An attorney for Charlie Sheen has fired off a letter to Warner Bros. TV seeking payment for the eight episodes of Two and Half Men that were never produced for CBS, EW has confirmed.
As first reported by TMZ, Hollywood attorney Marty Singer is hoping to recoup the millions that Sheen was set to earn for the episodes that were ultimately dropped when the actor agreed to undergo rehabilitation. After a month away from the set, the studio announced production of Men would resume today – but it would only produce four rather than the originally agreed upon eight episodes that would have fulfilled its order to CBS.
Sheen then went on a radio tirade last week that resulted in both CBS and Warner Bros. announcing that it was pulling the plug on the highly rated sitcom for the rest of season. EW learned that creator Chuck Lorre – if not other members of the Men writing team – did not want to continue working with the actor, which in essence (a legal phrase) made it impossible to continue work on the comedy.
His rants are the reason that production was stopped for the saeson. Pay him NOTHING!!!
They knew what they were getting into with Sheen. They were ok with his crazy as long as it made them money.
I don’t think anyone thought it would get this bad. Sheen is displaying irrational, manic behavior….claiming he has tiger blood and Adonis DNA, stating he “won” Best picture, and stating they should rename warner bros. Charlie Bros. Crazy. And shouldn’t it be Carlos Bros.
these corporate greedy lawyers were probably drug’n & doing orgies w/ their meal ticket- charlie boy.
seriously. Pay the crew. Anything paid to that nutjob is only going up his nose.
What you all don’t understand that this is a contract issue and the creator of the show is a jerk and people should check out what he’s said or did to Charlie.
I think Charlie will win the case. He was returning to work and they should have started production.
CHARLIE, I’M WITH YOU, I LOVE YOU, SCREW EVERYONE ELSE. WIN CHARLIE WIN!!!!!
wow, aren’t you pathetic.
these people were fools to not include a morality clause in his contract. they are going to have to pay up.
Morality – LOL- the show has none of that so how could they put it in the contract??
And you’ve seen his contract? How do you know there is NO morals clause in it?? Most Hollywood contracts today have one.
Sorry, I have to agree with Dicazi , those episodes weren’t made , so he shouldn’t get paid .
He had a contract. He wanted to continue. They should honor his contract. They can decide not to bring the show back; but they need to honor the agreement whether the episodes air. I think on this point; Charlie has a decent case. He may need time in a mental ward. But they knew when they hired him that he had a history. And given they wanted to reup him last year for two seasons, they need pay him. Since despite his bizarre behaviour, he was willing to show to work and even wanted to. It was not his idea to cut the season.
If his contract didn’t stipulate that he couldn’t speak publicly about the producer, than they have to pay him.
But if it has a guarantee of a full season. 22 episodes. I believe that gives him cause. If you cut off a contract before it finishes; and it has a guarantee, you pay them off. They are the ones who signed him to a hefty contract just last year. After he started to act out. But then we don’t know what is in his contract. So maybe he doesn’t have a case. But he wanted to show up to work. He planned to. They cut the episodes, so pay up. Given they have made so much money due to Sheen. They have it.
none of us have seen his contract. I’m sure the lawyers for CBS are not idiots.
They did nt seem to give a crap with what he was doing off set despite the fact that most normal people would have been thrown in jail by now for what he’s done. It seems as though Lorre’s remark about Charlie living longer than him…. can’t remember what the exact sentence was that seems to have sent a man like Sheen who clearly needs help over the edge. Maybe CBS and Lorre thought crap we can’t fire him – he turns upto work and fullfils his side of his contract so lets anger him personally and hope this blows up to the point that they can’t and won’t be able to work together again in the future. At the same time they don’t seem to have put a morality clause in his contract so I would think that they will have to pay him for these 8 episodes and if they pull the plug on the show which seems a matter of when rather than if, will he have grounds to claim for the 22 for his last year on his contract??? Things that make you go hmmmmm…. Personally I feel bad for the crew and other cast members. Lorre and Sheen need their asses kicked for putting people out of work like this…idiots
@ Stacy- I’m sure his contract is per episode, not season, the network doesn’t know how many episodes they’ll need until after they see show ratings for the season. What if they order 22 episodes and there is a writers strike and only shoot 10, should they still have to pay the actors for 22? I don’t think so.
So when a show gets cancelled by a network, is the network required to continue to pay all the people who were let go? He obviously is a danger to everyone around him, including himself. I wouldn’t wouldn’t want to work with him either, you see the interview he did on the today show terrible…And he wants 4 million an epiosode now…He can go kick rocks….the show sucks anyway, he just ended it faster
Warner Bros. to Sheen: BITE ME!
