of a famous writer” looking for a manager to help organize
his late father’s affairs. What the hell, Toberoff said to himself, and called the guy, who turned out to be the son of
Robert Pirosh, the creator of the 1960s TV series Combat.
“I think we got something here,” Toberoff remembers saying as he dug through an unorganized collection of boxes
that contained Robert Pirosh’s papers. Toberoff asked Steven Pirosh if he wanted to become joint business partners
if Toberoff managed to create something out of his father’s
legacy. Pirosh accepted.
Toberoff thought there was potential in a movie version
of Combat, and went to the headquarters of the Writers
Guild of America (WGA) to research “separated rights.”
Those rights pertain to the authority to make derivatives of
an original work, such as a film version of an old TV series,
a remake, or a theatrical production. Toberoff guessed—
correctly—that the agreement that the WGA negotiated with
producers at the time of Robert Pirosh’s contract precluded
a writer from waiving these rights.
One week later, in an extraordinary bit of coincidence,
ABC–Capital City announced that Bruce Willis would be
starring in a film version of Combat.
Toberoff dashed off a letter, telling ABC–Capital City
they didn’t have the rights. He says he didn’t have to sue
and that ABC paid a handsome settlement. (ABC didn’t
respond to a request to comment.) Pursuing a similar strategy, he says, he then “vindicated [for creators] the rights
of almost a dozen television series,” including I Spy and
Fantasy Island. In 2005 he startled Hollywood by obtaining a court injunction against the then-pending release of
the Warner Bros. film The Dukes of Hazzard on behalf of a
group with claims on the work. The studio quickly settled
for a reported $17.5 million. Writers began to see Toberoff
as a hero. “He’s a fierce advocate of many Writers Guild
members and their rights under collective bargaining agreements,” says Anthony Segall, general counsel at the WGA.
Today Toberoff claims that media coverage of his success
in terminating copyright agreements has prompted authors
and their heirs to contact him. Many of Toberoff’s detrac-
tors and legal adversaries don’t believe this is accurate. They
try to paint him in court and out as an ethically challenged
contingency chaser. Eskenazi, who has frequently battled
Toberoff on behalf of the studios, says Toberoff courts
clients aggressively. “He has this database where he keeps
track of heirs and termination windows and he goes out
and contacts them and tries to get their business,” she says.
“I had one widow calling me saying that Marc wouldn’t
leave her alone.”
Toberoff does have a database. But he says he maintains
it not to dig up legal clients, but to feed his new separate
business as a producer, Intellectual Properties Worldwide,
which he started in 2004. “I keep track of who I think owns
properties that I think would make good movies,” Toberoff
says. “I call them up and say I believe you have certain
rights. I don’t call them up to [urge them to] make claims.”
Toberoff’s producing resume is growing. He owns a stake in
the rights of several properties including Roots and Guys &
Dolls. After participating in the negotiations over the rights
to Fantasy Island, he helped set up a deal with Columbia
Pictures for a big-screen remake that will star Eddie Murphy. He says he also participated in the rights deal for James
Cameron’s next movie, Fantastic Voyage, and was an executive producer on the remake of I Spy by Columbia. Toberoff
says that major Wall Street firms are coming to him with an
interest in financing an IPW slate of films with as much as
$250 million.
Studio lawyers say they are bothered by the idea of
Toberoff using his legal clients to further his own producing
ambitions. Nothing gets them as bothered as the idea that
when Superman reverts to Toberoff’s clients in 2013, that
valuable property about an American icon could be the
backbone of a major new Hollywood studio—controlled
by Toberoff.
Toberoff says he doesn’t have any stake in Superman
other than representing the interests of the heirs and collecting his contingency share after the forthcoming hearing
on damages. But if the Siegel and Shuster heirs decide they
want him to be a partner, Toberoff says he is ready.
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