Michael Mann seeks to reclaim copyright to original ‘Heat’ screenplay

Los Angeles [US], November 14 (ANI): Filmmaker Michael Mann is embroiled in a legal dispute with production company New Regency over the copyright ownership of the screenplay of his 1995 crime drama ‘Heat’, as he seeks to reclaim the rights to his original work under the Copyright Act, according to Variety. 

New Regency produced “Heat,” released in 1995. The company filed a lawsuit on Friday arguing that it still owns the copyright to the original screenplay.

Earlier this year, Mann’s lawyers sent termination notices invoking the right to reclaim the copyright. New Regency argues that the screenplay was a “work made for hire,” and is thus ineligible for copyright termination, according to Variety. 

In a statement, a spokesperson for Mann said that the filmmaker intends to contest the lawsuit.

“We will vigorously defend this action and are confident that the courts will vindicate Michael Mann’s statutory rights under the Copyright Act,” the spokesperson said.

The statement added that the dispute concerns Mann’s original writing on multiple screenplays during the 1980s, which eventually evolved into the 1995 film ‘Heat’, written, produced and directed by him, according to Variety. 

“After 40 years Michael Mann is exercising the right of authors to reclaim their work and in this case Michael Mann’s original creation,” the spokesperson said.

Mann developed the characters and story that would eventually become ‘Heat’ over two decades, beginning in the 1970s. According to New Regency’s lawsuit, Warner Bros. acquired the rights to the screenplay in 1994 through a deal with Mann’s loan-out company.

The company claims that the agreement explicitly classified the screenplay as a “work made for hire”, rather than an assignment of rights, making it ineligible for termination.

The lawsuit also states that Mann’s lawyers initially informed New Regency that he had assigned his rights to his loan-out companies in 1988 and was seeking to terminate that agreement. When New Regency requested a copy, it was allegedly told that the agreement was oral.

“The Oral Assignment on which the First Termination Notice is based supposedly derives from an oral agreement that Mann allegedly made with himself, in which Mann, like a Shakespearean actor playing multiple parts, simultaneously spoke on his own individual behalf, as well as on behalf of MMCo. and ZZY,” the lawsuit stated, according to Variety. 

Two subsequent termination notices cited other agreements, which New Regency has also challenged as invalid.

The legal dispute comes as Mann prepares to begin filming the long-awaited sequel, ‘Heat 2’, on January 19. Warner Bros. was initially set to produce the project but withdrew last year, following which Amazon MGM Studios acquired the film.

According to the complaint, both Mann and New Regency have entered into agreements with Amazon that take the copyright dispute into account. Mann has assigned any rights he may reclaim to Amazon.

Mann’s representative clarified that the legal action would not affect the sequel’s production.

“For clarification, this is unrelated to production of Heat 2 which will begin shooting on January 19,” the representative said.

The original ‘Heat’, released in 1995, starred Al Pacino and Robert De Niro and became one of the defining crime dramas of its era.

Editorial note: The final paragraph about the film’s cast and legacy is contextual background; remove it if you want the story to remain strictly limited to the supplied report, according to Variety. (ANI) 

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