New Doco to Investigate The Estate called FOLLOW THE MONEY
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http://pagesix.com/2014/07/26/jacko-documentary-tangled-in-lawsuit/<br />[size=18pt]Jackson Documentary Tangled In Lawsuit[/size]<br />by Richard Johnson July 26, 2014 <br />
<br /><br />The executors in charge of the Michael Jackson estate will be investigated in a documentary, “Follow the Money,” being produced by Edward Bass, who is already in a legal battle with them.<br />Bass — whose credits include 2006’s “Bobby,” which was nominated for a Golden Globe Best Picture and starred Anthony Hopkins, Joy Bryant and Shia LaBeouf — sued lawyer John Branca and music exec John McClain after they obtained a “cease and desist” court order preventing Bass from releasing, “Michael: The Last Photo Shoots.”<br />The documentary includes video footage shot by Jackson’s friend, Hassan Mohammed, of two 2007 magazine shoots — one by Bruce Weber, the other by Matthew Rolston.<br />Bass bought the video from Mohammed, but the estate’s lawyer Howard Weitzman claims the estate owns the footage, which includes “private moments that [Jackson] never agreed could be publicly and commercially exploited.”<br />Bass told me, “Michael loved the footage. He was thrilled when it aired. He would be horrified at what these lawyers are doing.”<br />Bass said the footage was shown and offered to the estate. “After 18 months of negotiations, they turned it down. If you owned it, why would you negotiate to buy it?”<br />His next documentary, “Follow the Money,” will focus on Branca and McClain, who — in the five years since Jackson’s death — have collected far more than the nearly $20 million that has gone to Jackson’s mother, Katherine, and his three children.<br />The estate has also spent $17 million on legal fees. “They don’t mind spending millions of dollars on litigation, because they are paying themselves,” Bass said.<br />“Somebody has to challenge them. We want to set a precedent here,” Bass said. “It’s a matter of principle. We’re not backing off.”
<br /><br />The executors in charge of the Michael Jackson estate will be investigated in a documentary, “Follow the Money,” being produced by Edward Bass, who is already in a legal battle with them.<br />Bass — whose credits include 2006’s “Bobby,” which was nominated for a Golden Globe Best Picture and starred Anthony Hopkins, Joy Bryant and Shia LaBeouf — sued lawyer John Branca and music exec John McClain after they obtained a “cease and desist” court order preventing Bass from releasing, “Michael: The Last Photo Shoots.”<br />The documentary includes video footage shot by Jackson’s friend, Hassan Mohammed, of two 2007 magazine shoots — one by Bruce Weber, the other by Matthew Rolston.<br />Bass bought the video from Mohammed, but the estate’s lawyer Howard Weitzman claims the estate owns the footage, which includes “private moments that [Jackson] never agreed could be publicly and commercially exploited.”<br />Bass told me, “Michael loved the footage. He was thrilled when it aired. He would be horrified at what these lawyers are doing.”<br />Bass said the footage was shown and offered to the estate. “After 18 months of negotiations, they turned it down. If you owned it, why would you negotiate to buy it?”<br />His next documentary, “Follow the Money,” will focus on Branca and McClain, who — in the five years since Jackson’s death — have collected far more than the nearly $20 million that has gone to Jackson’s mother, Katherine, and his three children.<br />The estate has also spent $17 million on legal fees. “They don’t mind spending millions of dollars on litigation, because they are paying themselves,” Bass said.<br />“Somebody has to challenge them. We want to set a precedent here,” Bass said. “It’s a matter of principle. We’re not backing off.”
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