After six years back and forth in the courts, former The Newsroom writer John Musero’s suit against Creative Artists Agency over the alleged poaching of his Main Justice pilot script has taken a couple more dramatic turns and alleged blacklists on its way to trial this coming October.
As accusations that CAA drew up lists of clients that the agency was thinking of dumping circulated earlier this week, an L.A. Superior Court judge denied the ex-prosecutor’s claims that his then CAA reps Andrew Miller and Leah Yerushalaim were lackluster in trying to sell his Attorney General drama and gave it to another writer instead. Musero and his main lawyer Ruth Major insisted in the original 2019 suit that CAA “harvested” Main Justice to big wig clients producer Jerry Bruckheimer and writer Sascha Penn, who then landed the never-made project at CBS. The attorney and Musero has long argued Miller (Yerushalaim was dismissed from the case several years ago) did the writer dirty, as the many similarities between the West Wing-inspired two Main Justice shows reveal.
In a tweaking of her tentative ruling of a few months ago, Judge Kerry Bessinger wasn’t buying it in a very heavily redacted order made public on June 16. “After considering Penn’s prior works, the court concluded that the two works do not share substantial similarities,” he wrote in the 29-page order of the Power Book III: Raising Kanan showrunner’s Main Justice and Musero’s, which granted, did have the same name.
However, even with that stinging loss, Musero’s attorney is riding the wave generated by the lists coming out. Major is now going for the agency jugular with a crafted David vs, Goliath narrative built on the notion of trust and honesty (don’t laugh too loud) in Hollywood.
“CAA is eager to talk to the media about evidence that it refuses to show the media,” the Chicago-based lawyer told Deadline today. “CAA has gone to great lengths to keep the contents of the blacklists secret,” Major added. “Even now, CAA refuses to show the full decision and underlying evidence. It refuses to let the truth come out. But if CAA wants to talk about the case then it needs to be transparent about the case. Only then can the public determine whether CAA is being honest – something CAA claims they don’t even owe their own clients.”
Back on the court docket, Judge Bessinger flipped his own script in this latest ruling when it comes to putting the two Main Justices side-by-side.
Looking at scenes (car crashes, basketball) and storylines (terrorism) that the two Main Justices have in common, Judge Bessinger adds: “the court previously found these elements contributed to the two works’ substantial similarity. However, Penn now submits four of his prior works which were drafted before Plaintiff’s Main Justice and dispels an inference of use as to these elements.”
“As to the West Wing-inspired style and pacing, the court previously filtered out this element from the analysis because The West Wing, a very popular series, preceded both Penn’s and Musero’s scripts and likely influenced many subsequent series involving political or legal figures,” the judge also states.
“CAA is gratified by the judge’s ruling, dismissing John Musero’s claim that CAA misappropriated his idea for a pilot,” a spokesperson for the Bryan Lourd run agency said in a widely distributed statement. “Andrew Miller has always operated with integrity. He is a world-class agent whose track record of success speaks volumes about his diligence, expertise, care, and concern for the best interests of his clients. We are pleased to finally move on from these baseless accusations. In desperation, Mr. Musero has turned his focus to two emails, created 10 years ago by people who are no longer with the agency, and which had no influence on CAA’s representation of Mr. Musero as a client.”
Yep, in discovery of the poaching case it emerged that Musero was among a series of CAA scribe clients (who remain unknown due to sealed documents & redactions) put on underperforming” and the “cutting” lists back in 2016.
CAA may term the focus on the lists as “desperation,” but Judge Bessigner was pretty clear he believed their there’s-no-there argument was not going anywhere with him – and that the case out be heading to trial in LASC on October 27. “At the oral argument, Defendants pressed the point that Plaintiff’s assertions lack evidentiary support and are primarily counsel’s unsupported arguments, Judge Bessinger noted in the footnotes of his ruling from last week. “The court is not convinced. Plaintiff’s facts are self-evident and undisputed. He-was placed on the Lists.”
In the body of the ruling, the Judge also stated: “Here, Defendants fail to demonstrate as a matter of law that a talent agent does not owe his or her client a fiduciary duty.”
Bessinger also notes for the record CAA’s point that while Musero was cut loose from the agency in 2017, before that Miller submitted his client for a The Good Fight gig and more. In the uberagency, the POV on the lists, which several present and past CAA writer clients have expressed to me are among their “worst fears” of working with the company, is more that they were created with the more benign motivation to offer encouragement and support to struggling clients. “We’re running a business here,” one agency insider said. “We want our clients to make money so we make money – that’s our entirely talent business model.”
Still, with six words CAA and their Kendall Brill & Kelly LLP outside counsel really didn’t want to hear, the judge added in last week’s release ruling that while it is true Miller may have had nothing to do with the now increasingly infamous lists, “Plaintiff raises triable issues of fact.”
Whether Musero can cite examples of work he was denied, prevented from going for or more in damages at said trial is a whole other matter.
With more filings from both sides coming ASAP, it looks like Musero’s team are going to try again to get the ruling and the case exhibits unsealed, I hear. If that happens (read: unlikely, but you never know with judges) then there are going to be some very red cheeks around town on all sides. At the same time, because we are all grown ups and because this may all be posturing on both sides for a settlement, to paraphrase that much beloved line from the Howard Koch and brothers Julius and Philip Epstein penned Casablanca: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that business is going on in here!”
