Branca

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from Bonnie Cox:

This will be a short blog because it is not really one I had planned to do. However, there has been some every-so-subtle movement in the Branca Camp and I’ll just bet that little stinker thought I forgot about him . . . but I didn’t. I am still watching and what I don’t catch, others send me info to check on.


Not that I for one minute labor under the delusion that Branca is worried about lil’ ole me, but other “certain fans” are using the focus of some newer introductions of the same old documents to try to win fans over, suggesting erroneously that Branca ever had Michael’s interests in mind. Perhaps he did at one time, but certainly not primarily, as he should have of a client of that caliber and with all the money he has made off of Michael. But then Michael knew this and that is why Branca was fired, wasn’t it?


Let us look over a few things that were sent to me:


Original Goldman Sachs deal - Source
Original Goldman Sachs Term Sheet - Source


The 2003 letter from Branca to Charles Koppelman - Source dated July 28, 2003


Ammended Agreement which is dated August 23, 2003 – Source. Roberts version of same document - Source


The “secret letter” from Branca is the same one that was included on Johnnie L. Roberts “The Wrap” series.


I want to REMIND people that this is no new revelation. It is also obvious that despite the efforts to appear to have been working “in Michael’s best interests” as I have seen some facebook comments assert, the fact is that these notes were an “after-party” if you will, to the deal originally presented. There is an awful lot of documents just showing up after the fact and for what? Branca is not worried about what fans may think of him, why the sudden appearance of “secret” letters and the new push on articles about Branca’s supposed good will toward Michael? Is he losing clients or something?


Let’s take a look at this article in Showbiz411 from Branca’s “other” spouse, Roger
Friedman:



The Michael Jackson estate has spent $159 million so far cleaning up his finances and taking care of his mother and three children. Let’s recall Katherine Jackson’s assertion — particularly through new business partners– that she’d been left high and dry by the executors. In fact, the estate paid off the mortgage on her Encino home, called Hayvenhurst, and is currently renovating. The estate is paying for temporary digs for Mrs. Jackson, her employees, and the children in beautiful Calabasas, California.


***************************************************

- The “Michael Jackson Estate” aka, John Branca et. al. according to Friedman, has spent $159 million and let’s stop there. $159 million. In this, Friedman includes living expenses for Miss Katherine and Michael’s children, paying off cleaning up finances AND paying off Hayvenhurst and renovation. Michael’s bills, if you go by the press reports, ran anywhere from $230 to $500 million. The estate, if you go by press reports and Randy Jackson’s twitters, has taken in $1 billion. Since refinancing the Sony/ATV loan, we know THAT bill wasn’t paid off. $159 million subtracted from $1 billion leaves a lot of money. Especially since Branca and his harem of lawyers and accountants caused the massive debt of Michael’s to begin with, over a period of about 20 years before Michael finally fired the lot of them.


*******************************************


It also turns out that Michael –no surprise here–filed no tax returns for 2006, 2007, or 2008. So the estate and its accountants, according to a petition filed with the court, has rectified all that. According to the petition, the estate has also loaned Mrs. Jackson large sums of money so that she and the children can live properly.”


- Filing tax returns is what Michael Jackson pays ACCOUNTANTS to do. Since Whitman was fired in 2006 while extracting $100K a month for himself while paying absolutely NO BILLS for Michael and obviously filing NO TAX RETURNS, we need to give proper credit where credit is due. Branca also should have checked with Raymone Bain and Tohme Tohme about tax returns for those years for Michael’s various businesses, because according to the research I did, Michael’s tax bills were taken care of during those years and since NO LIENS were ever filed by the state of California and no judgments ever brought against Michael for anything other than non-payment of insurance on Neverland and employees pay, which was taken care of before Neverland was closed down. Michael’s finances were all over the press, why not unpaid tax bills? How did THAT ever escape the press?


Peter Lopez probably could have given Branca that information but, we know what happened to HIM . . . As far as Mrs. Jackson being loaned large sums of money, this is a lie. How do you “loan” money from an estate to beneficiaries of that estate. Roger, jealous much?


