Leonora Ann Darby has sued her fellow producers James Harris and Mark Lane for allegedly cutting her out of the profits from the hit film Obsession. The lawsuit, filed in a California state court, accuses both colleagues individually and Tea Shop Productions and related business entities of failing to compensate her for her role in the film.
The lawsuit states, “This action arises from a seven-year pattern of unequal treatment and broken compensation promises by two older male film producers to a younger female producer whose labour was material to the growth of their company and who rescued their biggest film, the global hit Obsession.” James Harris and Mark Lane have not yet responded to the allegations.
Darby, who joined the company in 2019, claims that she was promised one-third of the net profits for films she led as part of compensation negotiations in 2024. But as Obsession became a hit, both Harris and Lane allegedly refused to acknowledge her role by not inviting her to the premiere or related activities and going back on the agreed-upon revenue model.
According to the complaint, Darby was responsible for returning the editing rights to director Curry Barker after the film was given to another editor whose approach did not fit the project.
The suit also claims that Darby’s notes on the opening relational set-up between the lead male and female characters, which arc in the first two acts and her strong recommendation to commit supernatural elements in the film critically resulted in a new direction for the film.
She also played a major role in ensuring the film was delivered on time for its Toronto International Film Festival premiere, where it was sold to Focus Features for USD 16.2 million.
Obsession, starring Indi Navarrette and Michael Johnston, was a psychological horror film with supernatural elements, budgeted at around USD 750,000; the film went on to become a blockbuster, earning USD 500+ million worldwide.
