A film producer who says she helped salvage the low-budget horror movie Obsession has filed a lawsuit claiming she was denied the compensation and profit share she was promised. Leonora Ann Darby sued Tea Shop Productions and its executives James Harris and Mark Lane in Los Angeles Superior Court on August 28, alleging breach of contract and years of unequal treatment.
In the 10-count complaint, Darby states she joined the company in 2019 when it was struggling. Harris and Lane allegedly offered her an equal producer role that included a stake in compensation, input on company direction and projects, financial transparency, and business opportunities.
She says her responsibilities grew over time, yet the arrangement changed. By 2024, according to the suit, the producers had promised her one-third of Tea Shop’s net profits from films she lead-produced, along with direct participation in the relevant collection account management agreements.
Darby maintains she upheld her end of the bargain between 2019 and 2026 by originating and developing projects, attaching filmmakers, securing financing, producing films through delivery, overseeing post-production, and managing legal, quality-control, and operational matters.
The dispute focuses heavily on Obsession, written and directed by Curry Barker and starring Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnston. Darby alleges she intervened when the production faced serious creative and post-production problems, including helping bring Barker back after he had been removed and getting the film back on track.
Made for less than $800,000, the film premiered, sold to Focus Features for a reported $16.2 million at the Toronto International Film Festival, and opened widely on May 15. It has since grossed nearly $510 million worldwide, according to the complaint. Darby says that despite her contributions, she was excluded from the overall net profits she believed she was owed. She acknowledges receiving an additional $300,000 related to the film but contends it fell short of the promised compensation and profit participation.
The complaint cites emails and other correspondence that Darby says support her claims about the alleged agreements and the treatment she received. She also seeks an accounting of profits and compensation for other projects, including A Banquet, Bull, The Wasp, The Cut, Into the Deep, Tornado, and The Surfer.
Darby is asking the court for unspecified damages and wages plus an equitable accounting of the films and projects covered by the alleged agreements. The suit names Tea Shop Productions and related business entities, as well as Harris and Lane individually. Focus Features, the film’s distributor, and executive producer Jason Blum are not named as defendants. Darby has requested a jury trial.
The complaint describes Harris and Lane as having subjected Darby to unequal treatment, broken compensation promises, and what she characterized as demeaning and gendered treatment. It further alleges they “ruthlessly cut” her out of the net profits from Obsession, which the suit calls Tea Shop’s biggest hit and one of the most successful independent films of all time.
The allegations in the complaint have not been proven in court, and the defendants have not been found liable.
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