***********************************************


The funds will be repaid when her trust account, left to her by Michael, is funded.
The estate has also fended off 65 different lawsuits, including one by a man who said Michael stole his formula for healing herpes. Most of the suits were frivolous, but all had to be dealt with. According to the petition, the estate has also restructured Michael’s famous gigantic loans, reducing the debts considerably.”


- Wait . . . what is this? Didn’t Branca (or was it Weitzman?) already report that the trust was fully funded and this is why they didn’t/couldn’t/wouldn’t pay off the Sony/ATV loan? The estate fended off 65 different lawsuits? Really? Wasn’t this included in the $500m debt sum? What’s the matter John? Being a lawyer too much work? You expected Michael to deal with all those lawsuits when he was with us, and he’s not a lawyer. Perhaps it is John Branca’s wild spending habits and not the lawsuits they are now fielding . . . hey, if that lie is good enough to print for Michael, it’s good enough for you.


There is also the guy accusing Michael of stealing his formula for healing herpes (prayer? Can that be stolen?) Maybe he is the same guy who stole Michael’s logo idea for Dreamworks? Why don’t you ask him? You represent him too, right? Oh, that’s right . . . that’s McClain’s deal.


*******************************************


One thing that Michael Jackson’s super fans might take note of –the executors came in and revised the agreements Michael had signed with AEG Live. Of course, those agreements were not made with Michael’s current lawyers, but through his former manager Tohme Tohme. When Michael died, he was already in debt to AEG for $40 million. That number came from expenses Jackson had incurred before even starting to perform in London”. Source (of all quoted blue above)


- Executors revised the agreements with AEG Live. What agreements, Friedman? Michael was DEAD before Branca was an executor, wasn’t he? How did he revise agreements between Michael and AEG if Michael was DECEASED? Michael doesn’t have any “current” lawyers. Michael’s ESTATE has a fraudulent EXECUTOR (or three…)


So all you SUPERFANS (Friedman jealousy starting to show), take note and remember . . . John Branca the SUPER-LAWYER, despite his POSTHUMOUS attempts to appear to be Michael’s friend was NOWWHERE NEAR MICHAEL during that trial, and though invited, DID NOT BOTHER TO COME TO THE FUNERAL OR THE MEMORIAL, and neither did John McClain.


Actions speak MUCH LOUDER that Roger Friedman’s twice-terminated words. You would think that Branca was aware of how familiar Michael’s fans are with Friedman’s contempt for Michael before hiring him to repair his reputation.




King of Poppers
sent to me by Spotlight:


Michael Jackson: The King of Poppers, According to Author of Addict Nation Jane Velez-Mitchell


While the circumstances of Michael Jackson's death may have seemed shocking, they shouldn't have surprised anyone, according to the new book, "Addict Nation," by Jane Velez-Mitchell


For Immediate Release Press Release source http://eworldwire.com/pressreleases/212061

- This is from a press release and of course, the person is hoping to sell a book so Michael’s name just HAS to be mentioned. If you read the whole press release, you will realize that this person knows absolutely nothing about Michael nor does she know anything about the drug Propofol. How is this woman an expert? This book looks like another “Taraborrelli Tabloid”, this one capitalizing on famous overdoses.


If she were smart, she’d at least wait until Murray’s trial is over to avoid looking stupid when the truth comes out.


******************************************


“The singer left £247million in debts but his popularity has remained high and his estate is finally heading out of the red.


Soaring sales of merchandise, an album of previously unreleased songs and the film of his This Is It concert have enabled administrators to pay off £98million.
The papers reveal a payment of £555,000 was made to the cemetery where Jackson is buried, while £22,000 was spent on “costumes for memorial”.


Tax bills were £17.8million while £3.3million went to family members and properties he owned.


