John Musero, a former staff writer on “The Newsroom,” says his legal battle against CAA is a “whistleblower moment for every artist” currently or previously affiliated with the talent agency.
In 2019, Musero sued CAA and accused them of stealing his pilot idea for “Main Justice,” a show set inside the U.S. Attorney General’s office, which the agency optioned. He also claimed that he was put on a list of “underperforming writers” in 2016 and that CAA hid from him that he was in danger of being dropped. Additionally, Musero said his agents basically stopped actively representing him.
“CAA secretly blacklists its own clients while leading them to believe it is continuing to represent their interests. This case confirms what has been suspected by many in the industry for years,” Musero said in a statement on Thursday. “What’s clear is that CAA clients — and Guild members — may have had their careers harmed or killed, unbeknownst to them.”
On Monday, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled that the pilot idea wasn’t stolen. As for the blacklist claim, the judge said that would be decided by a jury at trial.
Musero disagreed with the court’s conclusion on the project itself, but said the ruling on the blacklisting claim “speaks volumes,” arguing that CAA has shown “callous disregard” for its clients by not being “faithful and honest.”
“We look forward to our day in court when a jury of peers will rule not on writing style, but business actions rife with betrayal, and as the Court points out, a lack of ‘honesty,’” Musero’s lawyers continued. “CAA refused even to admit that a talent agent or agency such as CAA, which represents thousands of clients ranging from Tom Cruise to Shonda Rhimes, owes a duty of fidelity and honesty to its clients, most of whom, if not all, would in all likelihood disagree.”
In its own statement, CAA said it was “gratified” by the judge’s ruling to dismiss Musero’s claim about misappropriating his idea for the pilot and that it was “pleased to finally move on from these baseless accusations.” Still, Musero fired back, arguing that the claims were not “baseless.”
“If these claims were, as CAA calls them, ‘baseless,’ they would not have survived six years of litigation and been positively endorsed by multiple courts, which is why CAA is going on trial,” his team noted. “Fidelity and honesty matter, in the face of the law, which we expect the jury will find as well.”
The trial is set to begin on Oct. 27.
