that's so terrible! is this serious? why aren't you leaving right now?
I can't just ditch them. I love the team and I will see this product through until production, then I'm asking for 40k/year on top of my current pay or I'm leaving.
Once the project's out, then he will have leverage in the form of a track record. Now his managers can say "look at what this guy's done for us, do you honestly want to let him go?"