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...L. i I I I

BROWNE GEORGE ROSS LLP Eric M. George (State Bar No. 166403)

egeorge@bgrfirm.com Elena Nutenko (State Bar No. 289708)

enutenko@bgrfirm.com 2121 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 2400 Los Angeles, California 90067 Telephone: (310) 274-7100 FacsImile: (310) 275-5697 Attorneys for Plaintiff Ashleigh Erwin

.J

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, WESTERN DIVISION

ASHLEIGIIERWIN, an individual, ; ,Vlh;c038 9 G -~~UJL0 \.he) Plaintiff,

VS.

GREGORY SESTERO, an individual; SIMON & SCHUSTER, INC., a New York corporation; AND DOES 1-10,

Defendants.

~ ~ 1735 1

COMPLAINT

COMPLi\INT

Plaintiff Ashleigh Erwin ("Plaintiff'), by and through her counsel, alleges 2 against defendants Gregory Sestero ("Sestero") and Simon & Schuster, Inc. ("S&S") 3 (collectively "Defendants") as follows: 4

5 1.

NATURE OF THE ACTION Plaintiff is the author of substantial portions of a book titled The

6 Disaster Artist. My Life Inside the Room, the Greatest Bad lUovie Ever Made (the 7 "Book"). Plaintiff devoted more than a year to working on the Book. Despite her 8 significant contributions to the Book, Defendants Greg Sestero, who is a co-author,

9 and Simon & Schuster, Inc., who is the Book's publisher, have refused to

10 acknowledge Plaintiffs role in connection with the Book and have refused to pay

I I Plaintiff any compensation for her work on the Book. Plainti ff therefore has been

12 forced to file this action to vindicate her rights.

13 JURISDICTION AND VENUE 14 2. This Court has jurisdiction over the present action pursuant to 28 15 U.S.c. 1331 and 1338(a), as this action arises under the Copyright Act. In 16 addition, Plaintiff seeks a declaration pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 220J(a) regarding the 17 ownership of the copyrighted work. The Court has supplemental jurisdiction over 18 Plaintiffs state law causes of action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1367. 19 3. Venue is proper in this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1391(b)(2), as a 20 substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claims asserted herein

21 occurred within this District.

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4.

5.

THE PARTIES Plaintiff Ashlcigh Erwin resides in Los Angeles County, California.

Upon inf()Jmation and belief, defendant Gregory Sestero resides in Los 25 Angeles County, California. Upon information and belief~ Sestero transacts 26 business in California. In addition, Plaintiff worked with Sestero on the Book in

27 Los Angeles County.

28 431735 I

1 6. llpon information and belief, defendant Simon & Schuster, Inc. is a

2 New York corporation, with its principal place of business in New York, New York.

3 Upon information and belief, S&S transacts substantial business in Los Angeles

4 County and CalifornIa.

5

6 7. FACTS

Plaintiff and Sestero had a relationship beginning in 2005. Sestero was

7 and is, among other things, an actor. One of the films in which he has appeared is

8 The Room. The Room was released in 2003, and subsequently became a cult hit

9 8. During 2009-2011, Sestero and Plaintiff lived in Plaintiffs parents'

10 home, while Sestero traveled for appearances relating to The Room. Sestero did not

11 pay for any housing related expenses during that period.

12 9. In or about spring 2007, Plaintiff developed the idea of writing a book

13 about The Room. Plaintiff wrote the first draft of a book proposal in October 2010.

14 10. Sestero provided a copy of the book proposal to Tom Bissel1, a

15 journalist who had previously written an article in Harper's magazine about The 16 Room. At that time, Bissell was living in Portland, Oregon, and was teaching at

17 Portland University. Bissell initially declined to participate in the writing of the

J 8 proposed book, as he felt he had too many other commitments, including teaching.

19 He did, however, help locale an agent for the proposal. Ultimately, Bissell agreed to

20 become a co-writer, and entered into an oral agreement to share any revenue from

21 the book equally with Sestero.

22 1 I. In May 2011, Simon & Schuster entered into an agreement with

23 Sestero and Bissell for the Book.

24 12. In July 20 II, Bissell sent Sestero a rough draft of chapters 1 and 2 for

25 the book. Sestero and Plaintiff were shocked at the poor quality of the chapters.

