Archive for the ‘Julianna Margulies’ Category

“The Good Wife” star Julianna Margulies has been sued by her former managers, who claims that the actress owes them at least $420,000 of unpaid commissions.

According to the reports, D/F Management filed a lawsuit on Monday at the Los Angeles Superior Court against 46-year-old Julianna Margulies and her “loan out” company Toast Productions on behalf of D/F, whose principals include Steve Dontanville, her former agent at ICM. The other principal of D/F Management is Frank Frattaroli. The company is claiming that Julianna Margulies screwed them out of the money she has been making off the deals since she dropped them on April 2011. D/F also added that the actress was supposed to continue paying them ten percent of what she makes on her shows and for product deals that were signed while they were her representatives, but failed to do so.

The lawsuit added that Dontanville is said to have left ICM in 2005 and became the personal manager of Margulies in early 2009, not long after her stint in the short-lived TV series called “Canterbury’s Law.” Julianna Margulies had an agreement with her new managers that she would pay them ten percent of whatever she earned from her entertainment projects, which she initiated while the managers were guiding her career.

The lawsuit also stated that at ICM, “Dontanville carefully helped take Julianna Margulies from a promising young newcomer to an internationally-renowned television star who earned millions of dollars from her work on the television show ‘ER’ and other projects.”

Back in February 2099, Julianna Margulies sent an email to her new managers that allegedly said: “I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be back in the right hands again.”

“Based in part on D/F Management’s tireless counsel and guidance, Margulies agreed to star in the then-forthcoming television series project, The Good Wife,” which became a big hit, as well as one of the highest rated new TV shows in 2009, says the lawsuit.

The role of Julianna Margulies in the show has earned her a Golden Globe award, two SAG awards and an Emmy as outstanding lead actress in a drama series. When Margulies won the SAG Award, she expressed her gratitude to her managers and her agent for their “dedication and support.”

D/F Management also had a role, per the suit, in the actress’ signing what is described as an “extremely lucrative, multi-year contract” to be a spokesperson for L’Oreal Cosmetics. The said deal was signed by the agents of Julianna Margulies at William Morris Endeavor. A marketing executive at L’Oreal Cosmetics sent an email to D/F saying, “thanks to you and Steve for helping bring this to fruition.”

The lawsuit added that despite her success, Julianna Margulies started looking for ways of how to reduce the amount she pays her reps. She even had a discussion with D/F Management on how to change her deal with her lawyer, who was receiving five percent of her earnings. D/F claims that the actress wants to put a “cap” on how much she paid her lawyer. However, on April 29, 2011, Margulies allegedly terminated her management agreement with D/F.

Despite of what happened, D/F expected the star to follow “ customs and practice” in the entertainment industry, which “include ongoing payments …following termination…for any and all entertainment industry employment secured during the period that the management company was providing management services to the client.”

The lawsuit also added that Julianna Margulies not only terminated D/F Management “contrary to terms of the Contract, she also wrongfully and inexplicably stopped all payments” thereafter.