His three children, his mother Katherine, and various charities were named as beneficiaries in the star’s will.” Source

This one is just another slant from Branca’s press-defense team. I can look up the conversion in American Dollars but I’m not going to. I don’t need to do that to make my point so I will just make it:



First the mention of the £98 million in euros (I guess) would work out to be about what, $250 million in the dollar? (I am picking numbers out of the air because by the time Obama gets done, that is about what the conversion will be). Of course it doesn’t seem to mention just how much the estate took in from all the afore mentioned revenue.


Papers reveal £555,000 for the cemetery that does not even have Michael’s name engraved on the tomb after almost 2 years of “paying rent” there. £22,000 for costumes for the memorial? This is the memorial that none of the family friend/executors attended when invited, right? The memorial that was financed by AEG and now Branca is taking credit for paying that bill too?


£17.8 million in tax bills . . . was this on what the estate earned posthumously? If what they say they took in is correct, that would be about right. Then the £3.3million that went to family members and properties he owned, fails to mention how much the executors claimed for their own. At least this source itemized what went to the family.


Keep an eye on the timing of all this, “super-fans” and don’t get bought. It is apparent that Branca is either distracting (attempting to cover the selling of the Sony/ATV to Sony maybe?) fans or perhaps other artists are unwilling to end up like Michael and are leaving in droves.


Hint to Branca: It might be a little less obvious if you could use someone other than Roberts and Friedman to write your P.R. since they’ve already been long exposed.


I’m sorry this is so late, but Sunday is a busy day usually and we had a family issue to take care of.


God bless you and DON’T let this stuff distract you. It’s press, we know it and we know how Michael felt about Branca. Stay on the path.




Foolin' No One, Branca-baby


 
document:

jackson%27s-goldman-loan_0.jpg
 
Thanks to andjustice4some

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/3937485


Monday’s meeting of Jackson’s brain trust was held behind closed doors, but Jackson attorney Mark Geragos briefly allowed an Associated Press reporter and photographer into the room to ask a few questions.
Jackson, 45, was nowhere to be seen, but an NBC reporter allowed in later in the day told The Associated Press the entertainer had been on a conference call with his advisers at that time.
Jackson spokesman Kevin McLin, who spent two hours in the meeting during the afternoon, said the entertainer was clearly in charge.
“It was just a sign of unity,” he said of the gathering’s purpose. “It was just everybody coming together. Michael is in control of everything.”
He declined to comment on the role of the Nation of Islam.
“Michael has a lot of supporters,” McLin said.
Nation of Islam in attendance
Jackson’s advisers were gathered around a large table in the suite. At the head of the table was Leonard Muhammad, a high-ranking official of the Nation of Islam who has been described as an adviser to Jackson. Other Nation of Islam members were in an area outside the suite.
Also at the meeting were Jackson’s accountant, Allan Whitman; his music manager Charles Koppelman; his civil lawyer, Zia Modabber and other members of the Geragos law firm.
Outside the room, Koppelman was asked if the Nation of Islam was handling any aspect of Jackson’s financial affairs. “No sir,” he responded.
Security at the hotel was high and other guests were unaware of the meeting until they reached the end of the driveway where fans and camera crews were assembled.
Earlier in the day, Jackson’s brother Jermaine and a handful of fans held a news conference to describe plans to support Jackson at the arraignment.
“My brother is innocent, he is 1,000 percent innocent,” Jermaine Jackson said. “My mother, father, sisters and brothers are overwhelmed at the outpouring of the fans in the USA and all around the world.”
Diana D’Alo, a fan from Italy, said fans were planning a “huge gathering” in Santa Maria that would include people from Spain, France, England, Canada, Mexico and Japan, as well as from around the United States.
Jackson’s fan clubs plan to have groups of cars and buses travel to the courthouse in northern Santa Barbara County from areas including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orange County, Long Beach, Santa Monica, San Diego, Pasadena, Carson, Costa Mesa and Riverside, organizers said.
Jackson is charged with seven counts of performing lewd or lascivious acts on a child under 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent, reportedly wine. He is free on $3 million bail pending his arraignment. Jackson has maintained his innocence.
© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



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thanks to andjustice4some

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,107059,00.html


*****'s Scorned Manager Starts Blabbing
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
By Roger Friedman
E-MailRespondPrint

Share:
Michael Jackson | Top Movies of 2003

*****'s Scorned Manager Starts Blabbing

The New York Times is now using unnamed sources and US Weekly as the basis of its stories. You almost wonder what the hubbub was over Jayson Blair .