26 Plaintiff began editing the chapters and contributing her own original material.

27 13. Tn August 2011, Bissell sent a draft of chapter 3. This draft was also

28 inadequate.

COMPLAIN!

14. By August 2011, Bissell had only written three chapters in four

2 months, and the quality of the writing was unsatisfactory. Sestero therefore asked

3 Plaintiff to help write the Book. Sestero stated that if Plaintiff would co-write the

4 Book, Sestero would give Plainti ff hal f of whatever revenue Sestero received in

5 connection with the Book, including but not limited to film rights, international

6 rights, advances and royalties, as well as three incentives--$l 0,000 if it was on the 7 New York Times Bestseller list, $20,000 if it was a National bestseller, and $38,000 8 if it was an International bestseller. Plaintiff accepted Sestero's offer and the

9 agreement was fonned (the "Joint Author Agreement"). The Agreement is reflected 10 in a document that was written that day. Plaintiff and Sestero agreed that, while

11 Plaintiff was working on the Book, Plaintif1 would suspend her career and would

12 defer enrolling in schooL

13 15. Sestero stated that he had already spent the first installment of the

14 advance he had received when the contract with S&S was executed, but would pay

15 Plaintiff the entire amount of the second installment of the advance he was to

16 receive after the complete manuscript had been submitted to and accepted by S&S.

17 16. After Plainti IT and Sestero agreed on the Joint Author Agreement,

18 Plaintiff worked nearly full time on the Book. Plaintitl spent much of October,

19 November and December 2011 working on the Book. Plaintiff did her writing

20 primarily on her desktop computer or on a laptop that she shared with Sestero.

21 17. Bissell did virtually no writing during that period, as he was working

22 on other jobs, including teaching. In December 2011, Sestero drafted a letter firing 23 Bissell from the project. Ultimately, however, Sestero did not send the letter. 24 18. In or around February 20 I 2, Sestero agreed to tell S&S that Plaintiff

25 was a co-author of the Book, so Plaintiff could receive credit as a co-author.

26 19. Plaintiff continued working on the Book in 2012, including writing the

27 majority of what ultimately became Chapters 15 and 16, the complete initial version 28

of Chapter 17, as well as the entire Author's Note, and the rewriting, editing and co-

2 authoring of all other chapters.

3 20. Much of Plaintiffs work is contained verbatim, or virtually verbatim,

4 in the published version of the Book. In addition to the specific words Plaintiff

5 wrote, the Book also contains numerous other manifestations of Plaintiffs

6 contributions, including but not limited to structure, tone, theme and scenes Plaintiff

7 had suggested.

8 21. On information and belief, the first draft of the completed manuscript

9 was sent to S&S no earlier than June or July 2012. After the manuscript was

10 submitted, Plaintiff asked Sestero ifhe had received the second portion of the

11 advance. Sestero stated that he had not. Sestero did not tell Plaintiff he had

12 received the second portion of the advance unti I months later. At that time, Sestero

13 stated that the advance needed to remain in the account in which it had been

14 deposited, but he would provide it to Plaintiff when it was released or he would

15 compensate Plainti ff from appearance funds that he stated he was waiting to receive.

16 22. In December 201 Sestero consulted with an attorney to draft a

17 contract reducing Bissell's percentage of revenue from the Book, due to Bissell's

18 failure to perfonn the writing he had promised to do. The contract was sent to

19 Bissell that month, but Bissell refused to sign it.

20 23. In December 2012, Plaintiff gave Sestero a deadline of January 2013 to

21 tell S&S that Plaintiff was a co-author of the Book, and that Plaintiff should receive

credit as an author. In February 2013, Sestero told Plaintiff that he had informed

S&S by text message of Plaintiffs role. Sestero showed Plaintiff an ambiguous

24 email response that was purportedly from S&S, but refused to show Plaintifrthe text

25 he had purportedly sent.

