Continue reading »]]> I got done watching Carbone’s latest video blog two hours ago. I have never tuned in to one of his live video blogs but the tweet he issued about having “a rough 24 hours” was ominous to me. All indications were that he had a good time in NYC but suddenly because he is back at home in Texas, he is having a rough time? Carbone certainly had time to write out one update before coming on to his video blog. I took it as a hint that perhaps I needed to tune in to his video blog “live” just in case there was something to write about.

And boy, was I squirming in my chair watching Carbone tonight. It was as “real” as anyone has seen him on-camera.  This was “Real Steve”, not “Reality Steve”. Carbone truly owned up to the stress and upset, and shared with his fans and audience how much the lawsuit is affecting him.  It twisted me up to see him that way but I respect him for it. It takes an incredible amount of courage to do that especially for guys. Seeing his pain actually motivated me to get this post out ASAP.

What you are witnessing is the attack and slow destruction of someone who is simply too good at what he does: entertainment reporting. What you are witnessing is a multi-million dollar, old-dinosaur, big media operation being threatened by a one-man, bootstrapped media show. Can you freaking believe this?

In fact, this has become a mini-reality show unto itself if you think about it. Carbone needs to get one of his friends and start filming the stuff that no one is seeing right now: the pain, the process, and the struggle.  Carbone never signed up to be on a reality show per se, but he is on a reality show, one of the “Bachelor” producers making.  It is time to take control of this and flip it around. Get that camera rolling and start recording his daily diaries into the camcorder. Launch a separate website spotlighting his new reality show called “The Legal Extortion of Reality Steve” or something. It would get some press very quickly. Have it be a mini-series and charge for admission.  Use the monies for legal fees. Be honest with the fans and readership that the money is used for a good cause.

The footage and the experience will be worth something AFTER this bullshit lawsuit is all over with. And if someone thinks what I just said sounds like a joke, let me be clear, I am not joking.

Enough of that for now, let’s get to work.

In my Hollywood Extortion III article, I summarized how the legal combatants have not even remotely gotten close to arguing and defending the central allegations of the lawsuit (tortious interference). I also stated that Carbone looked to be in good shape for the Main Event if it went that far. That is a BIG FAT IF, unless Carbone is bankrupted first.

In the docket, I saw all kinds of lawyer jockeying.  The original plaintiff lawyers (Linda Burrow & Tina Wong) who filed the complaint were replaced by someone who appears to be a Hollywood old-time lawyer, Michael J. O’Connor on December 16, 2011.

And then on January 25, 2012, a young attorney, Andrew W. DeFrancis was brought into the case presumably to assist. It is sheer speculation on my part, but I think that he was brought in because the case involves Internet and online issues. The younger attorney may be better qualified to deal with these matters than a Hollywood old-timer that sold his practice out to a big corporate firm.

On Carbone’s side, Brad Kizzia, Texas attorney, is working with Gregg Farley attorney from Los Angeles (as local counsel in California) so that Kizzia can work in California on Carbone’s behalf. Kizzia appears to be the lead attorney at the moment.

At this point, I am giving everyone fair warning, it is going to get a bit technical going forward. Only the brave and mighty dare proceed forward. You are entering into an eye-glazing zone. I am sorry but it’s important to share some of the gritty details.  All children (and many adults) should cover their eyes because I am going to attempt to describe this money-sucking, sideshow knife-fight the best and simplest way I can.

On January 20, 2012, defendants (Carbone and Reality Steve LLC) filed a motion to dismiss the case due to jurisdiction issues since Carbone resides entirely in Texas. Fine, no problem there. Unfortunately, plaintiffs fought back and claimed diversity issues. This means that because defendants are entirely in Texas and plaintiffs are entirely in California, plaintiffs are asking the federal district court in California to assert its authority to hear the case.

According to the docket, on January 20, 2012, a proceeding occurred in the judge’s chambers. The judge asked the plaintiffs to show why the case shouldn’t be dismissed given that Carbone and Reality Steve LLC reside in Texas yet the plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in California. As explained in the Civil Minutes, the judge asked the plaintiffs to find out who and where EVERY member of Reality Steve LLC resides since the plaintiff lawyers left that piece of information out in their effort to focus on Carbone directly and individually.

On January 25, 2012, the docket states that plaintiffs asked for more time to do jurisdictional discovery. That means they needed time to find out where all the defendant parties truly reside. They asked for 60-additional days.  Along with the 60-days, young attorney Andrew W. DeFrancis was brought in to assist the plaintiffs on their case.

DeFrancis submitted a series of exhibits consisting of copies of old posts from RealitySteve.com referencing Carbone’s references to living in California and a copy of the domain registration printout in an attempt to show that Carbone had a California presence. The problem here is that Carbone moved to Texas in 2006 and the earlier blog posts appear to be way prior to 2006. Carbone has publicly stated that he moved to Texas in 2006.  According to Carbone in his video interview in August 2010, RealitySteve.com was still a hobby for him and he wasn’t generating money.

Regarding the domain registration, it appears to show Carbone’s old address. It is an easy mistake to make and easy to refute. Most people simply pay their $10-$15 annual domain renewal fee without ever thinking of changing the contact information on the domain registration.

On January 31, 2012, the judge granted the plaintiff request for 60-days.

On February 1, 2012, plaintiffs submitted their response and Exhibit on Yea Network LLC. A formal response by plaintiff argues that California has jurisdiction due the grounds of diversity. Defendant makes the argument that Carbone lives in Texas and the burden is disproportionate for him.

On February 9, 2012 the judge ordered the defendants to provide information of where the other member of Reality Steve LLC resided within 10 days.

On February 16, 2012, defendants provided a detailed response with exhibits.

On February 24, 2012, the judge was satisfied and found the information he received sufficient even though the name of the owner behind Yea Network was never revealed. The judge determined that the parties were completely diverse for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.

I typed this chronology in painful detail to let everyone know how tedious the fight has become at $350-$400/hour.  All of this just to determine which court and WHERE to deal with the lawsuit Complaint!

Nearly a month has transpired without court docket activity but clearly something is happening behind the scenes. Carbone stated that settlement attempts have been made but found the language of the settlement agreement unsatisfactory. The back and forth of the language is a crock-pot process.  It is a slow-cook process wearing Carbone down while racking up the billable hours.

From what little I know, plaintiffs are motivated to settle with Carbone.  Carbone also appears to want to settle but he rightfully doesn’t want to pay a high price that will effectively cripple his career in blogging, reporting, or anything communication related.

Having spoken with attorney Oscar Michelen about similar situations when a smaller, less-resourced individual or business goes up against a much larger and better-financed opponent in court, you have to look at where the most essential battle needs to take place.

We believe in a common philosophy: pick and choose your battles. Many people say “fight them every step of the way” which sounds really good to the ear but can be financial suicide to your bank account and credit standing. Justice is not cheap. All this money and effort should be used for the Main Event, not the side fights.

Aside from travel issues, maybe it is time for Carbone to explore his options and reconsider his position and simply agree to fight in California altogether.  I know there are some downsides to this but he has to weigh out how much benefit he truly gets by moving it to Texas.

By simply “giving” the plaintiffs what they want (a fight in California), Carbone can stop and get out of the financial bleeding on the money-draining sideshow and move on to the more important matters at hand.  I would consider filing a countersuit, suing for legal fees incurred, and asking for punitive damages for filing a frivolous lawsuit against him. Admittedly, punitive damages will be difficult to get but you might as well add it to the countersuit.

But the bottom line is to get in front of the judge ASAP and get a resolution so he can move on with his life. Since Carbone never paid anyone for information and the plaintiffs have no proof or smoking gun, he stands a good chance of winning.

What I am proposing may sound radical, but it can potentially throw the other side off-balance and more importantly, conserve his financial resources for the bigger, more important battle down the road.  Sometimes you have to be willing to give in to a few smaller battles to win the larger war.

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Look for the next article in Reality Steve Extorion Lawsuit commentary section.

If you haven’t done it yet, go sign the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit online petition.

Become part of RED STARS and LIKE the RED STARS Facebook Page.

And don’t forget to Follow the Mission: RED STARS Twitter account.

Continue reading »]]> Similar to my last response/reaction post “Reality Steve” Link Referral Explosion, I decided to take a breather to simply reflect on what’s happened in the last week. I thank Steve Carbone for his kind words in his latest “Reality Steve” update. I appreciate the respect he has shown me considering he has not yet met or spoken with me. It’s no secret I admire and respect his genius, tenacity, accomplishments, brand, and entrepreneurial spirit.  He consistently beats Hollywood entertainment reporters at their own game by setting and making up his own rules and having a symbiotic relationship with his fans and readership.

My response is going to be slightly more subdued this time around.  I have gotten over the sudden shock of working “quietly” in my corner of the Internet (helping people defend against copyright extortion letters, real estate investing challenges, and a web presence consulting business) to suddenly being put into a spotlight covering the Hollywood extortion that I call the “Reality Steve” Extortion Lawsuit.

I know that name sounds very harsh.  It was intentional to get attention. There are probably a couple people within Hollywood such as the ABC Network and the “Bachelor” producers who might have gotten wind of my articles and don’t like me very much for using such an aggressive term and starting up this “press” coverage. After all, who gave this “nobody blogger” in Georgia the permission to write about this lawsuit? Who gave this “non-lawyer” permission to start providing legal commentary on this case? After all, aren’t only “qualified” entertainment reporters “allowed” to write about this? If so, I didn’t get THEIR memo on that.

Let me tell you, the mainstream and entertainment press was long gone before I showed up to write about this on March 11, 2012. I know because I checked.  There were a couple of rounds of superficial coverage on the “Reality Steve” lawsuit early on but it all went away quickly.  No one cared enough to even follow-up or check back on the “Reality Steve” lawsuit that I could tell. The “Reality Steve” lawsuit was old news to them. They went on to the next “bling-bling” story. From my view, the story has only just begun and the ending is far from certain or predictable with long-term ramifications for independent bloggers, hobbyist websites, and website owners.  Right now, for better or for worse, I am the only game in town that cares enough to write about all this. I will say it would be nice if someone else decided to jump in too. It feels pretty lonely out here being the lone blogger on this.

