Word: goldberg
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...Times told the tale, the damning memos were submitted by Attorney Jennifer Martin, 32, a former ABC lawyer responsible for authorizing the network's payments to the company that produces Charlie's Angels, Spelling-Goldberg Productions, owned by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg. Last summer Martin noted that the network was being billed a $30,000 "exclusivity" fee for each episode. The exclusivity label was unusual since ABC already had exclusive rights to the series. Moreover, the amount referred to was in addition to the regular fee of $510,000 per show. When Martin inquired further, an unidentified...
...memos Martin made of her conversations as she pursued the matter said that when she brought her suspicions to the attention of her superior, ABC Vice President Ronald Sunderland, he gave her the same explanation she had received from the Spelling-Goldberg employee. "They're [doing] the Robert Wagners out of their money," Martin's memo says Sunderland told her. He assured her that no one in the ABC hierarchy would blow the whistle on the arrangement: "Everyone's been told that needs to be told, and they've been told to pay it, and they...
...Times exposé generated a prompt flurry of denials. ABC said it had paid heed to Martin's questioning, conducted an internal investigation and found no evidence of wrongdoing. The network submitted its conclusions to the Los Angeles County district attorney. Spelling and Goldberg, in a joint statement, denied the fraud: "We are stunned and outraged by the allegations." Wagner, vacationing with his wife in France, said the news of the investigation was "a total surprise...
Last week authorities searched the offices of Spelling-Goldberg and those of its lawyers. "We have not yet determined if this matter will go to the grand jury because there are volumes of documents which must be sorted and examined," said Deputy District Attorney James Ferruzzo...
There are close links between ABC and Spelling-Goldberg, which produces shows only for that network and created several of the successes (such as Fantasy Island and Hart to Hart) that helped boost ABC out of the basement in the ratings race. Sunderland, for example, once worked with J. William Hayes, Spelling-Goldberg's lawyer and business adviser, who, according to the Times, wrote the letter about exclusivity fees that caught Martin's attention. When the network conducted its inquiry, the Times added, Hayes was asked simply to submit a letter indicating that there was no truth...