Samiul Bashar Samin
According to his lawsuit filed in Florida, Diveroli later wrote a 360-page manuscript titled “Once a Gun Runner,” told his incredible story to Rolling Stone magazine and hooked up with well-connected Hollywood producer Elliott Kahn to sell film rights. Diveroli made
Kahn sign a non-disclosure agreement. Together the two got some interest from Universal Pictures, but before Diveroli was out of jail, Phillips (the director of Hangover) allegedly became obsessed, optioned the Rolling Stone story and got Warner Bros.
This question is now being put to the test in a lawsuit that seeks to stop the film from being distributed?
In short, Diveroli is suing on the proposition that the great story he had to tell was valuable. But as he sat in a jail cell and was approached by those interested in exploiting his story, he may have given up his rights to what made the story so treasured. Writing one’s autobiography is a nice trick to gaining some very limited protection. . However, the cost of doing these things might be letting everyone else in on the great story. And once the cat is out of the bag …