On Sat, 11 May 2002 14:39:34 GMT, hkhenson@cogeco.ca (Keith Henson) wrote:

>Last night it was mentioned on one of the IRC channels that a Florida
>judge had put out an order forbidding The Profit from being
>distributed.

>I find this to be a potential foot bullet on the magnitude of the
>recent Google events.

>First Amendment? Prior restraint? There are news people who would go
>nuts over this issue.

This is all on the webpage of the movie.

---

By Patricia on Saturday, March 23, 2002 - 08:42 am:

For those of you wondering what's happening with our controversial film "The Profit" We've been tied up for the last few months in deposition with our favorite cult (SCN) as they pursued all documents relating to the making of our film.

True to form, SCN has abused the legal process of discovery by attempting to gain access to all film production records by subpoena in the Lisa McPherson wrongful death lawsuit.

I'm happy to say that our attorney, First Amendment expert, Luke Lirot, successfully defended our company, Courage Productions, and this week ended what could have been a long drawn out battle over privacy issues and trade secrets.

Although we have not yet gotten the transcript of our final hearing, I thought you might be interested to read the words of Scientology's lead attorney, Kendrick Moxon, in his final memorandum regarding "THE PROFIT":

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY, STATE OF FLORIDA
GENERAL CIVIL DIVISION

ESTATE OF LISA MCPHERSON, by
and through the personal Representative,
DELL LIEBREICH

Case No. 00-5682-CI-11
Plaintiff, Division 11

vs.

CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY FLAG
SERVICE ORGANIZATION, JANIS
JOHNSON, ALAIN KARTUZINSKI and
DAVID HOUGHTON, D.D.S.,

Defendants.
------------------------------------------
AND RELATED COUNTERCLAIM

SUPPLEMENTAL MEMORANDUM IN OPPOSITION TO
PATRICIA GREENWAY'S MOTION TO QUASH SUBPOENA;
CROSS MOTION TO COMPEL TESTIMONY AND PRODUCTION OF
RECORDS FROM PATRICIA GREENWAY AND PETER ALEXANDER
________________________________

(snip)

The Court will recall from its examination of the movie that scenes and characters are an effort to parody Scientology in an extremely derogatory light. The evil con-man who is the lead in the movie, "L. Conrad Powers," is obviously a take-off on the name of the Founder of the Scientology religion, L.Ron Hubbard. The uniformed people in the film are a supposed take-off on the Scientology fraternal organization, Sea Organization. (See, Ex. D, "What is Scientology, pp.423-425.) The "mind meter" in the movie is a take-off on the Scientology e-meter. (Id., pp. 165-167.) The name of the organization in themovie, "Scientific Spiritualism" is a take-off on the name Scientology. The story line "a pulp fiction writer turned guru" is a take-off on L. Ron Hubbard,who was a writer of fictional works in the 30's. (Id., pp.112-113.) The "therapy" portrayed in the movie is a parody on Scientology pastoral counseling called "auditing." (Id., pp. 164-171.)

(snip rants against THE PROFIT)

CONCLUSION

The movie is a highly derogatory parody which attempts to draw comparisons with Scientology to "expose" the Church and to cause those viewing the film to believe that Scientology and its Founder are evil and dishonest.

==========

And there you have it......in the words of Scientology's lead counsel, Kendrick Moxon

Best regards, Patricia Greenway Producer, "THE PROFIT"

---

By Patricia on Saturday, March 30, 2002 - 09:26 am:

To all "PROFIT" fans:

Thanks for all your emails and your posts here asking for information about the release of "THE PROFIT."

As I've posted earlier, the Church of Scientology (COS) tied us up in depositions, hearings and attempted discovery for the last few months.

For some strange reason, the COS feels that our film "THE PROFIT" would have "tainted the jury pool" in the upcoming civil case for the wrongful death of Lisa McPherson (see www.lisamcpherson.com for details).

So, in order to prevent COS's very invasive discovery into our film production company, we have agreed with the Judge's request that we make no attempt to show "THE PROFIT" until after the Lisa McPherson case has gone to trial.

We, the film makers of THE PROFIT, find it highly bizarre that COS would think that our work of fiction could, in any way, influence a jury that will be seated to hear how COS tied a young woman to a bed, kept her hostage for 17 days while starving her to death. But in order not to damage Lisa's family's case, we made this offer of postponing release of our film.

The Lisa McPherson wrongful death suit will go to court on June 10 of this year.

We wish the family well in their endeavor to seek justice. And we will post any FILM release info here on our website.

Thanks again for your emails and message board posts and......keep your eye on THE PROFIT!

Best regards, Patricia Greenway Producer

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