The Profit

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The Profit
The Profit movie poster
Directed by	Peter N. Alexander
Produced by	Bob Minton Patricia Greenway
Written by	Peter N. Alexander
Starring	Eric Rath Christine Eads Jeff Hughes
Music by	Yuri Gorbachow
Cinematography	Mark Woods
Editing by	Cole Russing
Distributed by	Human Rights Cinema Society
Release date(s)	made in 2001, release blocked by court order, 2002
Running time	128 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Official website
IMDb profile

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The Profit is a feature film written and directed by Peter N. Alexander in 2001. Little seen, it is notable primarily because worldwide distribution of the film is prohibited by an American court order, the result of a lawsuit by the Church of Scientology.

1 Description
2 Scientology takes legal action
3 References
4 External links
5 See Also

[edit] Description

The film's promotional website describes it as "a work of fiction that attempts to explain how a con man can use mind control to effectively form/lead a group of deluded adherents."^[1] Eric Rath plays a cult leader named L. Conrad Powers (taken by some observers to be a parody of L. Ron Hubbard), whose organization is called the "Church of Scientific Spiritualism." While Alexander was a member of the Church of Scientology for about twenty years, the filmmakers assert that "Any corrolations [sic] between this story and Scientology is purely coincidental." ^[2]

[edit] Scientology takes legal action

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Notwithstanding the fictional elements of the film, the Church of Scientology took legal action against the film makers after a handful of test screenings in Florida. The Church claimed that the film was intended to influence the jury pool in the wrongful death case of a Scientologist, Lisa McPherson, who died while in the care of the Church of Scientology in Clearwater, Florida. In response to the lawsuit, Pinellas County, Florida, Judge Robert Beach issued a court order in April 2002 banning The Profit from worldwide distribution for an indefinite period. As of 2006, the ban still stands; the film has yet to be released to the public.