My motivations to write are certainly unusual. I have no aspirations to become a novelist but I do write about topics I am interested in and care about. I am not driven by the money although getting paid is very nice. There certainly isn’t much fame unless you get REALLY big. No one offered me so much as a cookie much less any type of spendable currency to do this. I was simply curious enough on a late Sunday night to download my own copy of the lawsuit complaint and share my thoughts on it. It didn’t matter if only 10 people read it because it represents what I believe and stand for. On the Internet, people who care about the same things you do eventually find you. That quickly became apparent last week.

We all know the story of how one of Carbone’s readers sent him an email regarding my original post sometime around March 12, 2012 and bang, one very big “Reality Steve” thank you post and link referral later, we have an online movement. I hope Carbone will look into his email archive and give that individual’s name to me who discovered and referred my article. I want to publicly acknowledge and thank him. All of us should applaud that person for taking the initiative to email Carbone.

Yesterday, I spoke with attorney Oscar Michelen and discussed where all this is going. I used the word “reporting” in my conversation with him and he jumped in and said to me, “Matthew, you have gone way beyond reporting now. You have become an advocate for Steve. You have done all this work to help Steve and even started an online petition. You are now in this thing.”

I was stunned into brief silence because Oscar was right. Although I continue to report, it certainly isn’t impartial. I do have a strong bias towards Carbone’s position. That bias is so strong that I created a movement (Mission: RED STARS) and online petition on his behalf.

In a separate conversation with my friend and team member, Robert, I told him I didn’t even fully realize what I was doing when I publicly asked to see copies of the “Bachelor” contract from anyone who might want to anonymously submit them for our review.

Between the two articles Oscar and I wrote regarding the enforceability of the $5 million penalty clause, it suddenly felt like we were becoming advocates for the rights of TV show contestants when it really started out with a mutual legal curiosity of the “Bachelor” contract. I told Oscar about how Bob Guiney (season 3 Bachelor) won his lawsuit against the “Bachelor” producers back in 2004 when they tried to stop Guiney from promoting his music CD at that time.

Carbone has more than once said there are 500+ ex-Bachelor contestants running around from 10-years worth of “Bachelor Series” shows. I thought to myself that is a lot of contestants that could be wrongfully stuck in their contracts, and I really want to investigate this. Remember, I am NOT a lawyer nor am I an agent, so I have no interest in representing them. But I do have this insatiable curiosity of learning and reporting how things work, especially from the legal end.

I asked Oscar, “What if a Bachelor ex-contestant actually comes calling?”

He said to me, “It is permissible for any ex-contestant to seek legal counsel and legal advice.”

I remarked, “Obviously, I am not the lawyer here. I only care about learning and reporting information. But if anyone needs help, can you help them?”

He replied, “I will be happy to talk to them if they need help.”

Obviously, that made me happy especially since 10-days ago, he had never heard of “Reality Steve” or the lawsuit before and here I am roping him into helping me. Roping is actually too harsh a word. Oscar was pretty gracious about allowing me to call and consult with him on different matters as I wrote my articles.

One thing that our non-technical readers should know: if anyone does a Google search on “bachelor producers”, “bachelor lawsuit”, “reality steve lawsuit”, etc., the ELI website and my articles come up quite prominently. With every article we publish, every Facebook post we make, every Tweet we make, every Tweet that gets retweeted, every signature on the Reality Steve Lawsuit online petition, and every mention/link referral by RealitySteve.com, this fight-back/push-back publicity machine (Mission: RED STARS) just keeps growing.

It is my hope (and presumably Carbone’s) that this push-back publicity machine (Mission: RED STARS. Reject Extortion Demands, Stop The Attack on Reality Steve) grows large enough to pressure the “Bachelor” producers to drop the lawsuit unconditionally and leave Carbone and all independent bloggers and websites owners alone, once and for all. I absolutely believe, given enough time, this thing can grow very large. But a lot of this depends on you (his fans and readership) and Carbone himself.

I respect Carbone’s position of not wanting to incessantly push his lawsuit situation into his readership’s face. Certainly, there is such a thing as being overbearing and excessive about it. But at the same time, I view this as a fight for his professional life and blogger rights. He absolutely needs to come out on top with his freedoms preserved and intact. Although I do provide “press” coverage, it is from an outside perspective. Remember, I still have no inside knowledge of Carbone’s situation because we continue to maintain an arms-length relationship. This helps him respect his lawyer’s advice to keep comments to himself. In many ways, I wish I could speak with Carbone because I think it would make my job easier. But for now, we will leave it be.

I know I brainstormed Mission: RED STARS and started this little movement for Carbone, but make no mistake, all of YOU are the fuel that makes the movement happen. I am only an instigator. It doesn’t matter how much I write or comment, if you guys don’t do your part such as retweeting, spreading the word on Facebook, signing the petition, emailing the petition link to your fellow Bachelor show friends/fans, and making a Paypal contribution to Reality Steve, my efforts are a waste of time. I ask no money for myself but I do want to make a difference as quickly as I can. I don’t want my time to be spent endlessly on this project.  I think we can make some magical things happen. That is why I am still here writing on this.

Carbone has done a great job building his credibility and goodwill over the years with his fans and readership. So much so, even his haters and critics cannot stay away. They may “hate” on him and openly complain but most still come back. With Reality Steve’s 40,000+ Twitter followers and 21,000+ Facebook fans, there is no reason why “his” online petition can’t meet its goals quickly.  How cool would it be if this lawsuit were to be dropped prior to the public broadcast of Emily Maynard’s season of “The Bachelorette”? That would be something to really talk about.

And guess what? Carbone has already said RealitySteve.com gets a surge of new traffic when any new season starts. So that means even more people can become supporters of RED STARS and sign the online petition. It will become a PR nuisance for this lawsuit to be around while a new season of “The Bachelorette” is running. Of that, I have no doubt.

I do want to let you know that writing an article every night for 9 straight nights has been mentally exhausting. I know I have probably spoiled some of you with this run. I did this because it was necessary to ramp up decisively and quickly. I had to take a strong position and build up enough of a body of work that could stand by itself. One or two articles wasn’t going to cut it. To take control of the message and get the word out, I had to quickly create a body of work for incoming readers to immerse and educate themselves in. With each article that I write, there is a lesser need for another article.

Regarding Carbone with RealitySteve.com, writing his blog is his main line of business.  He can write and communicate with his fans every day.  My daily writing about all this is NOT my main line of business. It is currently a pet project with a limited time span. It is my hope that when I step away that I have done enough so that this movement has a life of its own. It doesn’t mean I will abandon the movement or the work done so far. It simply means that it won’t be a daily (or nightly) affair as it has been the last 10 days. I can step in and out to monitor things and only report as needed. In some ways, it feels like time has passed by quickly, but in other ways it feels like I have been at this a LONG TIME.

Just to be clear, I am NOT complaining and I have no regrets about the last 10 days. It’s been a wild ride with all you new readers. But I want to be straight with all of you about my current line of thinking and intent. Most of you reading this are fundamentally “Reality Steve” fans, not mine. I have no problems acknowledging that. I don’t want to outstay my welcome. I don’t think I have hit that point yet but I am mindful of it.

I remain open to new ideas, feedback, and serendipity. If there is anything I need and would ask from all of you is for more comments and feedback. I am full of ideas and thoughts but I do have limits. At some point, I will hit a wall on writing and when I do, I will likely take a long break and move on to something else. I can’t stay on a project and not contribute. It’s not my style.

The way I figure it is that things will happen the way it is supposed to be. If I am meant to stay in this longer, I will get signals and signs of that. If not, then I won’t. My current thinking is to follow through on what I started and then gradually pull back. I don’t have a set schedule on this. I will simply go by the feel of it all.

For now, I am still in the game. The next piece I need to do is a series of short videos in the next week or two.  So you can look forward to that. I will sprinkle in a few new articles of commentary and analysis also. Again, if you have ideas and feedback, send them to me. I would love to hear them.

Last thing, a few days ago I was asked and invited by a reporter to do an interview regarding my interest in the Reality Steve lawsuit. I politely declined to do the interview for a variety of reasons. I didn’t think I could say anything there that I couldn’t already do here.  The people who most care about this story are the people already visiting RealitySteve.com which I think should continue to be the main focus, not “outsiders” trying to figure out what RealitySteve.com is all about.

That reporter asked if she could check in with me a few weeks later. I said she could and I wouldn’t be offended but I don’t think my position will change so soon.

I have the luxury of taking all the time and space I need to communicate my message here. But in another setting, I feel anything I could communicate would be cut short and perhaps taken out of context.

The true story is Steve Carbone’s current legal challenge and that is where the focus should be. If anyone should be giving interviews to the press about his lawsuit and case, it is Carbone himself.

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Look for the next article in Reality Steve Extorion Lawsuit commentary section.

If you haven’t done it yet, go sign the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit online petition.

Become part of RED STARS and LIKE the RED STARS Facebook Page.

And don’t forget to Follow the Mission: RED STARS Twitter account.

Continue reading »]]> This article was intended to go into more depth of the legal meat-grinding the “Bachelor” producers are inflicting upon our favorite entertainment blogger, Steve Carbone. Specifically, I wanted to discuss the annoying, knife-fighting sideshow that is supposed to determine where the Main Event would eventually be fought. The article was tentatively titled “The Battle for Where to Have the Showdown”. We’ll see if that title sticks later.

The issue I have is that the legal combatants have not even remotely gotten close to arguing and defending the central allegations of the lawsuit. From what I know thus far, Carbone still looks to be in good shape for the Main Event IF it goes that far.  However, if there is going to be a fight, it needs to quickly move forward, not slowed down by legal quicksand maneuvers.

Since December 2011, the lawyers have been battling back and forth for the lawsuit to be tried in their respective jurisdictions (their home state). The “Bachelor” producers want to argue the case in California and Carbone wants to argue the case in Texas where he lives. All the while, legal fees are being racked up on both sides.  And we all know, dollar for dollar who is going to be hurt the most, our Lone Star Blogger: “Reality Steve”.

All the while, according to Carbone, multiple attempts to settle have failed because Carbone doesn’t like the plaintiffs’ proposed terms of the settlement which would allegedly hamper him and put him in the cross-hairs of future legal action. I can’t say I blame him. I have my own ideas of what terms are being offered to Carbone but it would only be sheer speculation and guesswork on my part.

