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EXCLUSIVE: Paramount is beefing up its corporate litigation department. Karen Magid, a well known name in the studio’s legal affairs department, is moving over to the general counsel’s office to go from contracts to litigation. Sources tell me to expect a more aggressive litigation posture from Paramount now, akin to the pitbull troika of Disney/Warner/Fox. (Universal still likes to settle, and MGM doesn’t have enough money to sue anybody anymore.) Magid will be working for Rebecca Prentice, Paramount’s EVP and in-house general counsel and also the highest-ranking member of the studio’s legal team, so Dan Ferleger will be looking to hire Magid’s replacement. (There were rumors that Magid had been terminated.)
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Well, I don’t like the looks of this… What just came in the mail…
(opens envelope)
Damn, I’m being sued by Paramount for saying that I don’t like the looks of this!
But seriously, shouldn’t Paramount be a tad more concerned with, you know, making movies, than suing people. It’s not like they’re a weakling that everyone picks on, they’re a massive, powerful international corporation.
This might be in preparation for the inevitable lawsuits that will come about when Dreamworks goes off on its own, and all the untangling that will have to be done.
I guess people running Star Trek Websites will be getting cease and desist letters in the mail.
No F D and trust me I know of what I speak. Who are they going to sue downloaders of Top Gun movies. Critics who say their movies are well what they are.
Production companies who take their deals else where.
Writers who like Obama and Hoffa want to form a real union.
Trust me even in house litigation is expensive.
How many eighty hour weeks can one work and bill the corporation for those 300 k salaries.
Writer to producer: I’ve got this great idea for a movie, let me tell you about it.
Producer: OK, let’s hear it.
Writer: It’s about…
Interruption: I’m a Paramount lawyer & here’s a restraining order preventing you from pitching your idea.
Writer: But I haven’t even said it yet.
Par Lawyer: We own the rights to your thoughts!
OK, a slight exaggeration, but who knows?
… or, among other things, they plan on getting themselves heavily drawn into Warners legal nightmare with Watchmen. The more I look at this case (as a casual observer), the more it seems like the title clearences were sloppily executed by Warners legal and business affairs. It seems like this is going to involve others, beyond Fox.
Not only that, but Paramount is gearing up to mine its library the same way Disney, Warner, and Fox have – think Paramount World, the Paramount Store, etc.
Good call keeping Magid. She’s smart and proactive. That group was never sloppy on her watch, always professional.
As expensive as litigation is it’s usually cheaper to have someone in-house and directly on your payroll doing the work than to hire an outside firm that specializes in litigation where you don’t have direct supervision over what the attorneys and their support staff are doing day-to-day and can’t contain the costs as easily. Just sayin’
Still Hollywood was a way better place when people who cared about making entertaining movies and TV were running it and not the Harvard MBA/JD, corporate types who care about ‘maximizing shareholder value’ or more correctly the value of their own shares & options
good for magid – she’s super smart and a great executive!!!
Ha, ha, ha! Those of us who had the misfortune to work for Karen Magid know that all she did in terms of work was spin her own legend, and here she is spinning her demotion (which was originally going to be a well-deserved firing) again. Way to go Karen!
No Kidding! That department was notorious as the worst place in town to work, we all have the scars to prove it! Thank goodness somebody at Paramount finally took pity on the lawyers and replaced her! Even if they did have to spin it as a “promotion”, those of us who know can read between the lines. About time!