BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE SLAMS EPIC PICTURES

May 7, 2010

EPIC PICTURES GROUP and CEO PATRICK EWALD along with Writer/Director KIM BASS have come under fire from the United States Bankruptcy Court in a notice issued today prohibiting them from selling KILL SPEED.    

The United States Bankruptcy Court Trustee issued a stern order to KIM BASS along with  EPIC PICTURES GROUP and PATRICK EWALD to turn over the assets to the film KILL SPEED to the Trustee and lock them up at a lab in Burbank California and states “the Trustee further demands that you cease and desist from dealing with the film in any manner whatsoever”.  (READ THE FULL NOTICE HERE)

The notice goes on to state that only the Bankruptcy Trustee is allowed under US Bankruptcy Code section 542 to sell the film KILL SPEED and that any acts by EPIC PICTURES to attempt to sell the film  would be a violation of Section 105 and Section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code.  According to Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, violations of US Bankruptcy Law are punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to 5 years.

Also subject to the notice are Jon Zimmerman, John Galanti and Richard Mattern plus a host of corporate entities they are accused of forming to hide the assets from creditors and the production company from which it was stolen during a burglary in 2007.   KILL SPEED is also the subject of a separate Federal Case involving Copyright Theft as reported by the MPPA earlier this year

JANUARY 22, 2010

Epic Pictures Group, Inc. along with Bass Entertainment Inc. and several individuals have been charged with Federal Copyright Infringement, Conversion and Conspiracy in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.   The complaint charges that Epic Pictures Group, Inc., Bass Entertainment, Inc.,  Kim Bass, Jon R. Zimmerman, Richard Mattern and John Galanti conspired to plagiarize the previously copyrighted screenplay authored by Tony Tiscareno and registered with the United States Copyright Office in 1998.  According to the complaint the screenplay authored by Tiscareno under the name FASTGLASS was submitted to Kim Bass in 1998 who then sold it representing it as his own property in violation of the United States Copyright Laws.  According to the complaint, when Tiscareno sued in State Court, Defendants Epic and Bass engaged on a scheme to create alias names for the film including GOING VERTICAL, NO MORE GAMES and finally KILL SPEED.   

A full copy of the complaint filed in Federal Court is available here:  http://filmtheft.com/uploads/EPIC-BASS_FEDERALCOURT.pdf

Tiscareno has previously protested the alleged theft of his intellectual property on YouTube   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAfh1hycVpo  

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

The American Film Market hosted in Santa Monica California takes the spotlight this week.  The flashy premieres and red carpet events take a back seat to the focus on a stolen movie being offered for sale at this formerly well respected international film market.

KILL SPEED is touted by LA’s EPIC PICTURES GROUP as an action adventure yarn in the vein of The Fast and The Furious.   Unknown to most unsuspecting buyers is the tale of Copyright Infringement and Theft that underscore the picture.   Originally produced as the title Fast Glass, the movie has adopted several alias names first calling itself NO MORE GAMES and now being called KILL SPEED with an alternate title of FAST CASH.  

The films producer AFI has filed suit against Writer-Producer-Director KIM BASS and Producer KEVIN “Hollywood” HEARD along with Bass Entertainment Pictures, LLC, No More Games, LLC and The Extreme Film Crew, Inc. who are among the several defendants in litigation surrounding the movie.   In Los Angeles Superior Court the case against Bass and Heard is for Theft, Conversion, Breach of Contract and Fraud to the tune of $40 Million.  According to Court papers, the negative for Fast Glass was stolen first from the Producer AFI’s offices.  Then after the defendants were taken away by the police in handcuffs, it was stolen a second time from a secure Court ordered storage facility by defendants Kim Bass and Kevin Heard using misleading Court documents.  The suit alleges that Defendants Bass and Heard proceeded to change the name of the film to NO MORE GAMES and then to KILL SPEED and tried to complete it in secret and avoid paying creditors. In a related but separate lawsuit Hollywood screenwriter Tony Tiscareno has sued Mr. Bass and Bass Entertainment Inc. for $10 Million claiming plagiarism, conversion and idea theft arising from the ripoff of his 1998 Copyrighted Screenplay FastGlass.   Distributor Epic Pictures has been named as a co-defendant in the suit which is expected to see a jury trial in late 2011. 

Throughout the market, unsuspecting AFM Attendees are being solicited to make offers on a picture wrought with a chain of title claims and embroiled in litigation.   Not since the early 1980’s have we seen misrepresentation on such a grand scale.  Law Enforcement and the MPAA are said to be investigating.   Mr. Bass, Mr. Heard and Epic Pictures CEO Patrick Ewald remain unavailable for comment.

NEWS November 8, 2009

EPIC PICTURES HIRES

BANKRUPTCY LAWYER

TO PUT A SPIN ON KILL SPEED CLAIMS

LA Bankruptcy Lawyer Eric Norwitz has been hired by EPIC PICTURES and PATRICK EWALD to respond to Copyright Claims against the property KILL SPEED.

Norwitz stated in a press release “The allegations ’Kill Speed’ is a stolen film are ridiculous and, ‘Kill Speed’ was conceived, written, and directed solely by Kim Bass.”  Mr. Norwitz goes on to claim that Writer Director KIM BASS, the person at the center of the controversy surrounding KILL SPEED, was "the Co-Creator of  The WB’s Network series, “Sister, Sister,” according to Mr. Norwitz.

However LA Court records and IMDB.com debunk this latest spin attempt by Epic and Ewald.

According to IMDB.con Kim Bass has no credits on Sister-Sister whatsoever.

(LINK  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0060076/)

Court Records reveal that Kim Bass along with Paramount and Warner Brothers were sued in 1997 by John Edward Burt who claimed that Kim Bass stole the idea for Sister Sister and fraudulently represented to Paramount Studios the idea was his own. Mr. Burt filed a multi million dollar lawsuit against the Studio in 1997 and the matter was litigated for 6 years in Federal and State Courts before settling and Mr. Bass being removed from credit.  Screenwriter Gary Gilbert is credited with the Pilot Episode of Sister-Sister.

In a sworn statement filed in Los Angeles Superior Court dated October 2009, Mr. Burt states that "Bass comitted wholesale theft and the only work he ever sold to Paramount was the work he stole from me"

In the KILL SPEED lawsuit, Mr. Bass is accused of obtaining the script from Tony Tiscareno in 1998 and selling it to AFI the producer of theproject as his own in 2006.   Mr. Tiscareno has sued Kim Bass and Epic Pictures for Theft, Conversion and Plagiarism. Mr. Tiscareno copyrighted the work in 1998 and received certification from the US Copyright Office. 

Mr. Tiscareno speaks out about the theft of his property on You Tube.

Paste Link in Browser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAfh1hycVpo

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