Ken Caillat Sues HarperCollins For Breach of Contract

[vivfox]

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Ken Caillat is best known in the music business as the man who produced Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album Rumours, one of the best-selling rock records of all time.
That credential in turn garnered him a $555,000 advance from HarperCollins' It Books imprint to write Starting Rumours, an oral history of the making of that record, which the publisher won at auction from Caillat's agent Peter McGuigan of Foundry Media. But last month, Caillat filed suit against the publisher in Ventura County Superior Court alleging that he was rightfully owed his entire advance, and that HarperCollins had breached their contract by not paying him for a manuscript they rejected, and did not sufficiently explain why they rejected it.

The original proposal promised Caillat would obtain new interviews with all the Fleetwood Mac members, as well as with associated studio executives, friends, lovers, roadies and other people who would have been involved with the making of 'Rumours.' As such the original contract draft language said the book would be "based on original interviews with band members."
According to the complaint, "after some doubt arose as to whether the Fleetwod Mac bandmembers would agree to new interviews for the book," the final contract was changed to allow for "some previously published interviews" with band members. Caillat received $138,750, or one-quarter of the total advance, after the contract was executed.

According to the complaint, the first signs of trouble emerged in January 2010, approximately one month before the full manuscript was due to It Books. Caillat submitted "a draft which was approximately one half of the planned manuscript," only for it to be rejected. Caillat reworked the manuscript and submitted a completed draft in May. That, too, was rejected, as It Books is said to have admitted the manuscript "was not even read before the rejection...[which] was based solely on the fact that there were no new interviews from the band, despite the fact that it was not required by the contract." What's more, It Books wanted Caillat to pay back the portion of the advance they had paid him.

Caillat, naturally, thought otherwise, and states HarperCollins violated the terms of their own contract, which said the company "shall give the author a detailed letter requesting specific changes and revisions" if the manuscript delivered was not acceptable. Instead, It Books "did not provide [Caillat] with a letter...as required by the contract, and provided no information as to desired revisions."

Caillat seeks to recover the full balance of the advance as well as $500,000 in punitive damages spurred by "having to incur attorney's fees to defend his rights" and to defend against HarperCollins' claim that he owed them the first quarter of the advance. A spokesperson for HarperCollins had not yet responded to requests for comment; Caillat's editor, Kate Hamill, is no longer with the company. -- S.W.

http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com...ucer-sues.html

[vivfox]

Well it looks like we won't be getting this book. Few promises ever pan out in the Fleetwood Mac Universe.

[louielouie2000]

Over half a million for a book advance?! I might have expected that figure for a key band member, but not a co-producer who was only involved in 3 of Fleetwood Mac's studio albums.

I figured there was trouble behind the scenes... we first heard about Ken writing this book quite some time ago now. I tend to agree with Viv... this book is almost certainly dead in the water now .

[Dodfather]

I had wondered how things were progressing with this. Publishers are notorious for this kind of behaviour. Several authors have sued them for unexplained rejection of manuscripts and for issues reharding the advance. The most famous example is when Joan Collins sued Random House in I think the early 90s for exactly this - rejecting a manuscript and giving little or no explanation - and she won.

If It Books did seemingly admit that the menuscript wasn't read then Ken has a good case. There will be a lot of wrangling but it's oddly fitting for a book about Rumours! I'm hopeful that after all of this the book will be snapped up by another publisher. It's mostly written after all.

A friend of mine is having similar issues with a publisher regarding an academic book he's written, they stipulated certain arguments be made and they are querying them. He's having to gather a load of outside professional opinion to prove the validity of his content. It's ridiculous!

[GypsySorcerer]

Originally Posted by vivfox

Well it looks like we won't be getting this book. Few promises ever pan out in the Fleetwood Mac Universe.

Pretty much. I'm still disappointed they canned the remastered albums.

[HejiraNYC]

I think the first sign of trouble for me was when he came to the Ledge to ask for anonymous people's opinions about Rumours. My first reaction at the time was, "wow, he must be hard up for material." It is a shame and a bit of a surprise that he was not able to obtain any new interviews with the band. I thought they were all on good terms, especially when it came to Christine. But then again, do you think there would have been any shocking new revelations? We've heard plenty about the drama and the drugs. And the really juicy tidbits will either remain a secret eternally or will end up in someone else's autobiography ten years from now. And we saw/heard a good bit about the recording on the Classic Albums - Rumours DVD.

