Sony Buys Contol of "MLK" Movie

No one has said that Sony knew their purchase of Acuff-Rose Music would put them in the drivers seat of the powerful story of Gary Revel's investigation of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. but neither have they denied it.

In 1977 Gary was covertly investigating the assassination of MLK and he and attorney Mary Noel wrote, 'They Slew The Dreamer', a song about the related conspiracy and agreed to have the record of the song released on Rebel records and later as a cut on Star City Records Inc. As far as the world knew Gary was only a struggling songwriter with a young family living in Nashville who had a few songs signed at Acuff-Rose Music's ASCAP arm Milene Music Inc. With only a few independent releases to his credit it didn't look like he'd be shaking the world with his talent any time soon. 'They Slew The Dreamer' was produced by Johnny Erdelyan at the Acuff-Rose studios in Nashville and when released it didn't shake the music world but it did shake up the powers that ran the government of the State of Tennessee as well as the United States and for good measure some powerful Organized Crime figures.

The legal consequences of the record became apparent to Gary and Acuff-Rose when a picture of the Jack Kershaw AKA Karl designed record sleeve with the title 'They Slew The Dreamer' and Gary's name appeared on the front page of the now defunct Nashville Banner with the caption 'James Earl Ray Promotion Gimmicks'. The front page news story also included a Tee Shirt with the slogan 'I Didn't Do It' and a picture of James Earl Ray. Gary, Mary Noel and their partner, Attorney Jack Kershaw met with a number of other attorneys and all agreed it would not be helpful to sue anyone because the Federal Government said Gary's lyrics to the song had no factual basis. The official government position was that there was no conspiracy in King's assassination and any words from Gary Revel that disagreed with their position was purely fiction. The deadly accuracy of the lyrics on Gary's record sleeve contain the elements that spell out King's murder and the conspiracy that killed him. They tell the 'true' story of the conspiracy and assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and by virtue that the song and record are a copyrighted work of Gary Revel and protected as such by the Federal Courts provide a juxtaposed and complicated scenario that is refuted and protected by the government at the same time. However the published caption 'James Earl Ray Promotion Gimmicks' could not be a cause of action for suit because all the State and Federal laws related to it protected the newspaper in that it was for their purposes a truthful statement.

Now enter Sony and their subsidiary Columbia Pictures. Recently Gary has been talking with Sony and Columbia Pictures about making the movie. They have asked for a copy of the William Sachs' screenplay 'MLK' that is based on Gary's song and investigation. The story of Gary's investigation has been on the verge of being made into a movie several times over a number of years but each time there has been a glitch just before Gary was ready to sign a purchase agreement for his story. Now that anyone who makes the movie will ultimately have to purchase a license from Sony Music because of the song's unique nature to the project, Sony and subsequently Columbia Pictures have found themselves with an in-house project. If Sony didn't know what it was buying when it bought Acuff-Rose you could say they were lucky or it was a coincidence; whatever the truth, Gary's song and somewhat tragic story of intrigue and murder that is the basis of Sachs' MLK screenplay is a movie that is their's for the making. There are others who want to make this movie and still more have been trying to get it made for years but at this time it looks like Columbia Pictures is the most likely suitor.