Today's bylined story by Sharon Waxman about Michael Jackson goes on ad nauseum quoting a Jackson associate who claims he didn't get paid his commission for setting up Michael's "60 Minutes" interview.

That same source insists Jackson got $1 million for doing the interview with Ed Bradley.

Maybe someone should tell Times editor Bill Keller that Waxman spent a good deal of her day on Monday chatting up Jackson's former manager Dieter Wiesner. Now back in Germany, where he owns sex clubs, Wiesner was very happy to tell Waxman anything he could think of to destroy Jackson's reputation.



Wiesner is very angry and bitter, according to my sources, about being usurped in the Jackson inner circle by Leonard Muhammad, chief of staff for the Nation of Islam.

But his delight in making trouble for the Jackson camp could prove to be a problem for those gullible enough to believe him.

The Bradley interview, as I reported here first some two weeks ago, was not set up by Wiesner at all. In fact, the whole idea emanated from what I call Jackson's "permanent" government of advisers &#8212; John Branca, Charles Koppelman and Al Malnik.

It was this trio, according to sources, that worked to save the original CBS special by offering "60 Minutes" an interview.

In fact, CBS wouldn't go ahead and air that special &#8212; which was postponed after Jackson's arrest &#8212; until they had some kind of formal denial by Jackson on the air concerning the child-molestation charges.

Wiesner, who'd like to convince the Times and others that he put the deal together, has been prevented from making any deals, decisions or connections for Jackson for weeks.

"What's interesting now," said a source, "is that Michael has cut off the people who might be of help to him later in court. Wiesner, Ronald Konitzer and the publicist, Stuart Backerman, all backed him through the year before anyone else knew about the accusations. Wiesner was the one who hired Mark Geragos. Now Geragos has endorsed Muhammad getting rid of these people. And they're going to start turning on Michael."

Meanwhile, Jackson insiders on all sides are starting to wonder what is going on with Jackson's attorney, Mark Geragos.

"He called everyone the other day and told them to lie if anyone asked about the Nation of Islam and Michael," two sources of mine said.

Geragos actually told the Times that the Nation of Islam stories must be originating with the Santa Barbara County district attorney's office &#8212; something that is not only patently untrue, but absurd.

The Nation of Islam stories indeed have never come from the D.A.'s office, although that same office must be amused to see Geragos lose control of a situation he had in hand only two weeks ago.
 
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Apparently & according to this article - Sony was offered the catalog:

