Postproduction House’s Founder Calls for Action

Los Angeles Business Journal (September 16, 2016) While the fall of the once-prolific Hollywood postproduction house Modern Videofilm Inc. was seemingly swift, litigation over who’s responsible for its demise rages on. Last summer, after 35 years and work on productions such as “Game of Thrones,” “Avatar,” and “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” the private company’s assets were sold to rival postproduction firm Point.360 for an undisclosed sum. While the company still exists on paper, according to sources familiar with the situation, its business operations have ceased. But a lawsuit filed Aug. 29 on behalf of Modern Videofilm Holdings – a related firm controlled by 68-year-old company founder Moshe Barkat – claims the postproduction business was driven under after a takeover in 2014 by Medley Capital Corp. Medley essentially foreclosed on the business when Barkat failed to meet several benchmarks of a $50 million loan it gave Modern Videofilm, Barkat claims. But Barkat also finds himself staring down a countersuit brought by Medley in June stemming from a previous suit brought by Barkat himself. “If anyone was harmed, it was the lender who Mr. Barkat defrauded,” said Michael Betz, a partner at Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis in San Francisco, who represents Medley. He called the lawsuits filed on behalf of Barkat a corporate shakedown and an abuse of the legal system.