Because I am typing this in the wee hours of the night while nearly everyone is asleep, I will have to postpone the in-depth analysis for now. I want to do it right with good explanations when I can carefully read the docket, cross-reference it with the actual court documents, accurately interpret what happened, and write it clearly and concisely.

For now, everyone will have to settle for the above summary of my impressions. We should also not entirely depend on the lawyers to help get Carbone out. That is why I set up the “Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit” online petition for supporters to sign so we can put public pressure for this lawsuit to be dropped quickly and unconditionally allowing Carbone the freedom to move forward, entertain, and blog without stress, worry, and financial bleeding.

At this point, with no graceful transition whatsoever, I want to revisit the lawsuit complaint. If you were in a car with me, you would suddenly experience a sharp swerve into a side street with no warning. That is the jolt here.  (Sorry, I am getting tired. That was the best analogy I could come up with at this crazy hour.)

In my very first article, I focused my attention on the initial Complaint because that is where all lawsuits begin. I wanted to find out what the “Bachelor” producers (plaintiff) are accusing Carbone (defendant) of. I also wanted to see what the plaintiffs are presenting as their opening firing salvo. Most lawsuit complaints I read typically have “Exhibits” (supporting documentation) accompanying the Complaint. I was and continue to be suspicious that there were no exhibits whatsoever provided with this Complaint. I interpreted the lack of plaintiff exhibits as intentionally withholding of essential information.

Why is it that the Complaint conveniently leaves out exhibits that directly support Numbered Paragraphs 15 through 18 where the plaintiff accuses Carbone of sending those emails to show contestants? It would normally be appropriate to attach copies of those emails as exhibits.

Additionally, why are there no exhibits to support Numbered Paragraph 19 where the “Bachelor” producers allegedly sent “cease and desist” letters to Carbone? It would normally be appropriate to attach copies of the “cease and desist” letters as exhibits.

My guess is that a decision was made for publicity reasons to leave them out of the initial lawsuit complaint to prevent the general public from seeing and reporting on them. After all, a lawsuit complaint can be accessed by nearly anyone. It is in the public domain. The plaintiffs wanted everyone to know that a lawsuit was filed against Carbone and have everyone see the allegations (accusations) but didn’t provide the supporting documents to support those allegations. How convenient.

The majority of the press coverage so far has been from the December 2011 time fame, shortly after the lawsuit filing date. No one has bothered to follow up on the lawsuit (besides me) because it is “boring” and not gossip-friendly. It actually requires intelligence and brainpower to understand the big picture of what is truly happening with this lawsuit, not just the gossipy nature of Carbone’s alleged emails that has not yet been shown.

The “Bachelor” producers fired the first shot at Carbone but withheld the identity of the person(s) who allegedly received the emails and the ugly words within the “cease and desist” letters.

This says to me that the lawsuit is ABSOLUTELY about intimidating Carbone into silence, cooperation, or a settlement. The complaint was written just long enough and substantial enough to meet the minimum standard of a Complaint filing in an attempt to intimidate Carbone.

I want everyone to remember this. All signs point to pushing Carbone around and bleeding him dry while using the legal system as the puppet strings to jerk him around. As I said before, if it can happen to him as a one-man blogger, website owner, and entrepreneur, it can happen to any of us should we decide to follow in his footsteps.  This Hollywood Extortion Lawsuit needs to stop now.

For more “Bachelor” producers intimidation tactics, go read my last article: “Bachelor” Show Contracts: Is a $5 million Penalty for Violating a Confidentiality Clause Enforceable?

You should also read Attorney Oscar Michelen’s article: Penalty Provisions in Reality TV Contracts – Fair or Unenforceable?

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Look for the next article in Reality Steve Extorion Lawsuit commentary section.

If you haven’t done it yet, go sign the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit online petition.

Become part of RED STARS and LIKE the RED STARS Facebook Page.

And don’t forget to Follow the Mission: RED STARS Twitter account.

Continue reading »]]> I took some time over the weekend to explore some of “Reality Steve’s” earlier videos on YouTube and I stumbled upon the 5-part Celebrity Side Dish Interview with Reality Steve from August 2010. I initially thought it was one of his prior video blogs given the way it visually appears onscreen until I actually played the videos.

Given my interest in the “Bachelor” producers’ extortionate lawsuit against Reality Steve, I found several portions of the video interview both informative and interesting. What I found of particular interest was Carbone’s references to a “$5 million lawsuit” threat and a “confidentiality agreement”. I seem to recall him making references to these in his prior blog posts.

There is also mention of those items in the recent “Bachelor” producers lawsuit Complaint against Reality Steve, numbered paragraph 15 (under General Allegations), where it quotes one of Carbone’s alleged emails stating:

 “Let me just say, I’m very well aware of your contract. I also know that over 500 contestants have been on this show and not one of them has ever been sued for the $5 million. It’s just a scare tactic.”

The Plaintiffs, in numbered paragraph 11, state to the Court that all show participants, employees, and staff members must sign a contract that that contains confidentiality clauses and provisions.

“All past, current, and future participants in the Bachelor Series sign contracts with Plaintiffs that require them to maintain the confidentiality of all events that transpire on the Bachelor Series episodes prior their broadcast. Each member of the Bachelor Series’ cast and crew, as well as certain other employees, also sign contracts with confidentiality clauses that prevent them from divulging non-public information about any aspect of the episodes prior to their broadcast.”

Given these collective references by both Carbone and the “Bachelor” producers, I asked myself the question: Is the alleged $5 million penalty for violating a confidentiality clause within the “Bachelor” shows contracts truly enforceable?

In a phone conversation days earlier concerning the Reality Steve lawsuit, my friend and business associate, New York attorney Oscar Michelen made a passing comment that the “$5 million penalty is unenforceable.” Because we were focused on another aspect of the lawsuit Complaint, I didn’t follow up on that comment. However, his passing comment stuck in my mind.

Yesterday, I called Oscar and hit him point blank, “What did you mean by your comment that the $5 million penalty is unenforceable? Why is it unenforceable?

Because of our limited time and the fact that we had no copy of any “Bachelor” show contracts to read and review, we could only come up with some basic assumptions, analysis, and conclusions.

(Disclaimer: By no means what I write should be construed as legal advice for ANYONE. It is simply meant to be a basis of discussion over a hypothetical legal matter.)

First, the “Bachelor” contracts for its participants and contestants (except the show lead) do not appear to be employment contracts such as those that might be signed by actual non-talent employees.  According to Carbone’s prior blog comments, all show participants and contestants (except the show lead) do not get paid. They are freely “volunteering” their time to the “Bachelor” shows although the lodging, meals, beverages, props, supplies, travel, and other items used by show contestants are paid for by the production company.

I bring this up to point out the fact that potential liabilities and damages for not following through on stated responsibilities (such as keeping show “secrets” and NOT discussing non-public information) by non-paid show contestants would be less than those of paid employees or paid talent (such as the show lead) might have.

For example:  recent “Bachelor” Ben Flajnik (paid talent and show lead) would likely have a greater liability for violating confidentiality clauses than contestants Courtney and Lindzi who were non-paid contestants. Similarly, prior “Bachelor/Bachelorette” show leads Ashley, Brad, Ali, Jake, Jillian, Jason, Deanna, etc. all carry a greater weight of responsibility regarding violating confidentiality clauses than the multitudes of non-paid contestants eliminated over past seasons.

Second, there is a high likelihood that the “Bachelor” show contracts would be found to be an Adhesion Contract (Contract of Adhesion).

The Cornell University Law School defines an Adhesion Contract (Contract of Adhesion) as:

A standard form contract drafted by one party (usually a business with stronger bargaining power) and signed by the weaker party (usually a consumer in need of goods or services), who must adhere to the contract and therefore does not have the power to negotiate or modify the terms of the contract. Adhesion contracts are commonly used for matters involving insurance, leases, deeds, mortgages, automobile purchases, and other forms of consumer credit. Also known as adhesive contract; adhesory contract; adhesionary contract; take-it-or-leave-it contract; leonine contract.

Courts carefully scrutinize adhesion contracts and sometimes void certain provisions because of the possibility of unequal bargaining power, unfairness, and unconscionability. Factoring into such decisions include the nature of the assent, the possibility of unfair surprise, lack of notice, unequal bargaining power, and substantive unfairness. Courts often use the “doctrine of reasonable expectations” as a justification for invalidating parts or all of an adhesion contract: the weaker party will not be held to adhere to contract terms that are beyond what the weaker party would have reasonably expected from the contract, even if what he or she reasonably expected was outside the strict letter of agreement.

Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary defines an Adhesion Contract (Contract of Adhesion) as:

A contract that so strongly favors one party or so unfairly restricts another, that it creates a presumption that one party had no choice when entering into it. If a court determines that the contract is overly unfair, it may refuse to enforce the agreement against the disadvantaged party. An example of a contract of adhesion might be a form contract provided by an unethical leasing company. Adhesion contracts are often evidenced by the comparative strength of the parties– for example, a giant corporation as compared to an average citizen.

How about the example of a big, multi-million dollar Hollywood production company compared to a non-paid show contestant who left their home and job to be part of a reality show?

There is certainly no doubt in my mind that “Bachelor” producers present a “take it or leave it” proposition to potential and interested show contestants. For show contestants, there is not much negotiation power considering  “Bachelor” producers literally have hundreds of people to choose from who would gladly sign anything just to be on a reality show. Unpaid show contestants (those subject to elimination) either sign “The Contract” with the alleged $5 million penalty clause to maintain confidentiality or they don’t get on the show. It’s that simple.

An adhesion contract does not automatically mean the entire contract and all its clauses become unenforceable. It simply means that disproportionate or overly unfair clauses such as a $5 million penalty would likely be unenforceable.

Because the $5 million penalty would likely be ruled as unfair and disproportionate, the Courts would likely ask the plaintiff to prove their case and show actual damages caused. They would likely take into account and consider the relative importance, nature, and actual impact of the information being revealed to the general viewing audience, not simply a niche online audience interested in spoilers.

Most of the “secret” things Carbone reports on regarding the internal workings of the “Bachelor” shows are probably not so secret in the world of Hollywood and reality shows. From what I know, show business is an incestuous business where everyone knows everyone and there are few secrets to those “in the business”.