http://somosdemocracia.org/dullahan/...t-proud-of-is/
130 hours of footage

What Leiweke says he is most proud of is…..
Escrito por: dullahan
Within days of Jackson’s death, AEG started editing the rehearsal footage into a narrative at AEG’s L.A. Live facilities. “Under armed guards we had the editors working for three weeks collating 130 hours [of footage] and distilling it down to three-and-a-half hours in the first pass,” Phillips says. “And then we took 12 minutes of that and used it as a demo.”
Up until longtime Jackson associates John Branca and John MeLain , who had been named tiffany earrings for sale executors in Jackson’s will, were officially named administrators July 6, AEG had been able to act unilaterally. There was some doubt about who would control Jackson’s estate, and “we didn’t event know there was a will forover a week,” Phillips says. As those details were resolved, however, AEG began negotiating with the executors - Branca and MeLain, and attorneys Joel Katz and Howard Weitzman - to determine how to proceed.
Fortunately, AEG’s corporate cousins inelude Anschutz Film Group and its Waiden Media division (”Ray,” “The Chronicles of Namia”), So AEG Live hadAnschutz Film Group negotiate with potential distribution partners.
Four studios bid on “This Is It”: Universal, Fox, Paramount and Sony, which submitted the winning bid of $65 million, including $5 million for AEG’s editing costs, according to Phillips.
The driving force behind the film negotiations with Sony was Jackson’s estate - represented by Branca and McLain which had to grant permission; Branca’s firm, Ziffren Brittenham, negotiated the deal, in consultation with Phillips. Sony Music controls Jackson’s catalog, but AEG executives were also impressed by Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal, who was relentless in her pursuit of “This Is It.” “She had a great vision,” Phillips says. “She pursued it hard and she called everybody, all the time. She had to have this movie.”
One particular meeting stands out for Phillips. “The first marketing meeting I had at Sony Pictures, there were about 40 people in this conference room, and what blew my mind was the fact that this little movie, this HD footage of Michael Jackson, was getting th&#33541; attention of a whole studio. They just absolutely stopped to focus on this project,” he says. “And I was thinking to myself just how much Michael would have loved this, because it was so over the top.”
On Aug. 10, Los Angeles Superior Court approved a deal thattiffany necklaces on sale Jackson’s estate would get 90% of the film’s net revenue, with the remainder going to AEG. (AEG will also receive revenue from the soundtrack.) That’s a small percentage, considering that AEG put up the investment. “I’m sure some would argue that this is a small percentage to take for that much risk and that much work,” Leiweke says, “but we didn’t want there to be any doubt as to our priorities here, which is to try and protect the best interests of the estate.”
The “This Is It” film was created by the same team that had been working on the concerts, including manager DiLeo, director Kenny Ortega, choreographer Travis Payne, music director Michael Bearden and Concerts West co-producer/coCEO Paul Gongaware.
“The fact that [Kenny Ortega] is also a movie director is a good thing in terms of understand! n g what footage they had,” Stringer says. “I’m not sure we’d have gotten this done if it would have been someone else coming in to work on it.”
The film represents “unrestricted access to ari unguarded genius,” Phillips says. “There’s nothing in it other than the credits that wasn’t shot or recorded from March 5, when we did the press conference in London, to June 25, when he died. It’s completely authentic. Nothing has been doctored.”
DiLeo refutes a small but vocal group of fans who see the film as exploitative of Jackson, who they believe was in poor health at the end of his life, “it shows what kind of shape he was in, and he was in very good shape,” he says. “The reports of him dying and being 108 pounds are false. The autopsy came back and he was 136 pounds, and I can’t remember him being over 1 50 in all the years I worked with him. The film shows he had a dear head, that he was involved.”
