12 h, feb 11, 2014 y - Tracey Jacobs
Description:
US VA Amber Heard Evidence Exhibit 1603 - Email - Jacobs and Bloom re
"Secret Life of Houdini" Offer, 2/11/14
TJ: About a movie that was at Lionsgate called ‘ The Secret Life of Houdini’. Yes
Q: Who originated this opportunity?
TJ: I did.
Q: How did that come about?
TJ: I called incessantly and said to the heads of Lionsgate how much I want this movie for Johnny.
Q. How did they respond?
TJ: I have an offer here, so it must have been OK
Q: What was the offer?
TJ: I think it states it here in writing
Q: Well, humour us, tell us what the offer was. What was the up-front payment and what was the back-end?
TJ: It literally says “fee, 20 million dollars versus contingent compensation”. Then it goes on to define the contingent compensation, which asking me, I don’t recall exactly, but this is what their initial was. This was not negotiated out.
Q: That was my question.
TJ: You have the answer.
Q: Why dud this deal not come to fruition?
TJ: Because Johnny hemmed and hawed about doing it because they could never get the script right and ultimately Lionsgtae never made the movie.
Q: Did you push him to make the deal?
MR FREEDMAN: Objection, vague and ambiguous.
TJ: Yes. Because it was a development deal. It was for a lot of money and I just felt we could use that as opportunity with other people. was I ever crazy about it? No. But I thought it was a good thing to have on our plate.
MR CHEW: When you say… Did Mr Bloom express the same opinion, that it was something Johnny should do?
TJ: No. That would be expressing an opinion about material, which none of the lawyers I work with do. What he did express was an involvement in dealing with this woman Patricia Laucella, who was the head of business affairs for Lionsgate, and he was involved in helping me negotiate from it the moment I received this offer.
MR CHEW: Well you say here in the top email: Michael and Jake will be dealing with the deal now. Is ‘Michael;’ Michael Schenkman?
TJ: Yes
Q: What did, if you recall, what did Mr Schenkman and Mr Bloom do, since you were handing it over to them?
TJ: Well, I was handing it over, I was, I had been OK with the $20 million, but I wanted them to further define the contingent compensation. This was their original offer, which was not enough. And then anything else past that, I felt very comfortable with them negotiating, as I always did.
Q: Do you know what, if anything, they did after that?
TJ: I don’t remember exactly, but they were in the process of dealing with Patricia.
SOURCE:
Tracey Jacobs Deposition 2019 pp46
US VA Court Documents:
- Amber Heard Evidence, Exhibit 1603 [NOT PUBLISHED]
Added to timeline:
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