‘Amazing Grace’ producer is suing documentary distributor over fraud
The producer of the 2018 Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace, Alan Elliot, is in the process of suing Neon for taking ownership of the film’s distribution rights fraudulently. Elliot has also come forward with claims of mismanagement and suspicious accounting.
According to the official New York Supreme Court suit (viewed by Pitchfork), Elliot claims that Neon CEO Tom Quinn began “with a false and premature press announcement that Neon had already acquired those rights when in fact it had not.”
Elliot goes on to allege that after Neon pushed Amazing Grace into a distribution deal, the company then intentionally limited the film’s reach. “Neon resorted to good old ‘Hollywood accounting’,” the document reads, “And continues to kneecap the Picture’s distribution in order to avoid paying performance bonuses to Plaintiff and the Picture’s producers.” Elsewhere, Elliot claims that Neon subsequently “abandoned any effort to promote the Picture’s awards run.”
Amazing Grace arrived in cinemas back in 2018 and follows Franklin during the two-day recording of her 1972 album of the same name at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in LA. Franklin was joined by the Southern California Community Choir, who, under the leadership of James Cleveland, served as her backing group.
Due to technical problems and Franklin’s overall dissatisfaction with the original material, the film has been archived for the last 40 years. One of the main mistake’s holding back the premiere of the documentary was the director’s decision not to use clapper boards during the filming, leaving 20 hours of unedited, untagged footage to be sifted through. Under the watchful eye of Alan Eliot, the film was finished in 2011 with the help of digital editing equipment.
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