Did Ashton Kutcher get Punk’d by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles? Well if he did, he’s not taking it lightly.
The Two And A Half Men actor’s production company, Katalyst Media, has filed a lawsuit against California’s DMV alleging the government office pulled out of a realty show deal that would feature the every day drama surrounding the employees and people using its services.
According to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the show would have been titled DMV and was intended to “capture the variously humorous, emotional, dramatic, moving, humanizing and entertaining situations that arise on a daily basis at DMV’s more than 170 offices across the State of California.”
Kutcher’s company claims DMV director, George Valverde, had committed to the project in writing on June 8, 2010. The document states that Katalyst was suppose to be provided access to the various offices to film four initial episodes during summer and fall of 2011. Kutcher also claims that DMV Deputy Director Mike Marando publicly announced the department’s involvement in DMV.
Because Kutcher and his business partners, believed they had a deal, they went out and negotiated for a programming spot with TruTV. However, according to the complaint filed by Katalyst, Marando sent a five sentence letter to Katalyst producer Jason Goldberg asserting DMV had a change of heart, “simply declared that DMV no longer considered the series to be in its ‘best interests’ and would therefore ‘not be moving forward on such a project’.”
Now, Katalyst is demanding $1.4 million in damages for pre-production work already carried out. Neither Reps for Katalyst nor California’s DMV have released an official statement on the matter.
Shouldn’t Aston Kutcher have known it’s never a smooth ride working with the DMV?