Harvey Weinstein sues over unpaid $500K for work on ‘Finding Neverland’
Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein claims he was never paid his full due for his work on the national tour of the play “Finding Neverland,” according to a new lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Weinstein could be owed nearly half a million dollars from the lengthy national tour of the hit Broadway musical — and that doesn’t count a lucrative profit-sharing arrangement, court papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court said.
The suit claims that the production companies behind a seemingly successful 81-week national tour of the Broadway musical about the man behind beloved children’s tale “Peter Pan” have yet to pay the jailed producer’s agreed upon consulting fees as an executive producer of the tour.
Those fees included a $5,750 weekly fee and a 25.75% share of the profits. While the total profits of the production isn’t known, those weekly fees could potentially total as high as $465,750.
The 72-year-old convicted rapist produced the hit 2004 film starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet.
It then became a Broadway musical in 2015 starring Kelsey Grammer — also produced by Weinstein.
Weinstein once barked at a New York Post reporter that he expected the Broadway show to run for at least three years, but it closed in under a year-and-a-half and grossed under $65 million, according to the Broadway League.
Weinstein was paid at least some of the agreed upon fees, court papers claim, but at some point the well ran dry. The filings do not specify how much is still owed.
His lawyers said they previously tried to reach out to the production companies — including Networks Presentations — to get accounting data regarding the profit share, but they were stonewalled.
“We’re only suing because we got no cooperation from the other side,” said attorney Robert J. Hantman, who said they were seeking an amicable arrangement and just wanted to “get him what he’s owed. It’s that simple.”
Hantman could not confirm the total amounts being sought or how much had been paid already.
Messages left with Networks Presentations were not returned by publication.
Weinstein faces a retrial this November for his rape and sexual assault charges after his 23-year sentance was overturned in April.
He remains in jail, oscillating between Rikers Island and Bellevue Hospital, because of a separate California conviction resulting in a 16-year sentence.
The disgraced producer was sent back to Bellevue Hospital last week after contracting COVID-19 and pneumonia in Rikers.
