Career
In 1995, Emmett began his Hollywood career as a personal assistant to Mark Wahlberg. [3] [1] Emmett is the basis for the character Turtle from the HBO show Entourage. [1] Emmett approached Wahlberg about the possibility of him producing movies but was turned down. [1] Later he met George Furla, a hedge fund manager who agreed to finance his dream of being a producer, with whom he co-founded Emmett/Furla Films in 1998. [3] [1]
Emmett would receive a crash-course in producing by Avi Lerner and through him was introduced to Michael Oblowitz and pitched a low-budget, direct to video movie staring Steven Seagal who was just finished acting in the highly troubled production of The Foreigner. [1] Mostly through Lerner's vouching Oblowitz agreed to let Emmett produce 2003's Out for a Kill staring Seagal. [1] Out for a Kill created the "template" for a geezer teaser, as it was low quality, stared an aged Seagal, and was mostly advertised and distributed in Eastern Europe. [1] Out for a Kill making a profit made other studios like Sony and Universal to take notice in the business strategy who also began heavily investing in the direct to DVD market, while Emmett and Furla made three films in 2010 including Gun before being approached in March 2011 to make films financed by Remington Chase and Stepan Martirosyan who claimed to have made their money in Russia. [1] However, both men had convictions related to cocaine trafficking the SEC revealed that $62 million of the $525 million they raised for Emmett was done so fraudulently, and spent on personal expenses. [1]
In 2013, Emmett and Furla were joined by Dubai-based film financier Oasis Ventures Entertainment to become Emmet/Furla Oasis Films (EFO). [4] Later that year Christopher Eberts, who gave Emmett a credit on The Wicker Man was found guilty on federal wire-fraud and money-laundering charges while Emmett's co-producer on Speed Kills , Guy Griffithe, was found guilty of selling fictitious interests in a legal marijuana business. [1]
In 2013 EFO was sued by Dan Bilzerian who financed $1 million into Lone Survivor in exchange for a cameo, although he would later settle and appeared in EFO's Extraction . [1] Lone Survivor, which had been financed by EFO's Russian money, was seen as a prestige film for EFO and Emmett as he saw another influx of cash into his production efforts. [1]
In 2013 EFO and Emmett where sued by Nemesis Finance for their stake in Broken City accusing Emmett and Furla of misrepresenting their debts to investors so they could reduce the amount of cash reserves they were required to keep on hand for residual payments to writers, actors, and directors. [1] However, the suit would be settled out of court. [1]
Lionsgate would pressure EFO to hire Scott Mann to direct and "handle" Emmett during the production of Heist , however, Emmett would do everything in his power as producer to make Mann's life difficult, including last minute script changes and slashing filming time. [1] However, when reviews came in for Heist it was noted that Mann and his directing was "battling a preposterous plot and second-tier performances." [1] Heist had over-performed its expectations in the box office, and allowed Emmett to continue making low-quality movies. [1]
Emmett has credits in 110 films, most of them are so bad that Vulture stated they deserve a category of their own. [1] That category is the Geezer teaser, films notable for spending the vast majority of their budget for a day or two of work from aged action stars, and then advertising the film as staring said star in foreign markets before the film is even made, cashing in on investor funds to churn out low quality "bleak" films. [1] Often times the advertised "star" of a Geezer teaser are only in the film for upwards of 10 minutes being compared to the low quality Cannon Group films. [1] Vulture also described Emmett as "Hollywood’s worst filmmaker" for, besides the poor quality of his films, his efforts to cut out union employees at every turn, from script-writers to stunt doubles, while filming wherever the tax-credit is the highest. [1]
In 2017 Emmett and EFO was sued by Jonathan Baker who co-produced their film Inconceivable alleging that Emmett and Furla paid themselves $650,000 more in producer fees than had been agreed upon and failed to disclose it. [1]
In 2019 Oasis Ventures sued Emmett and Furla over partnering with MoviePass and later that year Boies/Schiller Film Group sued Emmett for breach of contract for $6 million it had invested into Escape Plan. [1]
Emmett earned a non-union producer credit for his role in financing the 2019 The Irishman which he had hoped would increase his standing in Hollywood circles, which it did not. [1]
On June 29, 2022, the LA Times released an article accusing Emmett of offering women movie roles in exchange for sex. The article also claimed that Emmett paid a woman a $200,000 settlement for inappropriate contact, and knocked his ex-fiancée to the ground after she attempted to grab his phone. [5]
In 2023, Emmett was the subject of the documentary "The Randall Scandal: Love, Loathing, and Vanderpump", exposing allegations against him for racial discrimination and employment abuse at EFO.
Emmett has used Ives, his middle name, as a pseudonym, beginning with the film Cash Out . [6]