Stringer says that “if I had watched a shock [or] tattle documentary,cheap tiffany accessories I don’t think we would have wanted to be associated. It’s really a behind-the-scenes look at Michael’s rehearsal for a huge comeback. He is wonderful in it.”
At press time “This Is It” was set for viewing on 18,000 screens worldwide, and it’s anticipated to become the topgrossing concert film of all time. It should handily beat “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour,” which earned $70.6 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, on just 700 screens.
For now, at least, the film’s run has been limited to two weeks. This qualifies “This Is It” for Academy Award consideration and should generate buzz for the upcoming DVD, which is expected to arrive in first-quarter 2010.
The “This Is It” soundtrack was conceived alongside the film project “when we saw the early footage, pretty much a few days after he died,” Stringer says.
Sony Music dealt with the estate, primarily Branca and McLain, to develop the project under pressure - “It would be strange not to have an accompanying piece to the movie,” Stringer says - but quality wasn’t sacrificed. “The packaging is expensive and really nice,” he says, noting that the booklet could probably be sold on its own. “We got it right.”
There isn’t any exclusivity for “This is it” at retail. “We’ve brokered deals with every single retailer in some way or the other, on a global basis,” Stringer says, which resulted in a complicated manufacturing schedule. The process of distributing the physical product reminds Stringer of earlier days. “I’ve done this a long time and I’ve worked on lots of Michael Jackson records, so in a way it’s how Michael’s records used to be distributed,” he says. “They were always delivered on short notice and there was always mass demand around the world.”
On the digital front, after much speculation about bundling “This Is It,” it will be sold on iTunes mostly, but not completely, a la carte. All the songs will be available as individual tracks except the single.
Limiting the a la carte option is a smart business decision. Jackson’s recorded tiffany for sale work has flown off the shelves since his death, with his catalog of solo alburns having sold 5.5 million copies in the United States since that time, according to Nielsen SoundScan. He has sold 9.2 million U.S. downloads since his death, compared with 1.3 million the year before that, and he will almost certainly be the best-selling artist of 2009.
Expectations run high for “This Is It,” though Stringer declined to offer a sales projection. “I’m pretty sure there will be a value-pack price; the package is a lavish booklet and a really nice cardboard packaging, so it’s a proper booklet, not just a jewel-case CD,” he says. “I think the retail pricing will be very interesting, because I imagine people will be very competitive.”
As AEG worked to put together the movie and its soundtrack, it took shots from Jackson family members and others that the company is more interested in profits than in promoting Jackson’s legacy. For his part, Phillips shrugs it off. “The problem with Michael is his death is as messy as his life was,” he says. “Everyone’s looking for a villain. Sometimes there isn’t a villain - there’s just bad circumstances and bad luck, and that is what this was, 1 personally got attacked a few times on national television, but my skin is thick and that’s part of my job.”
Stringer also feels strongly that Sony Music has taken the high road, saying the company’s actions have been “absolutely the opposite of exploitation. I’ve worked with [Jackson] for a long time - a lot of this people in this company have. We didn’t take adverts when he died. The catalog was made available but we didn’t do anything that we thought was remotely crass or overcommercial. We’ve been careful because we’ve been protective of that legacy and we’ve done things the right way.”
What Leiweke says he is most proud of is “under huge stress, huge media scrutiny, and a few people saying things about us that we were stunned people would think, we maintained the path. We did it with dignity. And when it’s all said and done, I believe more than the financial gains, people will look at the way we handled ourselves, and more importantly look at the way we gave back to the estate in doing the best we could for our partnership. Our reputation was at stake, and I believe from our darkest hour came our best moment.”