In a Court, there would likely be a “so what?” attitude regarding most of the trivial operational and logistical aspects of the show such as how they choose contestants, how eliminations work, how travel destinations are decided, how much money is paid to people, storyboarding, ITM interviews, etc.  The trivia is interesting and fun for fans to learn about but probably meaningless in the scope of determining actual, measurable damages.

Even if direct revealing of confidential information related to the precise and specific disclosure of every actual event and outcome of an entire season were to occur, the plaintiffs would still have a very difficult job to prove actual, measurable damages caused by them such as a significant drop in ratings/viewership or advertisers canceling their ads.

Quite simply, there have been no cases of “spoiling” of any kind that have actually made a material and measurable impact on ratings and viewership. The only so-called “damage” that I can see is the huge embarrassment factor for the management team running a sloppy show operation.  If they want absolute secrecy, hire more security, stay on closed sets on closed lots, and stop farming out work to third-party contractors.  Do all the work with in-house employees and most of their problems will be solved.

I agree with Carbone on one of his assertions that if a lawsuit were filed on any show contestant, it would immediately become a public matter generating news coverage.  I think maybe even a bit more so than the Reality Steve lawsuit. Remember, a lawsuit is public information and anyone has access to court filings. That is how I got my nose into all of this.

The exception to this is if the plaintiffs were to make a motion to seal the documents, testimony, and the like. Regardless, it would be difficult to seal the ENTIRE case unlike divorce cases which are understood to be highly personal matters involving personal finances and minor children. Divorce cases frequently get sealed but we aren’t discussing a domestic legal case either.

Very few judges would likely view a multi-million dollar Hollywood lawsuit against a lowly, show contestant as a matter of secrecy. In fact, I find it difficult that any judge would seal any documents of such a trivial case. After all, we are not talking about corporate espionage or matters of national security. We are discussing what sort of information lowly, unpaid show contestant could possible squeal about to bring an entire show to its financial knees and cause financial harm.

Essentially, ABC Network would have to drop the “Bachelor” reality shows, advertisers would have to pull out, or ratings and viewership would have to drop significantly. Frankly, ABC Network is in the money-making business and would not likely do anything unless ratings and viewership dropped significantly. To attribute a significant drop in viewership or ratings to any loose-lipped, non-paid show contestant or a one-man entertainment blogger from Texas will be a difficult job indeed.

Ultimately, given my limited research and analysis, I must say I agree with Carbone that the alleged $5 million penalty is a scare tactic that is largely unenforceable. If a multi-million dollar lawsuit were filed by the “Bachelor” producers, it would be an intimidation tactic to “teach someone a lesson” and to meat-grind the defendant down by making them incur expensive legal fees to defend the case. The vindictive and punishment lawsuit would probably cause some eye-rolls and the plaintiffs a huge amount of unfavorable PR and publicity trying to financially ruin and meat-grind down a lowly, unpaid show contestant.

 Last thing, I would love to see a copy of the “Bachelor” show contract and do a legal analysis of it. I don’t want to know who you are. All I care is about the contract. The best way to ensure absolute anonymity is to make sure you redact your name and all identifying information and FAX it to 888-696-3441. Or you can mail a copy to: Intrepid Network, PO Box 9623, Columbus, GA 31908.

You should also read Attorney Oscar Michelen’s article: Penalty Provisions in Reality TV Contracts – Fair or Unenforceable?

(BONUS COMMENTARY: This is most certainly NOT legal advice! Read and understand at your own peril!)

In case anyone cares what I would do given what I know and how I interpret the law (which is enough to be very dangerous to myself! LOL!), I would almost prefer to have a $5 million judgment against me than a $50,000 one simply because I view a $50,000 judgment as payable within a lifetime but not a $5 million one. If I am going to declare bankruptcy, it would be embarrassing for me to do so over a “small” amount. But I would NOT be embarrassed to declare and file bankruptcy over a $5 million judgment from Hollywood. In fact, I would probably talk it up and brag about it!

If I thought I might have to spend a ton of money (over several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars) to defend a case, I would probably file a court answer of some kind to go on the record of my position, make some motions to fight it a bit, but ultimately let them win a default judgment if it became too expensive. Once the default judgment was in place, I would pay $1,500 to a bankruptcy attorney to file Chapter 7 and clear that judgment and all my personal debts away in one fell swoop then move on with my life unencumbered.

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Look for the next article in Reality Steve Extorion Lawsuit commentary section.

If you haven’t done it yet, go sign the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit online petition.

Become part of RED STARS and LIKE the RED STARS Facebook Page.

And don’t forget to Follow the Mission: RED STARS Twitter account.

Continue reading »]]> This article was originally posted on ExtortionLetterInfo.com. This article is Part 3 of ongoing coverage of the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit. To support the fight against the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit:

• Sign the “Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit” Online Petition on Change.org.
• Follow the RED STARS Twitter Account.
• LIKE the RED STARS Facebook Page.

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I almost don’t know how to start this post because I am still a bit dizzy by the many thousands of people who have read my article: “Bachelor” TV Producers Extortion Lawsuit Against “Reality Steve”.  I said I was going to write a 3^rd article on what I consider to be a proposed action plan if I were in Steve’s shoes. Unfortunately, this is not that article because I need time to process what has happened today and all the reader comments regarding “Reality Steve” Lawsuit Update and his link referral to my article.

Starting out, I want to thank Carbone for his kind words about me and my article and linking to it. I was a bit stunned to find out he would do this. I know he is amazed by the time and effort I put into the article but that is because he doesn’t know me.  Some people who know me consider me a “freak show” because I do things that don’t make sense to most people. But that is ok because in a short 12-hour window, 10,000 people read that article based on an impulse decision Sunday night and I have not yet gotten spanked or a bruising online. (Thank you for that.)

Enough of basking in the sunshine. Let’s get to work to the issues of this article.

There have been many vocal supporters for “Reality Steve” but there have been a disturbing number of detractors and “not so nice” comments as well. At the risk of being attacked or being bombed myself, I want to share some thoughts that I hope you will consider.

Without getting too much into my personal and professional history, let me say that I very much relate to Carbone’s position as a blogger/website owner.  I have been harassed and threatened by lawyers with false DMCA takedown notices and warning letters from so-called knowledgeable lawyers representing much larger opponents than myself.  I have been accused of defamation, libel, slander, copyright infringement, and trademark infringement in my online writings. But none of it ever panned out because when push came to shove, there was no case and I have, fortunately, not yet been sued for anything Internet speech-related. But let me assure you, the ongoing concern and threat is very real. You never know when someone is going to send you a legal notice. Can you imagine always having to watch what you post and what you say all the time? That is what happens when you take center stage on a high-profile website.

There is a fine line of exercising the liberty and the freedom to free speech vs. risking incurring the wrath of some large corporate entity which often happens when you decide to write, quote, comment, editorialize, and satirize about them. It gets their noses bent in a joint. Carbone apparently has been relentlessly mocking and simply too accurate for his own good with his ongoing accuracy.

Many “Reality Steve” readers seem to be upset and outraged with Carbone’s online persona that comes across as brash, bold, self-congratulatory, arrogant, condescending, rude, insulting, ugly, dismissive, etc.  But from what I can tell of Carbone’s history of online writings, he has ALWAYS been that way.  In fact, he self-describes his blog with a big web banner on his home page as “slanted, sophomoric, and skewed view”. Is it truly a surprise and outrage if he adopts and lives up to his advertised online persona?  So many people criticize Howard Stern for his outrageousness yet millions of people still tune in. Why do Reality Steve haters keep coming back for more “punishment”?

Interestingly, if you watch any of his videos, Carbone comes across very differently. I have only watched two of his videos: the one with his mother and the episode before that. Steve is no Howard Stern.  He doesn’t even live up to the “arrogant sophomoric” persona of “Reality Steve”. Sure, you will see Carbone roll his eyes, get irritable, dismissive, and other minor displays of his online persona. But it comes NOWHERE close to how he writes.  Why is that?

Because “Reality Steve” is NOT “Real Steve”. Pay attention to the fact he seems to loves Maddie (his dog), keeps a clean organized apartment/house, has a great and fun relationship with his mother, frets about being dateless and the challenges of looking for an ideal woman to get along with, and the fact he is much more subdued on-camera. I would say that the humanity and “normalness” within Carbone comes through, much more so than his online persona. If I were to criticize Carbone, I would say that he is NOT living up to his website billing.

I find it interesting that Carbone is now being criticized for being humble and polite for asking for help. I think he would have been criticized either way. It is true that Carbone ultimately takes responsibility for what happens but there comes a time in life, especially when facing down the barrel of a $75,000 lawsuit from a deep-pocketed opponent, you need to swallow your pride and openly ask for help. I am glad he did this on behalf of himself and all other bloggers that would get bullied by another deep-pocketed media company.

Carbone is being accused of asking for help. But has anyone ever seen or paid a big lawyer bill?  I have and it isn’t fun. It is even less fun when you have to make monthly payments because you can’t afford to pay the entire bill in one sitting like a utility bill.  Where I live, lawyer rates are around $200-$250/hour. My lawyer friend in New York charges $400-$450/hour.  I speculate that Carbone is paying his California lawyer between $350-$400/hour.

I have looked at the docket of legal activity so far.  Without any information from Carbone or his lawyer, I am quite certain he has racked up at least 10 hours by now, probably more. If not, he will hit that very soon.  Let’s do the math here. Assuming the “low rate” of $350/hour, he has incurred around $3,500 with very little to show for except the ongoing stress.

I have no idea what Paypal contributions are coming in but I find it difficult to believe that Carbone’s average Paypal contribution is more than $10/person. It would take 350 people to contribute at an average of $10/contribution.  Let’s double that to an average $20/contribution.  He would have to get at least 175 contributions. Even at an average $50/contribution (which is far-fetched), it would take 70 contributions to pay that ”small” legal bill (up to this point)!

Carbone states on his Twitter feed that he is “overwhelmed by donations so far”. I suspect he is overwhelmed by the actual number of people, more than the actual size and dollar amounts of the donations. Each time someone makes a Paypal Contribution, Carbone gets an email. For all of Carbone’s online bluster, if you read between the lines, asking for help is not something he does well. He seems genuinely appreciative (as I would be) of ANY Paypal contribution. He certainly isn’t going to complain that he is “only” getting $10 even though he knows darn well that he needs a lot more per person. It is simply rude, impolite, and bad form to ask for more.

