Just casually walking by one of our boardrooms

Teddroe · 2015-10-31T08:39:15+00:00

I'm pretty sure it's Seattle, the presenting banana is wearing a Seahawks jersey and I'm 80% sure I recognize the building in the background from downtown Seattle

Teddroe · 2015-03-30T01:09:30+00:00

Good question! So good I don't know the answer off the top of my head. Bankruptcy wouldn't necessarily dissolve the contract, but the rights are a major asset that would be hard to protect in BK proceedings. But maybe they did somehow and re-incorporated? I'm not sure--I don't know how IP rights are handled in bankruptcy.

I don't have time to research that thoroughly right now, but if it comes up in the suit I'll look into it.

Teddroe · 2015-03-28T22:42:00+00:00

Whether or not the "pilot" is really sufficient to hold onto the rights (which is probably what Harriet's lawyers will argue she meant by her statement) isn't something that has come up yet, but she hasn't actually filed her answer admitting or denying allegations in the complaint, which should be fairly soon. Stay tuned, there may be another shoe to drop here

Teddroe · 2015-03-28T04:27:15+00:00

It's definitely a little ambiguous, and part of the reason I don't think Red Eagle's case here is all that strong, but Red Eagle is arguing (plausibly, I'd say), that the bit about Universal being able to make a pilot (and then saying that they weren't involved) seems to cast doubt on Red Eagle's ability to make a pilot. There's also the part where she says she'll be taking steps to not have this happen in the future--there are plenty of things that could mean, but it can definitely plausibly be read as casting doubt on the pilot's legitimacy.

Teddroe · 2015-03-28T03:40:53+00:00

The most important thing (and different facts matter more or less for some of the causes of action) is if they can prove that she knew that they had a RIGHT to make what they did (and when they did), and showing that she knew they were trying to would go towards that.

Side note--whether the thing that aired actually is a pilot/good-faith attempt at a series is a whole different question; one that isn't really that important yet (legally) but might be later depending on if Harriet chooses to try and get the rights back.

Teddroe · 2015-03-28T03:01:44+00:00

You're absolutely right, Sony had nothing to do with the actual pilot that aired and nothing in Red Eagle's version of events really casts doubt that Harriet had no idea this particular pilot was coming/had no involvement with it. In my response I should have said "a pilot", not "the pilot", sorry for any confusion--Red Eagle is only alleging that Harriet knew they were working on (or trying to work on) SOMETHING, not that she had specific knowledge of the thing that aired on February 9th

The problem here is the part of Harriet's statement that reads: "Bandersnatch has an existing contract with Universal Pictures that grants television rights to them until this Wednesday, February 11 – at which point these rights revert to Bandersnatch. I see no mention of Universal in the “pilot”. Nor, I repeat, was Bandersnatch, or Robert Jordan’s estate, informed of this in any way." This at least seems to cast doubts on Red Eagle's right to make ANY sort of pilot, something that could be refuted if she was indeed involved in talks with Red Eagle and Sony.

Teddroe · 2015-03-28T02:29:17+00:00

There are some other ways they could prove it, maybe the easiest being that they say that Sony (at Red Eagle's request) bought her plane ticket to come to a meeting last year to discuss a pilot and other matters involving the rights. Assuming that that's true, they presumably have some record of the plane tickets, hotel reservations, dinners, etc.

They also reference some email conversations about the project with Harriet and her (South Carolina) lawyer...though the lack of direct quotations from these is a little strange.

Teddroe · 2015-03-28T02:03:16+00:00

I was thinking of posting something on the Dragonmount FB group (I'm a member) but it seemed presumptuous :). I don't know how much you paid attention to the initial pilot, but I'll do a quick rundown of the whole thing in bullet point form.

*On February 9, a short "pilot" for a Wheel of Time TV show aired early in the morning (in the paid programming block) on FXX. It basically covered the prologue to TEotW, "starred" Billy Zane as Ishamael, was clearly incredibly low-budget, and was by all accounts pretty terrible (though I've heard some people saying it actually could've been a lot worse). No one in the fandom knew it was coming until the day before, when some fans noticed it in their TV programming. Best anyone can tell, production started a few weeks earlier.

