All My Children AMC: The Prospect Park Era (old production thread)

[Vee]

I know a lot of OLTL stars who were very hurt like Debbi the first time around - and they were the show that got particularly jerked around in this way two years ago, much as the poor AMC cast was this time - who still surprised me by coming back and having fun this year. And so from a purely selfish POV as a fan I would hope against impossible hope that that can happen for Debbi Morgan somehow in the future should another miracle arise, but mostly I just want to see Angie again. But more than that, to see Debbi Morgan happy. IMO she and Kelley Missal needed to win this year, but I expect Morgan taking herself out of the equation will validate the daytime media in giving these shows no further notice.

Don't think this gets you off the hook on finishing these shows and posting about them in these two threads, Carl.

[DramatistDreamer]

Yeah, it is sad because she did such great work but it is understandable for all the reasons that everyone here has stated. She, Jill and Cady promoted the heck out of this web iteration and the way PP handled everything, especially in terms of the actors has obviously left a bitter taste.

I know that TV is famous for unceremonious breaks with cast/crew when a series gets cancelled but considering the venture they were all on and how much of a team everyone was trying to be in partnership w/ PP, it would have been classy if they had kept the actors in the loop a bit more and if they couldn't do that, at least not leave them out there to field questions from the fans and public.

I really hope that Kelly Missal and Jerry ver Dorn will submit themselves.

[Khan]

I just can't help but wonder what must be going through Agnes Nixon's mind right now.

[dragonflies]

Greedy bastard

http://m.deadline.com/2013/12/prospect-park-jeff-kwatinetz-lawsuit-all-my-children-one-life-to-live-contract/

[ChitHappens]

As I said before, I am proud of Debbie for pulling herself away from those idiots, and like you, the awards are just garbage now. Besides, the Academy can't wait to give the statue to Heather Tom and her co-star, snot!

I stopped watching award shows many years ago, and I don't regret that one bit.

[John]

Sounds like he wants to exp;ore other opps and still keepPP which he helped founded

So he wanted to continue the soaps and the investor didnt

This is all one big Mess

[Dana]

Not necessarily greedy, but definitely soap opera-ish and rather ironic. And maybe a little karma.

[ChitHappens]

One big mess that can probably work in ABCd's favor!

[dragonflies]

What next, is he gonna sue HULU or FX Canada

It's clear this was never about the OLTL3

[marceline]

Yeah, I'm not seeing greed. I'm seeing someone who doesn't want to let go of a project he put a lot of work into. I don't pretend to understand the legalities of this though.

It is interesting to see the other projects PP has in development. I know Wilfred's next season will be its last. I suspect the same is true for Royal Pains. I hope those pilots turn into something. I remember discussion way back that PP would give the soap actors an in for their other projects. As long as the soaps are gone, I would hope that PP could give at least some of the cast and crew other opportunities. I think they owe them at least that.

How?

[Darn]

Oops

[JONNYSBRO]

Because PP has to prove a lot here and what they are asking for damages wise is absolutely ridiculous. Not matter if u love or hate abc. They don't have anything really specific then GH killed Natalie off on GH without their permission. Everything else is bogus. PP is a tiny little start up company u are going against Disney abc which is huge with some of the best lawyers in the biz. I am sure they are laughing their heads off. Honestly if ABC truly believed they were in the wrong here they would have settled with PP out of court. It's like as a company of u know u will lose u settle so u don't have the bad publicity of court but ABC knows this is a complete joke. I even showed this to a lawyer friend of mine he said ABC will win hands down. Cause really the case is blaming abc and abc doing everything to damage the project. In reality it was PP bad investment deals and decisions that led to the Demise of the project.

[John]

Actually if U READ the amended lawsuit PP has lots of claims and says they have proof of those claims. If PP can prove those claims, ABC will owe Big.

Just because ABC has Big Money & Lawyers doesnt mean they shouldnt pay up if they sabotaged PP and PP can prove it.

The fact that U claim ABC killed Natalie and its all about the OLTL characters killed on GH proves to me that you didnt read [!@#$%^&*] & should not be speaking on this when U havent informed urself yet. Which is easy. GOOGLE IT!!!

