Get It While You Can: Writer of Janis Joplin biopic hits back at options lawsuit

The film ended up in court when the feature received a multi-claim suit that alleged the writer had shopped the script to other producers

Get It While You Can, a film about Texas born singer-songwriter Janis Joplin, was scheduled to begin shooting in the second half of 2015 (Getty Images)

One of the writers of an embattled Janis Joplin biopic has hit back against a legal claim from producers who are alleging a breach of their options agreement.

Deadline reports that writer-producer Ron Terry and his affiliated companies have said the film, titled Get It While You Can, will not be made "unless the 'cloud' is lifted" and claim that "the real complaint of [the producers] is that they were unable to fulfill their contractual obligations in the time allotted".

Last week the film about Joplin ended up in court when the feature received a multi-claim suit that alleged Terry had shopped the script to other producers, talent and financiers and breached a $1.7 million loan restructuring agreement.

Production companies LKL and Silver Reel reportedly bought an option on the rights for Get It While You Can for $117,000 in August 2014. The option agreement was contingent on the restructuring of $1.7 million in loans made to Terry by the investment company Chesterton Capital .

LKL and Silver Reel claim Chesterton Capital is "holding the Screenplay and Picture hostage unless outrageous sums are paid", according to Rolling Stone, and allege that they have refused to renegotiate the terms of the loan, which asked for 235 percent interest.

"Reduced to its core, then, the real complaint of Silver Reel/LKL is that they were unable to fulfill their contractual obligations in the time allotted and, as a result, would now rather see the Janis Project be still-born, lest anyone else succeed in bringing this important story to the screen," says a cross complaint from Ron Terry, Morace Films and Get It While You Can.

With Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyer’s Club) reportedly attached to direct and Amy Adams in a starring role, Get It While You Can was scheduled to begin shooting in the second half of 2015.

Texas-born Joplin was known for her electric live performances and skill as a multi-instrumentalist. She died in 1970 of a heroin overdose, aged 27, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 1995.