Better Call Paul

What do Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and a Russian Oligarch have in common? Château Miraval, the famed vineyard the couple owned together which has produced award-winning wine in recent years. Jolie reportedly claimed she could no longer be in business with her ex and sold her stake to Russian oligarch, Yuri Shefler. Pitt is now suing her citing he was denied approval as well as right of first refusal in hopes of negating the sale.

What grounds does he have and with recent Russian sanctions what will this mean for the business? We discuss this and how one simple word in the agreement can make all the difference. Also, now that the Warner Brothers Discovery Deal is done CEO David Zaslav is reportedly exploring an overhaul of DC Entertainment which could potentially turn DC into its own solidified content vertical.

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Kanye West walked away from $8.5M when he pulled out as a headliner at Coachella and has been replaced by Swedish House Mafia and The Weekend. What does this mean for ticket holders who purchased based on his performance? And what recourse, if any, does Coachella have with him backing out? Also, Ketanji Brown Jackson makes history as the first African American woman confirmed to the Supreme Court. We’ll discuss what her influence might be on both the legal system and entertainment industry. Lastly, we'll be discussing the Warner Brothers Discovery deal which has created another titan in the ring of streaming, Elon Musk is a large shareholder of Twitter, and finally Ed Sheeran declares victory in the copyright lawsuit against him.

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In honor of the conclusion of awards season, we are launching the first annual Paulies! Highlighting the best in box office performance and how that contributes to a studio’s bottom line, best streaming service and what that means for IP, best M&A and what the impact is on taking down Netflix, and best overall legal argument. Also, Marvel took a big risk on Moon Knight launching with Oscar Isaac only having a one season deal. What does that mean for the future of the franchise and the future of Moon Knight or other Marvel spin-offs?

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This week on Better Call Paul, we discuss - the NFL signed long term agreements to distribute game coverage on TV, cable and digital platforms. It’s an unprecedented move to share rights across Amazon, CBS, ESPN/ABC, FOX and NBC and rumored to be worth $113B over 10 years. Moon Knight, coming out at the end of March on Disney+, is the first new Marvel character to be launched via streaming and is kicking off a whole new class of Disney IP. And finally, Oscar predictions! This was taped before the slap heard around the world, but tune in next week for our thoughts on Will Smith’s liability.

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Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger has joined the board of Genies, a company that creates avatars to move through the metaverse. Celebrities have been promoting NFTs for a while now and are actively taking a bigger stand, but making a personal investment and taking a board seat makes a big statement. M&A is continuing to heat up in the streaming wars with Discovery and Warner Media combining forces.

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There’s been a constant stream of legal cases suing high profile artists: Dua Lipa has been sued TWICE by two separate groups for stealing the same song! Ed Sheeren has been accused for stealing parts of his 2017 hit Shape of You. Katy Perry won her appeal. Why does this keep happening? How difficult is it to win a copyright infringement case against an artist? Is it simply a money grab or is there more at risk for the musician? If songs are by definition collaborative how can anyone prove it?

Also up for discussion on today's show: how the director of the Black Panther movies was mistaken for a bank robber, Jussie Smollet received sentencing while maintaining his innocence, and NBC terminated their content sharing deal with Hulu. Find out which shows will no longer be on the streaming service.

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Unions are a hot topic this week. Even though Hollywood is a heavily unionized industry, Netflix canceled Nailed It! Haloween, a popular show in its seventh season, after crew members decided to walk off the set midseason in hopes of unionizing and re-negotiating their contracts. Rick and Morty's animators also protest for fairer pay and more rights in a lawsuit against Adult Swim. MLB is also in the middle of collective bargaining negotiations. Whose bottom line is impacted more?

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The Champions League Final was moved from Russia to Paris as a show of solidarity against the Russian government, but what goes into such a decision? Big sporting events are a well-choreographed set of negotiations involving everyone from the venue, to the international broadcast teams, to the global and local sponsors, to the fans and making last minute changes can throw any or all of those into breach of contract.

How are such decisions evaluated and how do the PR implications factor into the legal decisions? The War’s impact on the entertainment industry spans beyond the sporting world.

We also discuss how the Ukrainian production industry is being impacted and Sean Penn’s documentary, which he is currently filming there with Vice.

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Paul and Mesh break down the legal differences between aspiration and fraud. Sure Inventing Anna and the Tinder Swindler are popular today, but they are far from the exception. Paul and Mesh discuss how actor Zachary Horwitz was able to create a Ponzi Scheme that left more than 200 Hollywood investors stunned.

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In this premiere episode of BETTER CALL PAUL, we dive into how things have changed since streaming platforms have entered the space and what this means for production companies, actors/actresses, and their compensation, and why these streaming services are now being sued. We also talk about the Olympics on Peacock and how that deal looks different now that everyone is pushing content to their subscribers. Lastly, we take a look at the Oscars - which pictures we’ve seen, who we like (and who we don’t), as well as the requirements for nominations, the legality behind it, and how things have changed in the era of streaming and Covid.

Better Call Paul is a production of Lola Media.

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