http://www.nme.com/news/nme/46211
 
jrsfan;3360841 said:
Apparently & according to this article - Sony was offered the catalog:

http://somosdemocracia.org/dullahan/...t-proud-of-is/
130 hours of footage

What Leiweke says he is most proud of is&#8230;..
Escrito por: dullahan
Within days of Jackson&#8217;s death, AEG started editing the rehearsal footage into a narrative at AEG&#8217;s L.A. Live facilities. &#8220;Under armed guards we had the editors working for three weeks collating 130 hours [of footage] and distilling it down to three-and-a-half hours in the first pass,&#8221; Phillips says. &#8220;And then we took 12 minutes of that and used it as a demo.&#8221;
Up until longtime Jackson associates John Branca and John MeLain , who had been named tiffany earrings for sale executors in Jackson&#8217;s will, were officially named administrators July 6, AEG had been able to act unilaterally. There was some doubt about who would control Jackson&#8217;s estate, and &#8220;we didn&#8217;t event know there was a will forover a week,&#8221; Phillips says. As those details were resolved, however, AEG began negotiating with the executors - Branca and MeLain, and attorneys Joel Katz and Howard Weitzman - to determine how to proceed.
Fortunately, AEG&#8217;s corporate cousins inelude Anschutz Film Group and its Waiden Media division (&#8221;Ray,&#8221; &#8220;The Chronicles of Namia&#8221;), So AEG Live hadAnschutz Film Group negotiate with potential distribution partners.
Four studios bid on &#8220;This Is It&#8221;: Universal, Fox, Paramount and Sony, which submitted the winning bid of $65 million, including $5 million for AEG&#8217;s editing costs, according to Phillips.
The driving force behind the film negotiations with Sony was Jackson&#8217;s estate - represented by Branca and McLain which had to grant permission; Branca&#8217;s firm, Ziffren Brittenham, negotiated the deal, in consultation with Phillips. Sony Music controls Jackson&#8217;s catalog, but AEG executives were also impressed by Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal, who was relentless in her pursuit of &#8220;This Is It.&#8221; &#8220;She had a great vision,&#8221; Phillips says. &#8220;She pursued it hard and she called everybody, all the time. She had to have this movie.&#8221;
One particular meeting stands out for Phillips. &#8220;The first marketing meeting I had at Sony Pictures, there were about 40 people in this conference room, and what blew my mind was the fact that this little movie, this HD footage of Michael Jackson, was getting th&#33541; attention of a whole studio. They just absolutely stopped to focus on this project,&#8221; he says. &#8220;And I was thinking to myself just how much Michael would have loved this, because it was so over the top.&#8221;
On Aug. 10, Los Angeles Superior Court approved a deal thattiffany necklaces on sale Jackson&#8217;s estate would get 90% of the film&#8217;s net revenue, with the remainder going to AEG. (AEG will also receive revenue from the soundtrack.) That&#8217;s a small percentage, considering that AEG put up the investment. &#8220;I&#8217;m sure some would argue that this is a small percentage to take for that much risk and that much work,&#8221; Leiweke says, &#8220;but we didn&#8217;t want there to be any doubt as to our priorities here, which is to try and protect the best interests of the estate.&#8221;
The &#8220;This Is It&#8221; film was created by the same team that had been working on the concerts, including manager DiLeo, director Kenny Ortega, choreographer Travis Payne, music director Michael Bearden and Concerts West co-producer/coCEO Paul Gongaware.
&#8220;The fact that [Kenny Ortega] is also a movie director is a good thing in terms of understand! n g what footage they had,&#8221; Stringer says. &#8220;I&#8217;m not sure we&#8217;d have gotten this done if it would have been someone else coming in to work on it.&#8221;
The film represents &#8220;unrestricted access to ari unguarded genius,&#8221; Phillips says. &#8220;There&#8217;s nothing in it other than the credits that wasn&#8217;t shot or recorded from March 5, when we did the press conference in London, to June 25, when he died. It&#8217;s completely authentic. Nothing has been doctored.&#8221;
DiLeo refutes a small but vocal group of fans who see the film as exploitative of Jackson, who they believe was in poor health at the end of his life, &#8220;it shows what kind of shape he was in, and he was in very good shape,&#8221; he says. &#8220;The reports of him dying and being 108 pounds are false. The autopsy came back and he was 136 pounds, and I can&#8217;t remember him being over 1 50 in all the years I worked with him. The film shows he had a dear head, that he was involved.&#8221;
Stringer says that &#8220;if I had watched a shock [or] tattle documentary,cheap tiffany accessories I don&#8217;t think we would have wanted to be associated. It&#8217;s really a behind-the-scenes look at Michael&#8217;s rehearsal for a huge comeback. He is wonderful in it.&#8221;
At press time &#8220;This Is It&#8221; was set for viewing on 18,000 screens worldwide, and it&#8217;s anticipated to become the topgrossing concert film of all time. It should handily beat &#8220;Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour,&#8221; which earned $70.6 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, on just 700 screens.
For now, at least, the film&#8217;s run has been limited to two weeks. This qualifies &#8220;This Is It&#8221; for Academy Award consideration and should generate buzz for the upcoming DVD, which is expected to arrive in first-quarter 2010.