On his Twitter feed, Carbone says “the total amount will never come close to what I actually owe, but anything helps.” I absolutely believe this statement to be true because I have done the math on this.

By my calculations, I have been VERY conservative to illustrate my points. More than likely, his actual numbers are much, much scarier.

For some to tell Carbone to get a part-time job, even at $20/hour (huge for a part-time job), he would have to work 18 hours to pay one-billable hour! This doesn’t include Federal Tax, FICA, and the other deductions out an employee check! It is easy for someone to say but the reality is much harsher.

Carbone needs to use his brain, creativity, crowdsourcing, ingenuity, old-fashioned hustle, and other non-lawyer tactics to get through this ordeal, not get a job. His community and power to reach mainstream media is his most powerful asset at this point.

Regarding criticisms of Carbone quitting his job to devote to “Reality Steve” full-time, I encourage you to be open to my thoughts on the matter.

Years ago, Carbone stumbled into the whole “Reality Steve” gig and his entrepreneurial spirit kicked in whereby he saw the opportunity to make a business out of his hobby. What person wouldn’t want to get paid doing their hobby?  Most people hate or dislike what they do.

By becoming self-employed doing something he enjoyed, he freed up his previous position for another person needing or wanting a job.  Think about this. In this recession that has hurt so many, Carbone with passion, uncertainty, courage, and conviction kicked himself out of a reasonably secure job freeing that position for someone who wants or needs a job. If more people kicked themselves out of a secure job to become self-employed/self-sufficient, there would be more jobs available for those that want or need one. If you tell Steve to quit the “Reality Steve” gig, you will force him to take a position that someone else might want. Remember, Carbone “created” his job.  There wasn’t a “Help Wanted” sign or a newspaper ad for a “Reality Steve” blogging job.

Some people may not like it but his advertisers like what he does and they appear to be happy to pay him for it. Carbone isn’t taking anyone’s job, isn’t on welfare, food stamps, public housing, and paying his way in life from what I can tell. If anything, “Reality Steve” is a true case study of successful entrepreneurship in the Internet age. Time will ultimately tell how long it lasts. But for now, as a startup story, there are many great lessons. Make no mistake, the “Bachelor” lawsuit against him will test and challenge Carbone on so many levels, in many ways, much of it unknown to the public. I don’t have Carbone’s reach or status with “Reality Steve” but I know something about the “behind-the-scenes” work and challenges that the general public never sees. Like Carbone, I’ve had to work plenty of hours for free before we ever received a penny to spend.

It is easy to criticize Carbone of what he “should” do because none of us, including me, is in his position. The “Reality Steve” brand is unique. There are many spoiler sites but they don’t do it like Carbone.  Even the harshest critics and haters keep coming back for more!  Carbone is a one-man show trying to figure this out as he goes. I get the impression there aren’t many people in his inner circle that can truly understand the position he is in.

Carbone has been reluctant to speak out on the lawsuit or even to ask for help. I publicly called him out for suffering in silence and not asking for help. This fight is much bigger than him, and he absolutely needs to understand this. I know it is a shitty deal. He never signed up to become a symbol and a representative to bloggers nationwide but that is where he is at.  Any blogger with half a sense of scope should watch the “Reality Steve” lawsuit very closely and understand the underlying ramifications if the case does not go well or if Carbone ends up being silenced by a “back office” settlement agreement. I am not saying Carbone should NOT consider settling but he could pay a dear and irreversible price to stay silent.

I still have some issues of him being so silent in his own defense but I am certain his lawyers are recommending that he keep comments to a minimum. I am currently working through the thought process and pros and cons of that course of action.

But Carbone did something great for himself.  He publicly declared:

One point I wanted to mention about something he wrote and that is where Matthew speculates, “But the fact of the matter is even if everything the plaintiffs claim of Carbone is true, so what?” in reference to the claim from the plaintiffs alleging that I paid people under contract to give me non-public information. The allegation is not true. While I definitely agree with his position, I am here to say that I do not pay people for non-public information that I post on my site. Just wanted to make that point absolutely clear.”

To Carbone, why the heck did it take you so long to state this again? If this is true, you need to keep saying it repeatedly and reminding EVERYONE of this fact.  It is absolutely material to the lawsuit! (I don’t want to get into legal analysis again right now as to why. I will pick that up later why that is VERY important.)

Last thing I want to acknowledge in this article, is for the conspiracy theorists. There was a comment by aatxcutie.

Um, guys be very careful about donating. There is definitely a common theme in both Chan’s website and Steve’s so called legal plight. Chan’s first blog post came about the same time so many negative posters came forward to post here. I smell a HUGE RAT@!!!!

The common theme is that both Carbone and I are bloggers, entrepreneurs, and website owners that have been legally threatened by lawyers and put in a position to have to fight back to stand up for what we do and believe in. We both had to pay to defend ourselves.  He is paying with money.  I paid using a TON of my time that should have been spent elsewhere. So yes, I can relate to him. Almost too much so.

Regarding the so-called timing of my original post? From what I recall, Reality Steve has always had its fair share of critics and naysayers. I am a casual reader and I don’t typically read the comments, mostly Carbone’s humorous commentaries. I have no clue as to the ebb and flow of his critics or the negative comments. Someone gives Carbone and me way too much credit to think this whole thing up. It is entirely coincidental.

As I have said, in scanning RealitySteve.com Sunday night, I stumbled onto one of Carbone’s cryptic references to his lawsuit. He said to go look in public records and I did exactly that. I was obviously outraged enough to bang out the article that I did. Somehow, a reader found my post and emailed Carbone.  And Carbone apparently decided of his own accord that he wanted to share my article with the world early Wed afternoon (blowing up my blogs and hosting service along the way).

It is abundantly clear that Carbone and I now know of each other’s existence but we have kept each other at a professional distance. He has offered no information to me. I have asked no information from him. As far as I know, he has no intentions to call me and I have no intentions to call him (I don’t have his number anyway and I won’t ask for it). It keeps everything clean for now. Carbone may be forbidden by his lawyers to speak out but I am not. By keeping Carbone at a personal and professional distance, I maintain my integrity and the full freedom to comment as I see fit because my commentary is entirely based on information that is publicly available and my own analysis.

I also want to keep this as impartial as I can without Carbone’s personal influence on me. I have the freedom to write what I want and how I want about his situation. It’s clear that I am an advocate for him (by virtue of his being a fellow blogger, website owner, and entrepreneur in a legal challenge.) But I do so under my own terms. Carbone, at any time, can choose to acknowledge or ignore my articles.

Naturally, I think he and his readers and fan base should pay close attention to what I have to say because I am making some very important points.  This isn’t about me randomly jumping on a soapbox without purpose.  This is about my intent to help and advocate for Carbone in a way that no one wants to or willing to (so far).  Someone has to because Carbone needs a helping hand right about now.  Carbone desperately needs to gain some leverage and equal footing against the “Bachelor” producers and he needs it NOW! Of course, that is MY biased and “slanted” opinion.

There are 3 courses of action for every reader to consider in the days to come:

1. Criticize, undermine, and work against Carbone. (I won’t spend much time here since there is plenty of that going on.)
2. Be a neutral observer.  You don’t help but you don’t hurt Carbone either. (I will try to sway and influence you to number 3.)
3. You positively assist, help, encourage, or contribute to Carbone’s cause. Everyone can do something to help even if it is simply writing and sending a kind word of support. (This is where I intend to focus and share my ideas.)

Thanks for reading. Check back for my next article on the “Reality Steve” lawsuit.

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Look for the next article in Reality Steve Extorion Lawsuit commentary section.

If you haven’t done it yet, go sign the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit online petition.

Become part of RED STARS and LIKE the RED STARS Facebook Page.

And don’t forget to Follow the Mission: RED STARS Twitter account.

Continue reading »]]> This article is Part 2 of ongoing coverage of the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit. To support the fight against the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit:

• Sign the “Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit” Online Petition on Change.org.
• Follow the RED STARS Twitter Account.
• LIKE the RED STARS Facebook Page.

========

It seems that no matter what I write, thoughts will hit me AFTER I finish writing a post. That is the case with my previous post “Bachelor” TV Producers Extortion Lawsuit Against “Reality Steve”. And here I am, writing a follow-up to get it out of my system. As was the case as the last post, I am not a lawyer but I have represented myself in a number of legal matters and I know just enough to be dangerous. That is my disclaimer.

It has been stunning to me the superficial coverage given to the “Reality Steve” lawsuit despite his huge readership and the amount of coverage by the entertainment/tabloid websites. So much focus has been given to Carbone’s alleged emails and the “juicy” gossip angle of Carbone allegedly offering money in exchange for information in an industry that does this as a matter of course. But there has been almost nothing about the larger and more serious ramifications of this lawsuit.

It is quite apparent with the entertainment/tabloid reporting I see that there is ZERO discussion on what the truly important fundamental issues are.  The issue of freedom of speech, free press, reporters privilege, and his right to engage in free, open speech, and free reporting is at stake here.  The legalities and circumstances of this case are of public interest, and there is no question that Carbone is a victim of heavy-handed “Hollywood extortion”.  For years, media companies of all kinds have continued their extortionate, bullying tactics of individuals. (Righthaven lawsuits, P2P/Bittorrent lawsuits, RIAA lawsuits, etc.) This one is no different.

There are the plaintiff arguments of “continued interference” designed to squelch Carbone into silence by grinding him away on the defense legal fees. But there has been no direct evidence or even claims of direct evidence I can see that Carbone was ever successful in his attempts. The alternative “victory” the “Bachelor” producers are looking for is to force Carbone to give up his confidential sources, which is a clear violation of his reporters privilege.

Carbone is very much a Hollywood outsider messing up the Hollywood “natural order” where everyone falls into line with monolithic industry. Carbone has uprooted the entertainment reporting/tabloid industry by showing everyone that a single individual can make a HUGE difference and he is making up his own rules as he goes.

If I were to accept Carbone’s claims as fact regarding the last few years of receiving spoiler information, it appears that Carbone has accidentally tapped into the power of Internet crowdsourcing. From Wikipedia, “Crowdsourcing is a distributed problem-solving and production process that involves outsourcing tasks to a network of people, also known as the crowd. This process can occur both online and offline. The difference between crowdsourcing and ordinary outsourcing is that a task or problem is outsourced to an undefined public rather than a specific other body.”

