You’ve got Benedict Fitzgerald, who wrote the screenplay for The Passion of the Christ, the controversial Mel Gibson movie that made over $600 million. … However, at some point, Fitzgerald ran into some money trouble, and in defaulting on a $340,000 business loan from a company called Macri, he ended up giving the script to Macri’s owner, Arturo Madrigal…
Jorge Vazquez Sanchez, a smuggler for Mexican drug cartel, apparently hatched a plan to extort the script out of Madrigal. … Madrigal agreed to hand over the rights to the script. Vazquez, script in hand, somehow then sold the screenplay to a Hollywood production company now known as Aloe Entertainment (then known as Proud Mary Entertainment) for close to $1 million with a 10% royalty on any profits from the movie…
Throwing a bit of a wrench into all of this is that the US government came down on Vazquez for his various illegal activities, leading him to cop a plea deal in which he gave the US government the 10% royalty rights in the screenplay.
Jorge Vazquez Sanchez, a smuggler for Mexican drug cartel, apparently hatched a plan to extort the script out of Madrigal. … Madrigal agreed to hand over the rights to the script. Vazquez, script in hand, somehow then sold the screenplay to a Hollywood production company now known as Aloe Entertainment (then known as Proud Mary Entertainment) for close to $1 million with a 10% royalty on any profits from the movie…
Throwing a bit of a wrench into all of this is that the US government came down on Vazquez for his various illegal activities, leading him to cop a plea deal in which he gave the US government the 10% royalty rights in the screenplay.
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| — | Mike Masnick, “US Government Gets 10% Royalty On ‘Passion Of The Christ’ Prequel In Plea Deal With Mexican Drug Smuggler.” (via libertarians) |