[JONNYSBRO]

John the question if they can prove it. U seem biased here because u just love PP. Well it doesn't matter what entity I love its called the proof of evidence in a case and PP has very little on their side. Tell me each one of their claims in their complaint that can be proven in a court of law against ABC.Its a completely frilivious lawsuit with a company trying to pay ZERO on an investment they chose to get involved with. PP wants to pay nothing for this project I am sorry itsnot ABCs fault u botched the project with bad writing, its not ABCs fault u had a shady investor funding it and not wanting to fund it anymore, its not ABC's fault u went over on the amount of money. I am hearing stories that many of the crew for AMC/OLTL still haven't been paid for work done in the last weeks. I am sure these employees will start suing them for compensation. I heard checks bounced all over the place as they could not even afford to pay people for work done. PAY YOUR FREAKING EMPLOYEES FOR SERVICES RENDERED. Again John if ABC knew they owed big as I said they would be settling out of court. Its like for example u are sued and u know u are in the wrong no company wants to spend money dragging this out in court hurjng their reputation unless they know its frivilous lawsuit. ABC hasn't really spoken on their side yet in this leading me to believe they are staying quiet for court. The OLTL 3 being killed off claim is disputable because they brought Natalie back alive they could have rewritten all that stuff. Ill say this just because ABC has huge money, big time lawyers and Disney doesn't mean they also have to fund an entire failed project because of a certain companys bad faults. OWN UP TO YOUR FREAKING MISTAKES AND BAD CHOICES and take responsibility. I have my issues with ABC but honestly I hope they prevail here and get the rights back and maybe one day they might use them again or use characters from those shows for a new project.

[ellabelle]

Jonnysbro, the case is about far more than the 3 OLTL characters who went on to GH. It's about specific efforts ABC allegedly made to sabotage PP's attempts at reviving both shows, ranging from refusing to air ads that PP had already paid for to refusing to turn over the URLs to both shows to refusing to give OLTL's team a story breakdown of what they'd done with the OLTL characters for the sake of continuity. There are a lot of things ABC is alleged to have done, and if PP can prove even half of them, they've got a good shot at recovering damages. You claim PP has no proof, but your posts demonstrate a serious lack of personal knowledge on this case.

As for why ABC hasn't settled, you seem to have a misunderstanding about the speed with which the wheels of justice turn in this country. They turn slowly, very slowly. I had the pleasure of dining with a partner in a huge law firm recently who represents many corporate clients. He said that it was not uncommon for him to only have 1-2 actual trials a year, but it might take a month just to seat a jury, and the actual trial could linger for months because of complex legal issues involved. He said he once had a case with so much background material that all of the documents had to be delivered to the courthouse by an 18-wheeler. Those are exceptions - he said most cases settle out of court because it's cheaper for the client, but even getting to a settlement can take months or even a year or more of pre-trial work. It's highly probable that ABC and PP's attorneys ARE in contact and ARE discussing a settlement behind closed doors. If they settle, we may never hear the terms of the settlement because they aren't always released to the public.

As for the size of ABC vs. the size of PP, when it comes to contract law, that has absolutely no bearing on the case. They had a contract. If PP can 1. prove that ABC violated the terms of the contract and 2. prove that PP suffered financial damages as a result of ABC's violation, then they win, and it doesn't matter how big either company is. My understanding is that PP's attorneys are quite good. If, as you state, PP has not been able to pay their employees for services rendered, then that could actually work in their favor in terms of proving financial damages - ie, if ABC hadn't done what they're alleged to have done, the shows would have brought in bigger audiences and more revenue, and PP would have the funds to continue the shows and continue paying people.

Oh, and ABC DID issue a statement - they denied the claims. They will have an opportunity to respond to everything in court or in settlement talks, so what they've said now in terms of a public statement amounts to pretty much, well, nothing from a legal standpoint.

For the record, I did watch PP's AMC and honestly, I didn't care for it. I had a lot of issues with it, and I disliked a lot of what ABC did with AMC in it's final years, but my opinion about the content of the shows has nothing to do with anything I've stated above. As far as 'owning up to your mistakes' goes, I'm happy to own up to my mistakes, but if something I do fails in part because it was sabotaged by someone else, how is that all MY fault?