In simple terms, Carbone’s huge readership acts as his eyes and ears and does a lot of the footwork for him, gathering information and emailing it to him. He organizes, corroborates, and comments on information to the best of his abilities. He knows his reputation is at stake and there is no incentive to get it wrong. To people’s amazement, he has foot-soldier fans that do this “work” happily, freely, voluntarily, and anonymously. They do this because they believe in Carbone’s stated cause and mission: spoiling and making fun of the “Bachelor Series” reality shows.

Hollywood with its dictatorial power structure, gets power from strict organizational hierarchy by appealing to people’s inherent desires of greed, fame, and fortune with the nice insurance policy of heavy-handed confidentiality agreements. Because of the enormous wealth, fame, and fortune that Hollywood can bestow, no Hollywood attorney is going to beat down Carbone’s door to represent his relatively small blogging interests. In fact, even if Carbone offered to pay money, it wouldn’t be enough for most Hollywood lawyers because it would be political and financial suicide to undercut the Hollywood entertainment machine.

On the opposite end, Carbone with relatively little help, guidance, and legal representation, despite his sarcastic “Reality Steve” persona, gets his primary power by appealing to and entertaining his readership and tapping into the crowdsourcing phenomenon.  He is the figurehead that people look to fulfill the mission and they are more than willing to help him do it. There is the inner gratification of being a team player in a community for a person they like and respect.  I consider myself a faceless reader that decided to do something more than sit on the sidelines watching him get slowly and silently tortured by the legal process while the lawyers profit from this.

The reason why I can comfortably claim crowdsourcing is that ExtortionLetterInfo.com is a beneficiary of this phenomenon. People email me nearly every day about their extortion letter cases. All that collective information gives me an insight most individuals don’t have and allows me to be a strong advocate and figurehead for them.  I take this role seriously and do not abuse that privilege. In other “amateur” investigations I previously led, all kinds of people approached me through email and phone calls with their “secret” information. It’s amazing the information you get and what people will tell you if you are a figurehead of a cause and promise and respect confidentiality.

Hence, it’s irrational to think that with with such open, on-location, continent-jumping production of the “Bachelor Series” shows that bystanders and fans would not get wind of which show participants are left standing and tell Carbone about it. Ben Flajnik’s season was clear evidence of this. Let’s face it, people will innocently gossip, which will make its way outwards.  It is also irrational to think that Carbone doesn’t have access to thousands of foot-soldier fans volunteering to be his eyes and ears.  Someone should go check out his incredible Alexa ratings. Don’t take my word for it regarding the Reality Steve traffic.

Quite simply, what “The Bachelor” producers are doing is trying to destroy this Internet crowdsourcing effort that Carbone harnessed whose simple mission is to find out what happens next on the “Bachelor Series” reality shows.

As a fan of superhero and science-fiction movies where secrecy is the norm and paramount (no pun intended), NONE of the movie production companies seem to sue bloggers even those that spoil the movies. Witness the recent photo leaks of Star Trek 2. The producers led by JJ Abrams are upset, but they don’t seem to be on a rampage to go suing someone. You know why?  It isn’t smart, they aren’t that insecure, and know they know it is based on LOVE and PASSION of the movie, not hatred.  In fact, owners of the Star Trek franchise have gone out of their way to embrace bloggers who talk about them and intentionally “leak” information to them. There is a peaceful co-existence. Contrast that to how Carbone is being vilified and attacked. How insecure, childish, and short-sighted the producers are.

It is also plain bad PR to sue one of your largest readership and fans just because you don’t like the way they express their opinions.  A casual visit to RealitySteve.com shows that even his harshest critics read and visit his site.  That says something when even haters feel compelled to tune in and comment to Carbone’s online musings. Just like Carbone says in his blog, the Bachelor shows may get trashed all the time but, guess what? They get the viewership anyway.  Yes, even Carbone’s viewership when he does his reviews.  In many ways, Carbone is probably the singular most powerful blog marketing machine for the “Bachelor” reality shows but the producers are too dumb and short-sighted to see this. They cannot see “Reality Steve” for what it is: another entertainment reporting/tabloid outlet with a very loyal and niched following.  Most people and businesses would kill to tap into that readership but the not the producers.  Because they are so wonderfully smart and insightful.  They are even smarter than the producers of the movie franchises.

I was talking to a lawyer friend about the worst-case scenario for Carbone. From what little I know of Carbone (I have never met or spoken to the man only what he shares on his entertainment site), Carbone doesn’t strike me as a wealthy guy.  He is a middle-class guy with maybe some savings in a retirement account and maybe a few bucks for a rainy day.  Assuming Carbone did lose, what does that truly mean?  If “Bachelor” producers score a court win, how does that translate into reality? (no pun intended). I took the time to revisit the original legal complaint and played a “what if” game if Carbone lost on ALL counts.

Certainly, it would send a chilling message and legal precedent to others who want to be in the spoiling (behind-the-scenes entertainment reporting) business.  But then, the “Bachelor” producers would also kill off one of their best and largest “Bachelor” blog marketing machines on the Internet.  Do they truly care about legal precedent or keeping the “Bachelor” franchise going?  My guess is that the franchise is more important.  The aftermath would certainly send ripples of negative publicity of their “winning victory” over one-man show and clear underdog Carbone.

Every season of the “Bachelor Series” shows, going forward, would inevitably be tainted by gossip of how the “Bachelor” producers killed off and squashed Reality Steve with their extortion and bullying tactics.  And I guarantee you, all the tabloids would pick up the story.  This would probably be a case study discussed for years to come in journalism and law classrooms.  It would be a marketing and PR case example of what NOT to do with the biggest blogger of your fan base. The blogging community would be up in arms about one of their own being brought to financial ruin and silenced by “Hollywood extortionists” who had such poor organizational management skills to contain their own show production.

Although I have never met or spoken with Carbone, I very much consider Carbone a kindred spirit as a blogger. Certainly, his online reach and stature is far greater than mine, but we are fellow bloggers and entrepreneurs who use the power of the Internet to serve others. I inform and educate. Carbone in the entertainment business.

Let’s say “Bachelor” producers won a monetary judgment of anywhere between $1 to $40,000, Carbone could probably pay this off and retain his ability to freely speak out (which is very important).  $40,000 is the price of a luxury car. He could pay this off within a few years assuming he even bothered to cooperate. A monetary judgment would ding his credit but he can join the other millions of people who had their credit dinged living through the recession. If Carbone doesn’t have real estate, that judgment just sits out there without an asset to stick to. Retirement accounts can’t be touched, only accounts in his personal name and Reality Steve LLC could be.

If Carbone does have real estate, the judgment might stick to his property but it would only be an issue if he ever decided to sell the property. If there was equity in the home, he could use that to pay off some or all of the judgment. If there was none, then we have another upside down house on the market to walk away from.

If the monetary judgment including punitive damages and legal fees were $50,000 and higher, it would be a tough call for Carbone whether he would consider bankruptcy.  If it were me, I would seriously consider filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy and clear the financial deck including his credit cards and any other outstanding debts he might have.  As an entrepreneur, you have to be prepared to win some and lose some.  It is all a matter of degree. There is little shame nowadays in bankruptcy given the circumstances and he would simply be another statistic in this massive recession. He could turn a bad situation into one that actually benefited him by disposing any consumer debts.

The injunction the plaintiffs desperately want is probably going to be the easiest part. Carbone doesn’t have to lose the lawsuit to comply. There is no incentive for him to have anything to do with the “Bachelor” shows and he can freely talk about his “loss”. Having a court mandate an injunction is a non-issue.

A win by the plaintiff would probably put Carbone out of business and Reality Steve LLC would become a shell company devoid of any assets.  Most small, closely-held corporate entities don’t hold much assets in them. They are mostly a business front and tax-saving mechanism, not an asset-holding entity.  Certainly, not the visible ones anyway.

So, in my view, even if the “Bachelor” producers win, they could still lose in so many ways. How do I know this? I have won a number of judgments over the years and they didn’t weren’t worth much more than the paper they were printed on because you cannot squeeze blood or collect from a rock.  Or if that rock decides to stubbornly burrow underground out of sight, it becomes an unpleasant exercise. Garnishments can be very difficult against self-employed entrepreneurs especially when they work for themselves and have the freedom and ability to move money at a moments notice.

Quite frankly, the “Bachelor” producers aren’t in this lawsuit for the money at all.  That is only a big sledgehammer to hold over Carbone’s head. They want to squeeze him so that he will relinquish his reporters privileges and reveal his sources. They would like for Carbone to give up his Fifth Amendment rights and say something (squeal) that will damage and incriminate himself. They want to subvert his reporting at nearly all costs even if it tramples the First Amendment.  Obviously, I am not an attorney of any kind but that sounds very similar to what a SLAPP lawsuit is all about.

There is no question that there are Reality Steve critics and naysayers. But I would venture to say that, by and large, most of his readership are moderate people such as myself who simply enjoy the entertainment provided by Carbone through the “Reality Steve” persona. And most of them really dislike the Goliath vs. David fight. It is disgusting and distasteful to watch. That is the reason why the court docket bears watching and monitoring and the complaint bears reading. Unlike most reporters who don’t know how to interpret the docket, I am following that docket closely.

I know there is little money and little excitement to actually look at the legalities of this very important and potentially precedent-setting case but I think it’s important for people to know there are wider implications. If they can do this to Carbone, who else can they do this to?

The freedom for an individual blogger to exercise his right to free speech and become a member of the  free press if he chooses to. Somehow, the plaintiffs are painting themselves as these helpless victims who cannot control their own show participants and Carbone is being vilified as a person who allegedly influenced and paid money for information.  The show participants could have easily said no and delete any alleged emails and messages from Carbone. Where is the personal responsibility in all this? Why is all the blame being laid at Carbone’s feet? His biggest crime is simply being too good at his job.

This post has gotten long and I think I am done with the legal arguments.

But I want to do an outtake post “What I Would Do If I was Steve Carbone”. I think he and other bully victims need to pay attention.

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Look for the next article in Reality Steve Extorion Lawsuit commentary section.

If you haven’t done it yet, go sign the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit online petition.

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Continue reading »]]> This article was originally posted on ExtortionLetterInfo.com. This article is Part 1 of ongoing coverage of the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit. To support the fight against the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit:

• Sign the “Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit” Online Petition on Change.org.
• Follow the RED STARS Twitter Account.
• LIKE the RED STARS Facebook Page.