26 24. In March 2013, Plaintiff consulted with an attomey to have the Joint

Author Agreement drafted into a formal written contract. \Vhen Sestero was

28 infonned of this, he told PlaintitThe was no longer willing to comply with the Joint 431'30. 1

1 Author Agreement, and instead would only pay her 50% of his share of the advance

2 from S&S. The relationship between Plaintiff and Sestero ended at that time.

3 25. In mid-April, Sestero sent Plaintiff a text message apologizing for

4 reneging on their Joint Author Agreement. Sestero then asked Plaintiff if she would

5 assist him ifhe sued Bissell for failing to fulfill his writing obligations with respect

6 to the Book. Plaintiff asked Sestero to sign their two agreements. One was the

7 agreement to reimburse Plaintiff for certain expenses, including expenses she had

8 incurred while writing the Book and reimbursement for the school tuition she had

9 deferred while working on the Book (the "Reimbursement Agreement"). Sestero 10 signed the Reimbursement Agreement. The second agreement was a formal written

11 agreement reflecting the terms of the Joint Authorship Agreement. Sestero stated

12 that he would sign it, but wanted to make sure it was written in a way that would

13 protect him from any potential claims by S&S. Plaintiff had an attorney draft the

14 agreement and sent it to Sestero. Sestero never responded.

15 26. The Book was released in or about October 2013.

16 CLAIMS FOR RELIEF 17 First Claim for Relief

18 (Copyright Infringement, 17 U.S.C. 101 et seq.; Against All Defendants) 19 27. Plaintiff incorporates by reference paragraphs 1 through 26, inclusive,

20 as though set forth in full herein.

21 28. Plaintiff is the sole copyright owner of the copyrightable material she

22 contributed to the Book.

23 29. Plaintiffhas not consented to the use of her material in the Book absent

24 compensation and/or credit.

25 30. The portions of the Book that contain the copyrightable material that

26 Plaintiff contributed to the Book infringe Plaintiff's exclusive rights under the

27 Copyright Act.

28 31. Plaintiff is entitled to damages under the Copyright Act.

COMPLAl~T

32. Upon information and belief, Defendants' infringement of Plaintiffs

2 rights under the Copyright Act are willful, and were taken with oppression, fraud

3 and malice, and in conscious disregard of Plaintiff's rights.

4

5

Second Claim for Relief

(Declaratory Relief; Against All Defendants) 6 33. Plaintiff incorporates by reference paragraphs 1 through 32, inclusive,

7 as though set forth in full herein.

8 34. Plaintiff is the author of substantial portions of the Book.

9 35. Plaintiff asserts that she is either the sole author of substantial pOJ1ions

10 of the Book or, in the alternative, a joint author of the Book. ] 1 36. Defendants have asserted that Plaintiff does not have any copyright 12 interest in the Book.

13 37. An actual controversy has accordingly arisen and exists between

14 Plaintiff, on the one hand, and Sestero and S&S, on the other hand.

15 38. Declaratory relief is necessary to resolve the foregoing actual

16 controversy regarding Plainti ff s rights in the Book.

17 39. Plaintiff seeks a declaration that she is the sole author of portions of the

18 Book.

19 40. In the alternative Plaintiff seeks a declaration that she is a joint author 20 of the Book within the meaning of the Copyright Act, and has all joint authorship 21 rights provided by law with respect to the Book.

22 41. Plaintiff has no adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law other

23 than the relief sought herein.

24

25 Third Claim for Relief

(Accounting; Against All Defendants) 26 42. Plaintiff incorporates by reference paragraphs I through 41, inclusive,

27 as though set forth in ful1 herein.

28

-6-COMPLAl~1

43. As a result of her copyright interests in the Book, Plaintiff is entitled to

2 an accounting from Defendants of all revenue and/or other consideration that have

3 been and will be paid in connection with the Book.

4 44. Plaintiff has not received any accounting concerning the exploitation of

5 the Book.

6 45. An accounting is necessary to detennine the amounts Plaintiff is

7 entitled to receive in connection with the exploitation of the Book.

8 Fourth Claim for Relief

9 (Breach of Joint Author Agreement; Against Sestero) 10 46. Plaintiff incorporates by reference paragraphs 1 through 45, inclusive,

1 J as though set forth in full herein.

12 47. The Joint Author Agreement is a valid agreement.

