Actor Terrence Howard (Iron Man, Big Momma’s House) is reportedly suing the talent agency Creative Artists Agency or CAA over an alleged conflict of interest due to the CAA’s dealings of Howard’s pay for his role in the Fox series Empire, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court today, included Howard alleging that his agents who arranged the deal prioritized themselves first and the show’s producers, whom the agency also represented, before allegedly convincing him to take below-market salaries across the six seasons that Empire aired. CAA has yet to comment.
“I trusted CAA to look after me, and they looked after themselves,” said Howard via The Hollywood Reporter.
Lawyer James Bryant, who is representing Howard, deals with packaging fees, which these agents get paid directly from a studio for bridging actors and directors to a writer’s pitch.
“Over the last several years, agencies have become much more powerful and found a much more lucrative way of making money,” stated Bryant according to The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s by being the packaging agent, representing actors, producers, production companies and your own financial interest. That’s where that fiduciary duty begins to break down. That’s why we’re here today.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, CAA also represented Empire’s series co-creators Danny Strong (Dope Sick) and Lee Daniels (The United States v Billie Holiday), as well as the production company Imagine Entertainment. Bryant states that the lawsuit alleges that Howard was given inaccurate information about the salaries of actors similar to himself. When Howard inquired about how much others make, his agents allegedly responded with false comparisons when Howard was supposed to be compensated at the same rate as Jon Hamm (The Morning Show, Baby Driver) in Mad Men or Kevin Spacey (American Beauty, Horrible Bosses) in House of Cards.
The complaint also reads, “Not only did it become abundantly clear that his agents led him on a path to rely on information that was misleading, he discovered that this was the result of the fact that CAA was not acting in his best interest, but in the in interest of their own financial benefit as well as the interest of the Production Companies and the producers, Daniels and Strong. Under normal circumstances, had CAA not been the packaging agent, and had CAA not been concurrently representing the Production Companies, where their sole financial interest would have been the 10% fee from the compensation received by Howard, they would have most certainly fought for Howard in a manner that most producers are accustomed to seeing CAA agents engage in.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Howard said his signed deal offered him about $325,000 for each episode, “at the height of what I was being paid” for season six. He also stated, “I was never given a producer credit even though I rewrote most of the scenes and acted in the capacity of producer.”
The lawsuit claims there was a racial factor to the agency’s alleged rejection of negotiating the deal for the best interest of Howard, who alleges he was underpaid 50 percent less than his counterparts in other hit series.
“Discovery will show that this was racism,” stated Carlos Moore, a lawyer representing Howard, via The Hollywood Reporter. “You won’t find in discovery that a white actor — Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-nominated — was treated like that.”
Bryant also stated, “CAA simply told Howard, ‘We’re not going to take the 10 percent agency fee this time because we packaged things together.’ In reality, it was a terrible thing because they had no incentive to fight for this man when he demanded to have his salary negotiated comparable to every other lead white actor out there.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Howard has brought claims for alleged breach of fiduciary duty, alongside others for alleged fraud. He is being represented by Brian Dunn and James Bryant of The Cochran Firm, along with solo attorney Carlos Moore. They call for other actors who feel that CAA may have misrepresented them to come forward to speak to them.
This is not the first lawsuit Howard has filed over his pay while on Empire, which was one of the most-watched shows on Fox during its broadcast. Back in 2020, Howard sued 20th Century Studios for alleged unpaid royalty fees over using his name and likeness on their merchandise. The claim alleged a breach of contract and called for an accounting.
In another lawsuit from his earlier talent management firm, Howard was the defendant and was accused of allegedly breaching an oral contract by allegedly not paying post-termination commissions. Literary Management and Authentic Talent claimed that they were supposed to earn 10 percent of the gross revenue he obtained from employment during his time in Hollywood and at the time they represented him. This includes Empire.
To see the lawsuit in its entirety, head over to The Hollywood Reporter.