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In a case of “Hollywood Extortion”, the producers and distributors of the hit ABC TV reality shows “The Bachelor”, “The Bachelorette”, and “Bachelor Pad” filed a heavy-handed, extortionate lawsuit against Reality Steve blogger, Stephen Carbone of Texas on December 6, 2011. That lawsuit is named: NZK Productions et al vs. Stephen Carbone et al. I refer to it as the “Bachelor” producers vs. Reality Steve lawsuit.

As our regular readers know, ExtortionLetterInfo.com primarily focuses on defending against stock photo extortion letters. Because of my own personal interest in nearly all things media, ELI began following other forms of extortion by media-related companies such as Righthaven (newspaper industry). In the normal course of online discussions, past extortion tactics such as the RIAA lawsuits and P2P lawsuits also entered the conversation.

This case of Hollywood extortion came to my attention by virtue of Stephen Carbone’s repeated references to his lawsuit on his blog and website, RealitySteve.com. Like millions of other viewers, I am an occasional viewer of “The Bachelor Series” of reality shows including “The Bachelor”, “The Bachelorette”, and “Bachelor Pad”. (Don’t give me grief over this, please.)

My curiosity finally got better of me and I decided to dig further into this with PACER along with the RECAP Firefox add-in tool. Steve was helpful with his blog reference “check the public records of the Western Division of California Federal Court from Dec. 7th“. I did exactly that and found his lawsuit using Justia.com except the filing date is listed as December 6, 2011. (Small detail, I easily found it. He was off by 1 day.)

RECAP is a helpful tool to determine if someone else has previously downloaded a particular document in PACER using the RECAP tool. The only thing I saw that was downloaded that was recorded by RECAP was the docket. Interestingly, the Complaint was unrecorded by RECAP. So, I spent the $1.12 to see the complaint myself. (You can thank me for that little contribution to RECAP.)

The lawsuit lists NZK Productions Inc. (formed in CA 8/12/2009) and Horizon Alternative Television Inc. (registered in CA 7/11/2006 , formed in DE 6/19/2006) as plaintiffs. The Hollywood Reporter article from December 7, 2011 initially reported that the plaintiffs of the Reality Steve lawsuit are the producers of the reality shows, “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette”. However, the lawsuit further reveals that the plaintiffs are producers and distributors of all three “Bachelor Series” reality shows: “The Bachelor”, “The Bachelorette”, and “Bachelor Pad” airing on the ABC Network.

The lawsuit lists Stephen Carbone (individually), Reality Steve LLC, and Does (1 through 10) as the defendants. The February 24, 2012 docket entry reveals the members of Reality Steve LLC to be Stephen Carbone and Yea! Networks LLC (a single-member LLC whose sole member’s name is yet unknown).  The plaintiffs allow for Does (1 through 10) in the event there are more unknown parties related to this case.

The lawsuit claims that there is “diversity of citizenship” which means that the parties reside in multiple states which would require escalation of the matter to Federal court and remove it from State court. The plaintiff claims in the lawsuit that the matter exceeds $75,000 not including interest, costs, and attorney fees.

On Carbone’s popular blog and website, RealitySteve.com, Carbone has long claimed that show participants and show production employees are required to sign confidentiality agreements preventing them from publicly sharing information of the internal workings and production of the show as well as event outcomes. For the last few years, Carbone regularly posts spoilers (allegedly provided by his private sources), news, editorials, and commentary on the “Bachelor Series” reality shows.

Based on Carbone’s blog comments, RealitySteve.com has long been a thorn in the ABC Networks and “Bachelor” producers’ sides because of the relentless, ongoing and especially accurate nature of his spoilers reporting. Further beyond the spoilers themselves, Carbone regularly uncovers and reports many aspects of the secret inner workings of the show to the delight and entertainment of his fans and readership.

In my reading of the lawsuit allegations against Carbone and Reality Steve, it would appear that Carbone contacted various contestants via email and Facebook and offered monetary compensation for information he could not freely attain. The allegations contend that Carbone was issued written warnings on August 12, 2011 and November 22, 2011 before the lawsuit was ultimately filed on December 6, 2011.

What the plaintiffs are seeking through this lawsuit, is an amount greater than $75,000, punitive damages, attorney fees and costs, and an injunction (essentially a cease-and-desist order) on Carbone and Reality Steve from “interfering with Plaintiffs contracts with participants and employees of the Bachelor series…by soliciting non-public information from participants and employees regarding events that transpire…prior to their broadcast and by offering monetary inducements to participants and employees to disclose such information.”

In reading this lawsuit, there is no question in my mind that the “Bachelor” producers have gone out of their way to put a stomping on their hated mosquito, Carbone. They are indirectly trying to stop and silence the ongoing insider and spoiler reporting and commentary Carbone regularly provides on RealitySteve by claiming “continuing interference”.

In reading a few of Carbone’s comments about the “Bachelor” lawsuit against him, Carbone is not supposed to openly comment on the specifics of his case presumably not to make matters worse for himself by directly or indirectly admitting that he made efforts to contact participants and employees.

But the fact of the matter is even if everything the plaintiffs claim of Carbone is true, so what?  What Carbone does with RealitySteve.com is in the same entertainment reporting/tabloid genre as TMZ, PerezHilton, US Magazine, People, National Enquirer, Star Magazine, x17Online, and Eonline. They all dig for dirt, inside information, and yes (gasp!) they pay for it when they can’t get the juicy information for free.

Why aren’t they being sued? One reason is that Carbone is actually too good at what he does. If most of his spoilers and inside information were inaccurate, the “Bachelor” producers would simply laugh Carbone off as another kooky blogger. But the fact that they filed a lawsuit against him is very telling. Carbone is very good at what he does.

The other reason why they are suing Carbone is that he is an easy target. Carbone is a one-man entertainment tabloid reporter who accidentally found a very successful (and perhaps profitable) niche in entertainment reporting focusing on the “Bachelor” reality shows. Because he is largely a one-man operation and not a traditional news reporting organization, that makes him financially vulnerable to ongoing legal fees.

Carbone’s lawyer needs to step up his game here.  This is a Goliath vs. David fight where the “Bachelor” producers are clearly the big bullies and Carbone is essentially the little, lone David. Someone needs to get the word out here. If I were Carbone, I would be rallying his supporters for the possibility of a legal fight where he might need reader Paypal contributions for legal funds. Don’t be too proud to ask for help against a much larger, deep-pocketed foe. Get the court of public opinion on your side. This is where his huge readership can come in to help. There might be some smart lawyers amongst them. Ask them if they are willing to help.

I would also contact the folks at EFF. This is the type of high-profile case they would be interested in where a big, bad TV production company tries to stomp on, put a squashing, and otherwise step on the reporting rights of an individual blogger. This case is just ripe for publicity of a yet another large media operation bullying and stepping on the rights of Internet freedom for individuals.

No one in Hollywood will stand up for Carbone because he is clearly outside of the Hollywood system. For someone to stand up for Carbone, would probably mean being blacklisted in Hollywood. The “Bachelor” participants who reported these emails seemed to be pandering to the “Bachelor” producers. I find it difficult to believe they couldn’t block Carbone’s email address or Facebook account if his messages were truly unwelcome.

The lawsuit included some sample messages Carbone allegedly sent. The messages and monetary offers Carbone allegedly sent were often light-hearted, humorous, and certainly non-threatening. Quite frankly, those messages are entirely congruent with his online persona. There is nothing remotely illegal about what Carbone allegedly did in his communications.

I find it interesting that these super-powered, Hollywood lawyers who wrote these supposedly iron-clad contracts and confidentiality agreements would be so afraid and threatened by a lone Texas blogger that gives additional visibility and publicity to that show.

I find the plaintiff allegations laughable to say that what Carbone allegedly did is “unfair and illegal conduct” with his “continuing interference”. How is it “unfair”?  That makes it sound like Carbone has more power and influence over the “Bachelor” participants and employees than its producers and that the producers are at Carbone’s mercy. Give me a freaking break.

Since when did it ever become illegal to send someone a personal email or Facebook message? Carbone might have done it more than once to different participants but it didn’t sound like he ran a spamming campaign and no one is accusing him of harassment. He might be offering bribes for inside information but he is not any more guilty than any other entertainment/tabloid reporting publication.

And what about this “continuing interference” nonsense? How is he “interfering” with show operations? From what I can tell, Carbone does most of his Reality Steve work from the comfort of his home in Texas using an ordinary computer to write his blogs and electronically communicate with his information sources and readership community. It isn’t like Carbone is anywhere near Los Angeles (or any other locale) that the show films stalking “Bachelor” participants or employees and offering bribes.

And even if Carbone is offering money in exchange for inside information, isn’t that one of the reasons why the “Bachelor” producers make their participants and employees sign heavy-handed contracts with precise, well-worded confidentiality clauses in their agreements? I am absolutely certain these contracts and agreements cover the consequences of breaking a confidentiality agreement. It falls upon the show participants and employees to uphold their end of the agreement, not Carbone. And what Carbone allegedly did comes nowhere close to entrapping anyone. How hard is it to say no and decline an email or Facebook message offer? It is only one delete-button or delete-click away.

The entertainment reporting/tabloid industry as a matter of course persistently and aggressively looks for news to entertain and feed its readership. And if they have to pay to entice potential informants and information sources to share their information, they will do it. It is perfectly legal and well-accepted in the entertainment reporting/tabloid industry that Carbone and RealitySteve.com clearly works in.

I know some might scream entrapment. The only thing Carbone allegedly offers is payment for information. How many times have we heard of sting operations where female police officers wear provocative, sexy clothing to lure unsuspecting victims to solicit prostitution to bust them? What Carbone does is far more tame and less intrusive than the above scenario.

If the show participants and employees were bothered by it, they can simply block or delete Carbone’s messages. It isn’t difficult in Facebook or most email programs. There is no indication or allegation that Carbone harassed anyone.  From what I can see, the “Bachelor” producers have it in for Carbone and this is their excuse to make a legal move on him.