13 48. Plaintiff has performed all, or substantially all, of the significant things

14 she was required to do pursuant to the Joint Author Agreement.

15 49. All conditions required for Sestero's performance of the Joint Author

16 Agreement have occurred.

17 50. Sestero has failed to perform his obligations pursuant to the Joint

18 Author Agreement by, among other things, failing to make the payments Plaintiffis

19 entitled to receive pursuant to the Agreement.

20 51. Plaintiff has been hanned by Seslero's breach of the Joint Author

21 Agreement.

22 Fourth Claim for Relief

23 (Breach of Reimbursement Agreement; Against Sestero) 24 Plaintiff incorporates by reference paragraphs 1 through 51, inclusive,

25 as though set forth in full herein.

26 53. The Reimbursement Agreement is a valid agreement.

27 54. Plaintitfhas performed all, or substantially all, of the significant things

28 she was required to do pursuant to the Reimbursement Agreement.

COMPLAINT

1 55. All conditions required for Sestero's performance of the

2 Reimbursement Agreement have occurred.

3 56. Sestero has failed to perfom1 his obligations pursuant to the

4 Reimbursement Agreement by, among other things, failing to make all the payments

5 to Plaintiff required by the Agreement.

6 57. Plaintiffhas been harmed by Sestero's breach of the Reimbursement

7 Agreement.

8

9

Fifth Claim for Relief

(Fraud; Against Sestero) 10 58. Plaintiff incorporates by reference paragraphs 1 through 57, inclusive,

11 as though set forth in full herein.

12 59. Sestero induced Plaintiffto enter into the Joint Author Agreement by

13 promising he would make the payments provided by that Agreement.

14 60. Sestero's promise was important to Plaintiffs agreement to enter into

15 the Joint Author Agreement and her subsequent performance of her obligations

16 pursuant to that Agreement.

17 61. On information and belief, Sestero did not intend to perform his

] 8 promises when he made them. 19 62. On infonnation and belief, Sestero intended that Plainti ff would rely on 20 Sestero's promises.

21 63. Plainti ff reasonably relied on Sestero' s promises.

22 64. Sestero did not perform his promises pursuant to the Joint Author 23 Agreement.

24 65. Plaintiff has been harmed as a result of Scstcro's acts.

25 66. Plaintiffs reliance on Sestero's promises was a substantial factor in 26 causing her harm.

27 67. Sestero's wrongful actions were taken with oppression, fraud and/or 28 malice.

-8-COMPLAINT

1 PRA YER FOR RELIEF 2 WHEREFORE, Plaintiff asks that this Court grant judgment against 3 Defendants for the following:

4 A. For actual and compensatory damages in an amount to be proven at

5 trial, and for interest thereon at the highest lawful rate.

6 B. For statutory damages under the Copyright Act.

7 C. For a declaration that Plaintiff is the sole copyright owner of the

8 material she contributed to the Book and that the portions of the Book that contain

9 Plaintiff's copyrightable material infringe Plaintiffs exclusive rights as a copyright

owner. In the alternative, Plaintiff seeks a declaration that she is a joint author of 10 the Book within the meaning of the Copyright Act and has all joint authorship I 1 rights provided by law with respect to the Book.

12 D. For an accounting to Plaintiff of all revenue and/or other consideration

13 that have been paid to Sestero and others in connection with the Book, and all

14 ancillary and lor related material, and an order that all amounts paid or to be paid to

15 Sestero and others in connection with the Book, and all ancillary andlor related

16 material be held in a constructi ve trust for the benetit of Plaintiff. 17 E. For exemplary and punitive damages with respect to Plaintiff's fraud 18 claim against Sestero. 19

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III

III III

~3171' I

F. G. H.

For prejudgment interest. For Plaintiff's costs of suit incurred herein.

F or Plaintiff's attorneys' fees; and

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I. For such other and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper.

Dated: May 20, 2014

"'In).1

BROWNE GEORGE ROSS LLP Eric M. George Elena Nutenko

By Eric M. George

Attorneys for Plaintiff Ashleigh Erwin

-10-COMPLAINT