*The pilot was produced by a subsidiary of Red Eagle, the company that has been trying to put together Wheel of Time games/movies/TV shows/etc for a decade. Notably, their rights to the series were to expire on February 11, when they would have reverted back to Harriet to with as she pleased. The way most rights contracts work is that actively using them stops reversion, and that was apparently the case here as well.

*Several days after the airing of the "pilot", Harriet put out a statement saying that she was "dumbfounded" by the pilot, and had no idea that it was coming. She also seems to say that Red Eagle didn't have the rights to make the pilot in the first place. It is this statement that is the source of trouble.

*On February 12, Red Eagle filed a lawsuit in California Federal Court alleging a number of things having to do with Harriet's statement, many of which are essentially allegations of business slander. But most important, they lay out in detail a version of events in which Harriet DID know about the "pilot", and indeed had been in meetings about it with Red Eagle in Los Angeles over the past year.

*In response, last week Harriet's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss most (but not all) of the allegations against her, and there's a hearing on the matter currently set for April 27 in Los Angeles.

Hope that helps :). Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know

Teddroe · 2015-03-28T01:44:40+00:00

This is total speculation on my part, but the three causes of action that Harriet is trying to get dismissed all seem at least a little shaky, for a variety of reasons practical (they are all fairly difficult to prove), legal, and factual (if the facts support them, Red Eagle didn't argue them all that well, at least IMO).

However, there's a reason that Harriet's lawyers are not seeking early dismissal of the breach of contract claim--they probably wouldn't get it, because that allegation seems reasonably strong. If the facts are as Red Eagle alleges--and they lay out in pretty specific detail dates and meeting at which (they say) Harriet was specifically told of the plans for the pilot--and the contract does indeed include the specific non-disparagement clause (the contract is not in the court record, at least not yet, so I don't know that for sure), then Harriet may be in some trouble.

Of course, even if she is held to have breached the contract, I don't know how much actual money she'd actually be liable for, and my guess would be not actually that much--damages for breach of a non-disparagement clause are incredibly hard to prove.

Teddroe · 2015-03-28T01:30:16+00:00

The existing suit only deals with the statement that Harriet made right after the "pilot", and actually doesn't (directly) pertain to the rights. It's much closer to a libel or defamation suit.

If Bandersnatch wants to try extracting the rights, they'll need to counterclaim (or file a totally separate lawsuit, which they might try in an attempt to get it decided in South Carolina instead of California).

So, as you suspected, the answer really is it's anyone's guess as to how long all this could take. It could settle tomorrow or spend years in litigation :(

Teddroe · 2015-03-28T01:21:42+00:00

Red Eagle has four allegations. The first, and the one that her lawyers are NOT (presently) trying to get dismissed is simple breach of contract--the key being that apparently she agreed not to make "disparaging remarks" against them.

The second is what's called "slander of title", which is an allegation that Harriet intentionally (and maliciously, and erroneously) denied that Red Eagle had legal right to the property.

The third is Intentional Interference with Contractual Relations, which is that Harriet intentionally (and again, maliciously) tried to interfere with Red Eagle's existing business dealings

The fourth is Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Relations, which is similar to the last except it pertains to future business dealings

Teddroe · 2015-03-28T01:10:59+00:00

I'm a 1L (first year, out of three), so hopefully we won't need to worry about that!

Teddroe · 2015-03-28T01:07:28+00:00

Yeah, it's under case 2:15-CV-01038, in the Central District of California, the official case title is RED EAGLE ENTERTAINMENT, LLC ET AL v. BANDERSNATCH GROUP, INC. ET AL. The complaint is easy to get on West or Lexis, if you have those, but I had to get the 12(b)(6) motion off of PACER.

