement to Warner Bros.
Gambino alleged that he emailed a draft of the treatment to a friend, who then emailed it to another friend who allegedly worked for Warner Bros. That friend in turn gave it to a person who worked as a line producer on various Warner Bros. films.
According to the brief, attorneys for Warner Bros. submitted to the court evidence the studio did not receive, or agree to compensate Gambino for his treatment in creating "The Judge." The evidence allegedly demonstrated that scripts for "The Judge" containing all the elements Gambino claims were taken from his treatment existed well before the time he alleges Warner Bros. received his treatment.
Gambino saw a television advertisement for "The Judge" in October of 2014.
He filed a complaint against Warner Bros., Big Kid Pictures, Team Downey LLC, Village Roadshow Pictures Entertainment Inc. and Charbel Youssef over allegations of breach of implied contract and breach of confidence.
The complaint alleged that in June of 2010, Gambino sent his treatment to a friend, Lance Lane. Lane said he would submit it to one of his contacts at Warner Bros. Youssef.
Gambino further alleged in July of 2010, Lane submitted the treatment to Youssef. Youssef told Gambino he shared it with Warner Bros. and the Tadross Media Group.
Warner Bro.'s moved for summary judgment arguing it had not agreed to compensate Gambino for his treatment in creating "The Judge." The summary judgment was granted by the trial court and Gambino appealed.
The Appeals Court determined Gambino did not submit his treatment to Warner Bros. on the condition that Warner Bros. pay for its use.
"The Judge" was first conveyed to Warner Bros. in 2008 by its creators, David Dobkin and Nick Schenk, according to a Warner Bros. computerized database.