CAA has accused a handful of former agents of betraying the agency by stealing confidential client information to create Range Media Partners, a rival management company.
In filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court On Monday, the powerful agency alleged that for months in 2020, its agents sent reams of CAA data – including clients’ current and future projects, their brand strategies and business plans – to their personal email accounts and mobile phones.
The officers also downloaded Telegram, a private messaging app, to avoid detection by CAA, the complaint alleges.
The lawsuit alleges that Range devised a scheme to create the management firm to circumvent California law and the requirements of the Writers Guild of America.
“Range is an unlicensed talent agency built on deception,” the lawsuit said. “Range’s core gimmick is that it acts as a talent agency, but calls itself a management company. Range therefore engages in lucrative transactions that are shielded from law-abiding talent agencies.”
Peter Micelli, one of Range’s founders, spent more than 20 years at CAA and was co-head of the TV department when he left in 2018. According to the lawsuit, he recruited four other CAA agents: Jack Whigham, David Bugliari, Michael Cooper and Mick Sullivan will join the new management company in early 2020.
The lawsuit accuses the officers of attending meetings and gathering information for their breakout venture while still employed at CAA. Those agents in turn asked CAA assistants to help provide confidential information, including client offer letters, scripts and activity reports, the lawsuit said. Two of those assistants were later hired as managers at Range, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also alleges that Range has gone so far as to use its customers’ photos in Range marketing materials without customer consent, falsely alleging an association with Range.
CAA also alleges Range abused a new WGA code of conduct, which prohibits agencies from owning a significant stake in a production company or charging fees from producers to package them into projects. The lawsuit alleges that Range circumvented this rule by claiming to be a management firm.
“By falsely posing as a management company, Range could offer high-profile clients the opportunity to avoid paying a commission to Range, by instead allowing Range to collect a producer fee or credit for the project from a customer,” the lawsuit alleges. “Because no law-abiding talent agency could accept such compensation or credit, Range was able to circumvent the rules and gain an unfair advantage over others in the marketplace.”
The lawsuit notes that A+E Networks acquired a stake in Range in early 2022 and that it would collaborate on scripted TV projects created by Range – an arrangement that would be prohibited under the WGA Code if Range were an agency would be considered.
The lawsuit includes claims of interference with contracts, interference with economic advantage, aiding and abetting the breach of fiduciary duty, and violation of state business and professions law.