New details have emerged in the breach of contract lawsuit filed by producer Leonora Ann Darby against Tea Shop Productions co-founders James Harris and Mark Lane, with the full 135-page complaint alleging a "seven-year pattern" of unequal treatment. Darby says that in 2024 the pair promised her 33.33% of net profits on films she lead-produced, including the horror hit Obsession, but reneged on that agreement, leaving her with just a single $300,000 payment despite the film's enormous commercial success. The case, filed on 28 August in Los Angeles Superior Court, matters because it highlights disputes over profit-sharing and treatment of women in independent film production, and could affect a slate of other Tea Shop titles.

Darby joined the "failing" and "fledgling" company in 2019 and says she was instrumental in rescuing Obsession, including getting director Curry Barker reinstated and shepherding the film to a $16.2 million sale to Focus Features at last year's Toronto Film Festival. Made on a budget of under $800,000, Obsession went on to gross nearly $510 million worldwide after its May release. The 10-claim filing seeks unspecified damages and a jury trial, plus an accounting of profits across several other Tea Shop projects including A Banquet, Bull, The Wasp and Tornado; Focus Features and fellow executive producer Jason Blum are not named as defendants.