The lawsuit alleges “injury to Plaintiffs reputation and goodwill…with ABC and other television show distributors who must rely on Plaintiffs to ensure that their shows’ contents are not “spoiled” by pre-broadcast disclosure.” What this tells me is that the “Bachelor” producers are filing this lawsuit, in part, to make themselves look good in front of ABC and the other TV show distributors. The fact that the “Bachelor” operations cannot keep secrets season after season is an internal organizational matter. It comes down to poor management. They are embarrassed that other TV productions of much larger shows can keep secrets but they keep failing miserably season after season all because of one lone entertainment reporter/blogger. This is a CYA effort in a huge way.

If they don’t like the “Bachelor” secrets getting out, then they better have better security or start filming the show in closed sets. How about getting better management, do a better job, increase security, and run a tighter ship?  To make Carbone their scapegoat is simply pathetic and embarrassing.

What Carbone needs to seriously consider is to file a countersuit against the “Bachelor” producers. They started the fight and he has been put in a defensive position. Well, he should take a page out of the Righthaven lawsuits and countersue for punitive damages, costs, and attorney fees also. And for gosh sake, contact EFF immediately and get their feedback!  This will send a strong message to Hollywood and other abusive media companies from engaging in extortionistic tactics against small individuals to get their way.

This is clearly a frivolous SLAPP lawsuit designed to bully and extort Carbone into silence and submission. RealitySteve.com is part of the free press and he has the rights of free and open reporting and freedom of expression on his side. And everyone needs to know about this. If this can happen to him as a blogger, it can happen to anyone of us.

The best way the ordinary person can help Carbone is to create publicity and awareness of his plight. Right now, this story has been relegated to Hollywood circles. They don’t care about him and they won’t help him.  But the blogging community should care. For far too long, big media has tried to control what we watch, hear, and know. Big media has consistently attempted to keep the power away from individuals. Stephen Carbone is one of us bloggers. Please spread the word and link to this blog post, the lawsuit, and give Steve a word of encouragement. If you are a lawyer with a blog that wants to help an underdog, please comment and provide legal insights on this case. I will make sure your blog gets attention. Let’s help equalize the fight by giving Steve some legal ammunition and guidance to work with.

Last thing, for the conspiracy theorists, I don’t know Steve Carbone and have never met him. I have never communicated with him and he has no knowledge of this blog post. I wrote this blog post simply because as a fellow blogger, I am incensed. I know something about fighting back and one of those ways is getting the word out online which is what I know how to do.

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Update: This post has attracted such a large readership, I felt compelled to write a follow-up: Hollywood Extortion II: “Bachelor” Producers vs. “Reality Steve” Lawsuit Follow-up.

If you haven’t done it yet, go sign the Reality Steve Extortion Lawsuit online petition.

Become part of RED STARS and LIKE the RED STARS Facebook Page.

And don’t forget to Follow the Mission: RED STARS Twitter account.

Continue reading »]]> Normally, I watch Larry King Live on my TIVO.  But because I am in Portland working with a business friend and associate, I was forced to see Larry King Live on YouTube. I saw the interview of Carrie Prejean by Larry King and was stunned that she actually made herself look more of an idiot than she already had shown.

That interview was an embarrassment on so many levels. She had this annoying habit of clicking her fingernails on the interview desk during the beginning of the interview. She had no ability to make the distinction or counter Larry’s question as to her motive to dropping the lawsuit.

If she wanted to walk off the set, she should have left. Everyone would have been better off for it. Larry King is traditionally very polite and flattering to his guests.  If she can’t handle being interviewed with Larry, she can’t do it anywhere.

She is an idiot for not knowing why people continue to attack her.  It is because she continues to be a lightning rod and dredging the same crap up.  Even her so-called book seems to continue this.  The news had been calm for a few weeks until she decided to enflame the situation by filing a lawsuit against the pageant officials.

Fortunately, more hypocrisy was found of a secret solo-performance tape that shut her down.  Her lack of accountability is stunning. Her ability to distort the facts is stunning.  The fact that she claims she represents conservative women is embarrassing.  I know a lot of conservative women and none would ever behave like she does.

And I about laughed out loud when I her say about how much she accomplished in her 22-years.  Like what?  Parading around showing her body? Being unaccountable for anything bad that happened?  For being an intellectual midget? For continually seeking media attention, then complaining about it?

It is pretty rare for me to write a post of this kind about anyone but I had to vent somewhere.  Carrie Prejean is an idiot. She brought all this on herself and she deserves what she gets.  She needs to grow up. She is fooling very few people with her words.  They ring very hollow.

Continue reading »]]> During lunch, we went to the WB Commissary.  When I hear the word commissary, I am thinking it is this cafeteria where lots of people are being pushed through a food line and you have to sit in this rowdy lunch room.  Boy, was I tremendously happy I was completely off-base.

It turns out that the lunch included at the WB Commissary is actually a near fine-dining experience with nice table cloths, cloth napkins, and formal silverware with first-class service.  The menu and selection were those you would find from a formal restaurant except that this is the place were executives, producers, actors, other higher echelon employees would eat.

To give some perspective, the soup I ordered was $5.00, the salad was $8.00, the Diet Coke was $2.75, and the NY Steak was $24.00.  Remember, this is LUNCH, not dinner!  When I tallied my own bill, I easily had a $40.00 lunch without gratuity.  We were provided with a complimentary dessert (slice of pear pie) which by my estimation would have cost $6.00 on their menu.  Basically, if I had to pay for this entire dining experience with gratuity, this would have been close to a $60.00 lunch tab!

When I thought about the $150.00 ticket I purchased for the 5-hour tour, easily 1/3 of that cost went to the WB Comissary lunch experience.  I told the tour guide that I had expected a cafeteria or a box-lunch experience, not a fine-dining experience.  The food was good but the service was rushed mainly because the tour guide said that we did not pay to sit at lunch for over an hour.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed lunch, I had to agree with him.

He took us to a screening room which had an large-size mixer stretching to what I estimated to be at least 20 ft.  It was a very stylish and elegant room where there were many computer monitors connected to a network of Macintosh PCs.

We eventually went into another studio where a small orchestra could fit in and play music to be recorded.  Supposedly, this room was one that Clint Eastwood favored to record music for his own movies.

We visited a few sound stages.  We visited a huge sound stage where they made “The Perfect Storm” minus the filled tank of water.  We visited a sit-com sound stage similar to what they used when they made “Friends”.  We also visited the set of “Cold Case” where it looks a worn office of a city government building.  Once again, the attention to detail was extraordinary.  The furniture, cabinets, paperwork, books, folders, floor tiles, telephones, etc.

During one of our last stops, we went into the private WB Museum.  Being a fan of the Superman and Batman movies, I had the opportunity to closely inspect the superhero costumes.  The detail on the costumes were amazing.  You see way more in person than you can see on the movie screen.  There were costumes from “300″, Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions, and many other movies.  The 2nd floor was entirely dedicated to the Harry Potter movies.  I have to confess I have never seen a Harry Potter movie, nor have I ever attempted to read a Harry Potter book.  So, the whole Harry Potter thing did not do much for me.

In this review, I clearly cannot cover everything in the tour because I cannot remember every thing.  Even if I did, this is only a review, not a blow-by-blow account of my tour.

Overall, I felt I got tremendous value out of the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour (Deluxe version).  It is designed to be an attraction but it is also close to a 1-day educational experience.  I liked the fact there was only 10 of us on the tour and we really got VIP treatment.  It is actually kind of funny.  I thought the 5-hour Deluxe tour is the true VIP experience with a more personalized experience, not the 2-hour version they call the VIP tour where I saw up to 20 people on those tours.

The Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour like the other movie studio tours are really under-promoted and under-marked in my opinion.  I don’t recommend young children going on most of the movie tours.  I don’t think they would truly appreciate the grandeur and sophistication of the movie-making process.  Because of the prices, I would not bring any children under 15 on most of the movie tours.

Otherwise, I highly recommend this great experience.

Continue reading »]]> Prior to leaving on my final day in Los Angeles, I went to the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour in Burbank, California.  More specifically, I signed up for the 5-hour Deluxe version of the studio tour at a cost of $150.00.  Only 10-people are allowed in a Deluxe Tour.  This followed my Sony Pictures Studios Tour the day before.

Because I am in the publishing industry where I deal with Internet, print, audio and video media, this was an easily justifiable business expense.  Without question I am a movie buff but I was very much there for educational reasons.  I looked at this tour as a one-day seminar of how the “big boys” create these multi-million dollar productions.

This tour begins with a 15-minute retrospective of the origins of Warner Brothers.  There literally were 4 brothers with the last name Warner.  These brothers originally began in the East Coast with their movie theatre business .  And then they decided they might be able to make more money if they were able to also create and produce their own movies to show in their own theatres.  Clearly, that was the beginning of a legacy which has lasted to this day.

The Warner Brothers exterior sets were more extensive and impressive than Sony Pictures.  In fact, the WB lot is so large, we were taken around in a cart by the tour guide.  Our tour guide was clearly passionate about his job and it showed.  However, I did think he was a bit regimented in that it was very difficult to ask questions.  You would think that in this longer tour, there would be ample opportunity to ask questions but that was frequently not the case.  He was clearly in charge of the group and rattled off trivia after trivia as we visited various sets.

One of the most impressive sets I have ever seen is the Chicago set used by the producers of E.R.  E.R. is a long-runnning medical drama.  I am not a big fan but I have seen a few episodes of it.  The exterior sets of E.R. is very impressive for the detail that was put into it.  Although the sets have been around 12+ years, they looked like they had been around for 50 years with considerable wear and tear having that aged, filthy, back-alley look in Chicago.  Even up close, it was difficult to tell that these sets were artificially aged and worn.  The authentic look was simply amazing.

The set also had the back entrance to the E.R. hospital where ambulances roll in patients.  That set was also amazing.  It really looked like a hospital E.R entrance with the wear and tear of one.

Being a fan of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, we had the chance to see the actual sets of where the characters live.  We even see the scars in the street as a result of the explosion in the season finale.

We passed by the exterior sets of Uncle Jesse’s and Boss Hoggs’ home from Dukes of Hazzard.  In the TV show, they were two different buildings in two different locations.  In actuality, they are the same building!  One is filmed from the front, the other from the rear.  Again, move movie magic.

We went through an exterior set of a suburban neighborhood which actually had office workers in each of the houses.  When you are walking in those sets, it really does feel like you are in a suburban neighborhood, not a movie set on a movie lot.

We eventually broke for lunch.  End of Part 1.