The &#8220;This Is It&#8221; soundtrack was conceived alongside the film project &#8220;when we saw the early footage, pretty much a few days after he died,&#8221; Stringer says.
Sony Music dealt with the estate, primarily Branca and McLain, to develop the project under pressure - &#8220;It would be strange not to have an accompanying piece to the movie,&#8221; Stringer says - but quality wasn&#8217;t sacrificed. &#8220;The packaging is expensive and really nice,&#8221; he says, noting that the booklet could probably be sold on its own. &#8220;We got it right.&#8221;
There isn&#8217;t any exclusivity for &#8220;This is it&#8221; at retail. &#8220;We&#8217;ve brokered deals with every single retailer in some way or the other, on a global basis,&#8221; Stringer says, which resulted in a complicated manufacturing schedule. The process of distributing the physical product reminds Stringer of earlier days. &#8220;I&#8217;ve done this a long time and I&#8217;ve worked on lots of Michael Jackson records, so in a way it&#8217;s how Michael&#8217;s records used to be distributed,&#8221; he says. &#8220;They were always delivered on short notice and there was always mass demand around the world.&#8221;
On the digital front, after much speculation about bundling &#8220;This Is It,&#8221; it will be sold on iTunes mostly, but not completely, a la carte. All the songs will be available as individual tracks except the single.
Limiting the a la carte option is a smart business decision. Jackson&#8217;s recorded tiffany for sale work has flown off the shelves since his death, with his catalog of solo alburns having sold 5.5 million copies in the United States since that time, according to Nielsen SoundScan. He has sold 9.2 million U.S. downloads since his death, compared with 1.3 million the year before that, and he will almost certainly be the best-selling artist of 2009.
Expectations run high for &#8220;This Is It,&#8221; though Stringer declined to offer a sales projection. &#8220;I&#8217;m pretty sure there will be a value-pack price; the package is a lavish booklet and a really nice cardboard packaging, so it&#8217;s a proper booklet, not just a jewel-case CD,&#8221; he says. &#8220;I think the retail pricing will be very interesting, because I imagine people will be very competitive.&#8221;
As AEG worked to put together the movie and its soundtrack, it took shots from Jackson family members and others that the company is more interested in profits than in promoting Jackson&#8217;s legacy. For his part, Phillips shrugs it off. &#8220;The problem with Michael is his death is as messy as his life was,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Everyone&#8217;s looking for a villain. Sometimes there isn&#8217;t a villain - there&#8217;s just bad circumstances and bad luck, and that is what this was, 1 personally got attacked a few times on national television, but my skin is thick and that&#8217;s part of my job.&#8221;
Stringer also feels strongly that Sony Music has taken the high road, saying the company&#8217;s actions have been &#8220;absolutely the opposite of exploitation. I&#8217;ve worked with [Jackson] for a long time - a lot of this people in this company have. We didn&#8217;t take adverts when he died. The catalog was made available but we didn&#8217;t do anything that we thought was remotely crass or overcommercial. We&#8217;ve been careful because we&#8217;ve been protective of that legacy and we&#8217;ve done things the right way.&#8221;
What Leiweke says he is most proud of is &#8220;under huge stress, huge media scrutiny, and a few people saying things about us that we were stunned people would think, we maintained the path. We did it with dignity. And when it&#8217;s all said and done, I believe more than the financial gains, people will look at the way we handled ourselves, and more importantly look at the way we gave back to the estate in doing the best we could for our partnership. Our reputation was at stake, and I believe from our darkest hour came our best moment.&#8221;


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:fear:
 
Michael is just a product for Branca now and back then. Nothing more. And Michael's passing was like the biggest jackpot for him and McClain...
It makes me sick how he's portrayed (portrays himself) as the superhero who sorted the mess out after Michael screwed everything up... :smilerolleyes:
 
Michael is just a product for Branca now and back then. Nothing more. And Michael's passing was like the biggest jackpot for him and McClain...
It makes me sick how he's portrayed (portrays himself) as the superhero who sorted the mess out after Michael screwed everything up... :smilerolleyes:

i agree, but Branca is the best in this business, and MJ knew that... that's what he hired him

MJ needs Branca and Branca needs MJ... business rules.
 
no matter what Branca says.. he's not cleaning Michael's mess as it was not Michael's job, he hired people to take care of these matters, people who didn't do their job which eventually caused all kind of troubles. I don't know how big was the "mess" before John came into the picture, I don't really care, but can't see Michael in the fault, I don't think Branca claims it was Michael's fault... True, Michael should've been more aware but we all know he couldn't and then it was out of control.
 
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