Fatal Subtraction: The Inside Story of Buchwald v. Paramount

New York: Doubleday, 1992. xxvii, 576 pages, [8] pages of plates, illustrations; 25 cm. SIGNED by the authors Pierce O'Donnell and Dennis McDougal on the front free endpaper. A near-fine copy. Dust jacket, with light shelfwear, protected in a mylar cover. "In the tradition of Indecent Exposure and Final Cut, Fatal Subtraction is a reads-like-a-novel account of the most sensational, precedent-setting lawsuit in Hollywood history, told in the voice of the flamboyant lawyer who took on a major studio and won. In 1988, Art Buchwald, America's most popular humorist, and his partner, producer Alain Bernheim, sued Paramount Pictures, claiming that the studio failed to give them credit for the original story of Eddie Murphy's hit, Coming to America. To represent them, Buchwald and Bernheim hired Pierce O'Donnell, the brash, charismatic Los Angeles trial lawyer whom Forbes has called 'the new Perry Mason.' In Fatal Subtraction, O'Donnell and Dennis McDougal chronicle the enthralling narrative of the history-making four-year-long clash between a writer/producer team and the corporate monolith that pulls the strings of a modern motion picture studio. After O'Donnell proved that Paramount used Buchwald's story, the studio asserted that the $350-million-grossing movie never earned 'net profits' for his clients. The Buchwald-Bernheim challenge to the very legitimacy of creative accounting in the motion picture industry ultimately invalidated the boilerplate contract language that shackles Hollywood's creative talent. Buchwald v. Paramount has changed forever the way business is done in the 'Industry.' Fatal Subtraction goes behind the scenes and headlines, exposing from the inside how stars are made, ideas are stolen, deals are struck, and profits are hidden in a labyrinth of power, money, and ambition known around the world as Hollywood. Relying on dozens of interviews, hundreds of heretofore secret studio documents, and thousands of pages of sworn testimony, Pierce O'Donnell and Dennis McDougal unravel the mystery of Buchwald v. Paramount: why it happened, what it means, and how it altered the balance of power in Hollywood." - Publisher.. SIGNED. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo. Collectible.