TVSquad

Uh oh. Remember that biker show that HBO is doing that was just cast with Donal Logue in the lead? Well, there seems to be a question about just who wrote the story and who deserves credit for the script. Sonny Barger filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that HBO has swiped the project -- 1% -- out from under him.

This is a guy you don't want to mess with, and yet, HBO has stepped into it with him. Sonny Barger is the founder of Hell's Angels. According to his complaint, the network, White Mountain Company and Michael Tolkin (The Rapture, The Player), the writer/producer of 1%, froze him out of the series. He is also ticked off that they've "violated many of his publicity rights when he demanded changes so as not to dilute his own brand." You could say they also violated him by using his name in the press release announcing the greenlight.

Barger is a published author. His autobiography, Hell's Angels: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club was a bestseller. The author contends that 20th Century Fox optioned the book for a feature and they hired Michael Tolkin to write the screenplay. Tolkin and Barger met, talked about life in the Hell's Angels and Sonny yapped about other fictional stories he had in the works. Together, Tolkin and Barger brought the project to HBO.

When Barger complained about the way the script turned out and HBO wouldn't make changes, Sonny said, HBO "refused to acknowledge the contributions or authorship." Needless to say, Barger is asking the court to settle the dispute, get him the credit he deserves and, presumably, change the pilot script. Will this delay Donal and the 1% company from getting underway? That remains to be seen.