Just a suggestion.
He wants money? Isn’t he already filthy rich? Oh, I guess he must have spent it all on coke, booze, and hookers.
He has admitted that he has skipped practice, which I think means run throughs and table reads. He is saying that because he is there when cameras roll it should all be ok. He has admitted needing to have to stand near furniture to prop himself up.
Most legal experts are saying he doesn’t have much of a case and since he’s not exactly sounding sane who is going to believe this guy is ready to work?
This will come down to what’s in his contract, plain and simple. I don’t think CBS would have pulled the plug if it didn’t think it was worth it. So either they have a get-out clause, or they were willing to risk a settlement with him.
I definately think there will be some kind of settlement. THey will definately be able to cover it with the syndication profits.
Why is everyone taking Charlie Sheen at his word? He is an addict and addicts tend to lie constantly. Most to themselves, as he is a great example.
Everybody lies, including you. The contract is about words said in front of camera, not off camera. He hasn’t done anything except what he promised to do in front of their camera, and they owe him — the contract was for X-number of episodes, totaling Y-amount of dollars. They can decide that they don’t want the X but they can’t decide not to pay on THEIR PROMISE of Y-amount of dollars. Charlie gets paid because that’s what they said they would do in a contract — THEY ARE THE LIARS.
Just as a disclaimer – I have no legal expertise but a lot of this seems to come down to common sense: It is very unlikely that the contract will only include a requirement that he appear before camera and deliver his lines – that would be an utterly stupid move on the part of the network when dealing with an actor they know has had multiple personal problems in the past. There will definitely be clauses about attending rehearsals and readthroughs and also turning up in a fit state to work. As he is a diagnosed alcoholic there may be grounds for saying that he has the right to be paid while undergoing treatment for it, depending on what the contract has to say about ill health. The network may therefore end up paying him for the original 4 episodes they wrote off while he was in rehab. On the other hand it is just as possible that they included a clause that ruled out payment during any relapse of his alcoholism, since they must have been able to predict that as a possibility. It just depends on the savvy of the negotiators. Furthermore, comments made more recently, while free from the effects of drugs or alcohol and on completion of treatment, cannot be justified in this way and if they are the cause of those final 4 episodes being cancelled, it is unlikely that Sheen will be able to claim any payment for them.
On a personal note, though, the guy is a millionaire, an arrogant tit and he hit his wife. I will not miss him if we never seen him on screen again and won’t be sorry if he never gets paid for another acting job again.
@topazbean – I totally agree with everything you said and just want to add that Charlie Sheen is an A$$ and doesn’t deserve any more money. If anything he should have to pay the rest of the cast and crew.
It does not matter about what he does, it all matters what is in his contract. If they owe him money, they need to pay up, no matter what he says or does.
They still have a lot of nerve demanding it, given the many members of the staff and crew who will NOT be paid for those eight episodes…just because of Sheen’s distasteful behavior. “Whatever happened to class?”
But that’s what’s astonishing about this guy. From the radio interview he gave it seems as if he is capable of finding blame for what has happened in everyone but himself. I try to be careful how I take celebrity gossip and interviews because it is no substitute for actually knowing a person, but I bet Sheen really, really wishes he’d listened to his publicist more carefully right now.
Topazbean @ 6:25 pm: His publicist quit/has been fired earlier today.
Weeeeee! This is actually fun. I’m glad he’s getting laughs that don.qt require a laugh track (or Jon Cryer for that matter) I’d say this is the best work he’s ever done, certainly the funniest.
It is funny. His most interesting work to date!
there sure is a huge amount of coverage on what is a poor television show that will not be missed by many if its canceled. i think its one of those shows that some people watch but don’t really care about.
Nobody is seeing the positive side of all of this… Sheen is pretty much done in Hollywood. No one will be crazy enough to hire this lunatic. So he should get and save as much money as he can….
Theres nothing wrong with getting a suitcase of cocaine and hookers. If we had Charlie Sheens new worth youd be doing the same thing !!!
Pay him his damn money and leave him alone !!!!
He is my idol !!!
I agree want to stop the show its fine. But PAY him what is due. Leave him alone.
Let him say what he feels. There may be some truth on is words and he is dam tired of is boss. May be is boss forced him to re-hab. Who knows. I like people like charlie because they say what they have to say and that is all.
If only what he had to say made sense – he is one sick man.
So, your ambition is to one day be able to afford hookers?
You really set the bar LOW for yourself.
The only thing Sheen should be paid is with a kick in his butt! He needs to get over himself.
Funny. MAYBE he will give a kik at cbs. Who doesn’t honnor contracts.