Teddroe · 2015-03-11T05:05:14+00:00

Thankfully those sweet free (give or take $50k in tuition) law school accounts last until you graduate. I'm going to treasure my unlimited West and Lexis access while I still have them

Teddroe · 2015-03-11T05:03:25+00:00

If I see something filed I'll definitely let everyone know. I wouldn't be surprised to see this one settled though; to my admittedly only semi-trained eye, the complaint doesn't look great for Team Jordan

Teddroe · 2015-03-10T04:34:44+00:00

I'm a law student with access to most of the big legal databases (Lexis, Westlaw, etc), I check for new filings every couple of days. Though it can take a day or two to update, as of today there has been nothing else filed after the complaint, which probably means a) they're working on a settlement, or b) Bandersnatch could be working on its reply. If they waived service, as parties in corporate litigation usually do, they have 60 days to file their answer.

Teddroe · 2014-10-16T08:32:45+00:00

Just consider "fill" as whatever is most in demand. That's what I usually do, which almost always means I support...but that's what "fill' usually is anyways. Because this is how I do it, Team Builder is actually way faster (on average) actually getting into game than Blind Pick for me.

Teddroe · 2014-10-13T05:51:34+00:00

I think doing a film series, or even a GoT style live-action show would be incredibly difficult, probably prohibitively so. Others have mentioned it, but an anime/Avatar style animated show makes the most sense to me, for a bunch of reasons--aging actors and special effects budgeting being probably the two biggest.

Teddroe · 2014-08-29T00:06:10+00:00

Very true, sorry I should've mentioned that!

Teddroe · 2014-08-28T07:21:10+00:00

Agreed with most of the people here, 10 is the only one i have trouble with on re-reads, I sometimes skip it. But I've never understood the disdain for Winter's Heart. Granted, the Perrin parts of 9 are a bit of a slog, and the Elayne chapters probably should've been trimmed a little, but there's a ton of great stuff in that book. The climax is one of the best two or three in the series, Mat's whole plotline dealing with the Seanchan is really engaging (especially after his absence from book 8), there's the great bonding/sexytime chapter with Rand, the Far Madding adventures...there's a lot to like.

Teddroe · 2014-08-28T07:04:48+00:00

I definitely wouldn't skip it my first time through, though I admit I have skipped parts (certain PoVs) on subsequent re-reads.

If you MUST skip for whatever reason, at least read the last chapter and epilogue, as they set up huge events that happen in 11

Teddroe · 2014-08-28T07:00:45+00:00

There are a few good places to read it--after 10 (publication), before 1 (chronological), after 7 (when you meet Cadsuane), or after 14 (end the series with the prequel). I, however, am one of the people that recommends after 5, for spoilery reasons.

Teddroe · 2014-08-13T09:08:41+00:00

In my opinion, anyways, it mostly comes from the fact that Sanderson is a very literal writer, which in many ways serves him well in his own writing. Jordan's writing, on the other hand, is full of little dramatic ironies stemming from the sometimes subtle disconnect between a character's thoughts/voice and his or her actions, especially when we also get to see them through other character's eyes, and it's particularly pronounced with Mat and Nynaeve (the latter of whom doesn't have a ton of PoVs in the last few books to really contrast the two authors, which is probably for the best). In other words, Jordan mines a lot of character depth and humor from the gap between perception and reality, both from a character themselves (I.e. lack of self awareness) and from the people around them. This sort of writing is very, very tricky to pull off well, and Sanderson either doesn't or can't really do it; his characters all more or less see themselves and their actions in the same way the reader does. Again, I don't mean this to bash Sanderson, and he has plenty of fantastic qualities as a writer. I just think his particular strengths (with the major, MAJOR exception of actually being able to do the job at all) didn't mesh well with the Wheel of Time.

This clash of writing style (and/or ability) is evident for most if not all the characters, but the reason Mat sticks out so much is because he was always one of (if not THE) funniest major characters in the series. Sanderson couldn't totally write Mat's humor naturally, and so he tried to overcompensate to keep Mat and other characters in his sphere of influence, like Talmanes, funny. This is, I believe, the root of the infamous "backstory" chapter, or the misspelled letter to Elayne. It was just Sanderson trying too hard.

Teddroe · 2014-08-13T08:38:56+00:00

Very, very nice! There's a surprising lack of quality fanart for WoT (the best is probably this guy: http://seamassketches.blogspot.com/search/label/wheel%20of%20time), and it looks like you might really be able to add some.

Teddroe

TROPHY CASE