If I were Ken's editor, I would have probably asked him for his own biography, with an emphasis on the 1977 - 1979 era that transformed the musical landscape forever. I would have been fascinated to read about his responsibilities as a producer and the daily grind of working in the studio. Where did he draw inspiration? How did he know when a song was finished? How much money did he make? Did he bang Sweet Connie? Admittedly, such a book would not have warranted a half million-dollar advance, but it would have definitely appealed to a very select group of people.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Viv... this book is almost certainly dead in the water now .

I thought I'd feel dissapointed.. but actually I don't. More Rumours journals? More of the same? We alredy read detailed tales of the Rumours sessions thru Mick, Carol Ann, Brunning, VH1, etc...

I'd feel more expectation for a Tango book, a Mirage book, mentioned before on those books but not so detailed.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by Villavic

I thought I'd feel dissapointed.. but actually I don't. More Rumours journals? More of the same? We alredy read detailed tales of the Rumours sessions thru Mick, Carol Ann, Brunning, VH1, etc...

I'd feel more expectation for a Tango book, a Mirage book, mentioned before on those books but not so detailed.

You're definitely onto something there. I am betting far crazier stuff went down during the Tango period than Rumours could ever dream of. What began during the Rumours era came to a head by the time Tango rolled around, and then imploded dramatically. We already know some stuff, such as the physical fight between Lindsey and Stevie that lead to Lindsey's leaving the band... but I bet that's only the tip of the sordid iceberg.

[markolas]

I remember when he came on here asking questions and thought it was kind of odd. I never paid much attention to it because the Rumours horse has been beaten to death several times now. What else is there to say about it that hasn't been said over & over again?

[KarmaContestant]

Yeah.... I totally see the side of Harper Collins. A book of collective interviews from the past three decades doesn't exactly present anything new or interesting. Publishing that would have been a poor business decision on thier part.

If I were Ken, I'd put more effort into it and try again to fulfill the original intent.

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by markolas

...the Rumours horse has been beaten to death several times now.

Not just the horse, but all its offspring & clones, as well.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

Yeah.... I totally see the side of Harper Collins. A book of collective interviews from the past three decades doesn't exactly present anything new or interesting. Publishing that would have been a poor business decision on thier part.

If I were Ken, I'd put more effort into it and try again to fulfill the original intent.

Well, but if they felt that way, they shouldn't have locked themselves into a contract to begin with. You can't sign a contract and then decide you just don't think it's a good idea anymore.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by chiliD

Not just the horse, but all its offspring & clones, as well.

Bleh. I'm just sick of it. Let's have the Mirage & Tango remasters, pls. Also, I would love for someone to explain this to me. A couple of years ago, two of Laura Nyro's most obscure albums were finally put on CD after 25-30 years. Now, first of all, most people have probably never even heard of Laura Nyro, so the market for these discs was very small, and I doubt much money at all was made. Yet somebody saw fit to release them.

Mirage & Tango were both #1 albums. Surely the market for them is many, many times the market for those LN albums (which hardly anybody bought to begin with, and that is not a knock against those works at all - I love them). So I don't get the "Oh, they just wouldn't sell" excuse. Is it simply that they wouldn't make as much money as WB (or whoever) would like, not that they wouldn't turn a profit?

[MacShadowsBall]

I would be interested in this book, but if its more about the gossip of Lindsey and Stevie and not about the actual music, then I probably wouldn't be that interested.

Now some material/book etc about Christine and John's ups and downs and eventual divorce would be something different.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by chiliD

Not just the horse, but all its offspring & clones, as well.

I would love to read about how Stevie and Lindsey were breaking up during that period, and how John and Christine were getting divorced. And how Mick was getting divorced too. Also, I would like to read how those situations informed the music organically. And finally, how the album shot to number 1 for 40 weeks and how everyone expected a Rumours II but they did Tusk anyway in Linsdey's bathroom.