Sopranos creator wins court battle
The jury dismissed the claims of Robert Baer, ruling the aspiring writer and former prosecutor was not owed anything for help he provided while Mr Chase wrote an early draft of the pilot.
Mr Chase’s lawyers hugged after hearing the verdict, which came after less than two hours of deliberations on the trial’s fifth day.
Mr Baer claimed he had arranged meetings with police and prosecutors during a three-day tour of New Jersey mob sites in 1995 and engaged in conversations — sparking ideas for what became the hit HBO drama.
Both men testified that Mr Baer turned down compensation from Mr Chase three times. But Mr Baer claimed Mr Chase agreed to “take care of him” if the show was a hit. Mr Baer said no monetary figure was discussed. Mr Chase never offered him a writing job on the show.
Mr Chase’s attorneys contended it was not the industry practice to pay advisers for help during the writing of a pilot.
Mr Chase said Mr Baer was not a mafia expert and Mr Baer introduced the writer-producer to people with knowledge. When Mr Chase rewrote The Sopranos pilot after it was rejected by Fox and other networks, he turned to “a true Mafia expert” Dan Castleman, his defence maintained.
Mr Castleman, chief of the Manhattan district attorney’s investigations division, testified he provided free consulting services to Mr Chase, over several dozen phone calls, as Mr Chase worked on rewriting the pilot.
Mr Castleman didn’t enter into a contract as an adviser until after the pilot was written. He was paid $3,000 (€2,100) for help in filming the pilot, and got $1,000 for each of the 12 episodes in the first season.
He declined to say how much he was paid for his role throughout the five seasons that followed until the show ended.
He also appeared on the show nine times in the role of a federal prosecutor, and prosecuted Tony’s uncle, Corrado “Junior” Soprano.
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