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FEATURE
P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T S & S TA G I N G N E W S
Loyalty
on Trial
The Case of
XL Touring Video vs. John Wiseman
John Wiseman, CEO and founder, Chaos Visual Productions
By Bryan Campbell
Phil Mercer, MD of XL Video’s Los Angeles office
Sitting in the public gallery of the
Los Angeles Superior Court, it is
easy to see why the trial scene
has been the trump card of dramatists
for centuries. From the ancient Greeks
to The Merchant of Venice to Twelve Angry
Men to A Few Good Men, a good trial
scene is hard to beat, and Los Angeles
has seen some of the best. It’s hard to
enter an L.A. courtroom without thinking
that it holds the dark spirits of the
Manson Family, the Hillside Strangler,
OJ Simpson or the Black Dahlia. It’s also
hard to avoid comparisons — the courtroom
is smaller and less pristine than
its counterpart on The Practice, and the
lighting makes everyone look guilty.
Civil, but Contentious
plsn
We are running late, and the threeman
team for the plaintiff is wheeling a
huge projection screen into place, trying
for the best viewpoint for judge and
jury. After three attempts, the screen still
obscures the view of the public crowded
into the gallery. Judging sightlines and
focusing projectors is not their strong
suit, an irony not lost on the industry
veterans on hand to lend moral support.
They would do it all differently, but this
is not their show.
The set design may lack luster, but
even though this is a civil and not a
criminal trial, we expect the script to
be dynamite. In case we think this will
be a trial by PowerPoint, a metal bookcase
containing no fewer than 40 black
three-ring binders of analog evidence
sits within easy reach.
This is a full jury trial, with discovery,
depositions, jury selection and a defense
team. Pre-trial legal costs for either side
could buy you a good-sized lighting
rig with some video thrown in. There is
talk that this trial might go a month or
more. In this town, murder cases have
been wrapped up in half that time. That
the trial is taking place at all means that
back-room settlements, plea bargains
and off-the-table deals have all failed.
A High-Stakes Contest
plsn
Most cases reach a negotiated secret
settlement long before a court date is
set. Disputes rarely get this far for good
reason. A trial by jury is only exciting for
the onlookers. For the plaintiff and defendant,
it has all the appeal of taking
your life savings, business assets and
your reputation, pushing them into the
center of the poker table, and waiting
for the final card to turn. For XL Touring
Video and Chaos Visual Productions, the
stakes are no less than their economic
survival. Their internal practices and the
characters of their executives will soon
be laid bare. The plaintiff, Phil Mercer of
XL Touring Video and defendant, John
Wiseman of Chaos Visual Productions,
dress rock ‘n’ roll formal (boots, jeans,
dress shirt, crumpled jacket.) They stand
out in a sea of suits and uniforms.
At the heart of the XL Touring Video
suit is the claim that the defendant, John
Wiseman, now of Chaos Visual Productions,
used company time and resources
while he was still CEO and president of
XLTV to set up a competing company,
into which he siphoned tour business
and clients.
The Plaintiff’s Case
plsn
In a clipped monotone against a
background of production stills and e-
mails highlighted in yellow, the attorney
for the plaintiff paints a picture of Wiseman
as a man more concerned with his
own business interests than those of his
employer. The team for the plaintiff lays
out the detailed timeline of Wiseman’s
creation of Chaos in the months prior to
his resignation from XLTV in November
2008. Strong on Hollywood elements,
the case includes secret meetings with
tour managers, lavish meals with video
designers, an NBA basketball star and a
billionaire angel investor. One jury member
seems to be writing it down verbatim.
It is alleged that Wiseman used an
ex-XLTV chief financial officer to craft a
business plan to pitch to investors. The
plan included the acquisition of CW Productions
(an automated lighting company)
and the creation of a video company
with the extremely unfortunate name of
Double Cross Video. The financial projections
show immediate revenue from
touring acts, whom the plaintiff claims
were persuaded by Wiseman to commit
to the new entity he was forming while
still CEO of XLTV. Additionally, claims
were made that Wiseman approached
XLTV employees with job offers, one of
whom reported this to XLTV’s Belgiumbased
owners.
The plaintiff’s lawyer takes pains to
explain the efforts and expertise it has
taken to recover deleted e-mails from
Wiseman’s laptop. Ironically some of the
e-mails instructed the recipients to delete
and destroy the incoming mail.
An impressive client roster, including
Beyonce, Keith Urban and Jay-Z, were
alleged to have been illegally diverted
from XLTV to Chaos. The suit claims,
amongst other things, the loss of revenue
from seven tours. An additional suit
claims that Wiseman shared secret proprietary
information about artists and
their tour plans.
The opening statements fell short
of attaching a dollar amount to the allegations.
By now the sight of all that
“deleted” e-mail has everyone in the
courtroom re-considering the long term
effects of hitting the “send” button too
hastily and the woeful misnaming of the
delete command.
Speaking for the Defense plsn
After a brief recess, the attorney for
the defense strikes a more folksy tone
exploring the themes of loyalty in its various
guises. Loyalty to employer, to coworker
and to customers is examined.
In a presentation more impassioned but
less polished, the defense presents Wiseman
as a man hired for the very qualities
that XLTV so badly needed. A climbing
graph chronicles the immediate sales
success that Wiseman scored, taking
XLTV from $3 million in U.S. revenue in
2004 to over $25 million by the end of
his term in 2008. Wiseman also showed
his stripes as a company man by cosigning
lease guarantees to the tune of
$2.8 million during his term as CEO. His
industry and loyalty take XLTV from nowhere
to the big time in four years.
The point is made repeatedly that
Wiseman was hired for his sales skills
and his Rolodex (a circular rotating device
containing white cards, for those
born after 1990). In one of many colorful
sports analogies, Wiseman is variously
described as the MVP, team captain and,
finally, the reluctant free agent. In a town
obsessed by local teams, he is looking
less like Manny Ramirez and more like
Kobe Bryant. Stretching the sports metaphors
to the limit, the defense attorney
asks if the Cleveland Cavaliers should
sue the Miami Heat if the loss of their
star player gives them a bad season.
(Let’s hope there are no Cleveland fans
on the jury.)
It seems that, in the rush to get the
shows on the road, Wiseman’s threeyear
management contract with stock
options has expired, and may not be
renewed. Wiseman is then, according to
the defense, left with no choice but to
look out for his own interests. The defense
has deposed, or intends to bring
as witnesses, a team of Wiseman’s longtime
designer, director and producer
friends, who will confirm that the concert
industry is service- and personality-driven,
and they like what Wiseman
has given them for the past 25 years.
They will follow him regardless of his
employment status.
In this game, that is the loyalty that
is bankable, unlike that other loyalty
that is merely expected. Customer service
and tech support is everything —
the rest is just gear in road cases.
The defense concludes that XLTV
neglected their star player, even trying
to fire him seven months after he
resigned, allegedly to avoid payment of
stock options, and has a terminal case
of “sour grapes.” They are trying to recover
lost touring revenue through the
legal system.
The concert industry is characterized
as a free market environment
where no proprietary secret can live
for long. The defense does not so much
deny Wiseman’s actions as seek to explain
them. It takes a “wouldn’t-you-dothe-same”
tone.
Not surprisingly, recovered “deleted”
e-mails return to play a starring role
in the defense strategy.
The Gray Zone
plsn
Regardless of the outcome, this
case will shine a light into the gray ar-
This is a full jury trial, with discovery, depositions, jury selection and a defense team.
Pre-trial legal costs for either side could buy you a good-sized lighting rig with some
video thrown in.
18 PLSN NOVEMBER 2010