We are in the trenches, preparing for war. It seems that the ongoing audits will not be settled without litigation.
Surely it is obvious, I hear a lone reader ask, that everyone would win through a speedy and amicable settlement. Goodwill and good name would be preserved.
It is indeed obvious, but it will not happen. The corporate culture of the large labels prevents them from acting in their own best interests. The legal department want to win legal battles, the accounts department want to dispute figures. None have any interest in what is fair or right. A strong leader might tell them to "sort it out", but such leaders no longer work in this industry.
So they will continue bickering until the accountancy and legal fees are larger than the claim they are disputing, and any possible ongoing relationship has been tarnished forever.
And then they will feel aggrieved when they are not offered any future works.
It should be depressing, but it is not. It is just "stuff". Real life continues elsewhere, and boy, is it FUN! Ozzie Richardson and I met in London to draft six TV episodes of the Vicar chronicles, and they smoke. Even if he felt moved to warn me about the dangers of litigation if the stories are not sufficiently fictional.
Perhaps Fancy Cherry will have to undergo a name change.
"The simplest is the most difficult to discharge superbly."
