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John Branca & Howard Weitzman to Appear on ‘Piers Morgan Monday, October 3rd
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legacylegacy7
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We want to thank John Branca for his interview on Piers Morgan. That was a big step towards the public being given a more accurate picture of the empire Michael Jackson left for his children and his business genius.
MJ legacy7
Google "Give Michael credit for his estate"
MJ legacy7
Google "Give Michael credit for his estate"
mkgenie
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MORGAN: John Branca is co-executor of Michael Jackson's estate. The estate has already grossed more than every other celebrity estate combined. Howard Weitzman is the attorney for the estate. And John Branca and Howard Weitzman join me now.
Let me start with you, John. You very rarely give television interviews. What is your primary motivation in going public now?
BRANCA: Well, Piers, Michael is no longer with us, obviously. And we felt that we have a message to get out to talk about the Cirque Immortal show and various other questions that we felt would be good to address at this time.
MORGAN: You knew Michael for well on 30 years. An extraordinary long relationship with him. How would you describe the nature of your relationship over that time? It was a bit rollercoaster, wasn't it? You sort of dipped in and out of his business life.
BRANCA: Well, we started in January of 1980. And I'll never forget the first meeting. Michael had his sunglasses on. And in the middle of the interview, he leaned over and he said, Branca, do I know you? I said, I don't think so, Michael. I think this is the first time we've met. And he said, are you sure? And I said, Michael, I think I would remember.
(LAUGHTER)
BRANCA: So we went for about a decade, and then on and off for pretty close to three decades. I was his principle business adviser through much of that period. And we had developed a friendship as well.
MORGAN: I interviewed him once. Fascinating experience. And I've discussed this on the show a few times but you're the most interesting guy to talk to about that because I felt when I talked to him about charity work or children or whoever it may be, he had a soft, gentle, high pitched voice.
When I talked to him about anything to do with business, it seemed to drop a couple of octaves and he became much more serious and, dare I say it, adult in the way he spoke.
Did you find that with him?
BRANCA: Absolutely. Michael was multifaceted. He was misunderstood in some ways, but we think that the movie "This Is It" gave fans a pretty good glimpse at the real Michael. He was a perfectionist and at the same time he was a humanitarian who respected the work of his fellow artists.
MORGAN: Like a good businessman, would you say?
BRANCA: Yes, Michael had great instincts, particularly with regard to marketing and promotion. He was always connected with his fans. And he's had a loyal fan base to this day.
MORGAN: You had this extraordinary experience with him on "Thriller" when most videos at the time were going for about $50,000 to make them. And Michael had this ever more fanciful plan, which meant the cost of making the "Thriller" video was going to be $1 million. And he came to you and said, right, Branca, make this work.
And you had the brilliant idea of going off and pitching the making of the "Thriller" video as a TV show in its own right and a video. And you sold that for $1.2 million. So you ended up making Michael a profit. He must have thought you were a genius, didn't he?
BRANCA: Well, Michael was the genius. But the "Thriller" video was so good, it's been considered the greatest video of all time.
MORGAN: And the other smart business move that Michael Jackson made -- I know you were heavily involved in this -- was the decision to get his hands on the Beatles catalog. Tell me about that process.
BRANCA: Well, Michael was good friends with Paul McCartney. And after "Thriller," Michael had a lot of money, a lot of cash. So Michael asked me to call Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono, his good friends. He did not want to bid against them. And I spoke with Yoko. And I said, Yoko, are you bidding on this catalog? And she said, no. We'd be thrilled if Michael could get it rather than some big corporation.
I spoke to Paul McCartney's lawyer who said they were not bidding. So we went out. It took us a year to close that deal. It wasn't easy. There was a lot of competition. But Michael was passionate. He wanted to invest in things that he was passionate about. So we did buy the Beatles catalog. We later brought some Elvis Presley copyrights. And that publishing company now forms the cornerstone for his net worth.
MORGAN: But in terms of the Beatles music, is that still part of Michael's estate?
BRANCA: Absolutely, yes.
MORGAN: And in terms of the sheer number crunching here, could you tell me now what he paid for it and what it might now be worth?
BRANCA: Well, we bought the catalog in 1985. We spent $47.5 million, which is well known. We sold off a background music library. So his net investment was about $41 million. And while I can't give out confidential details, it's been reported that Sony ATV is worth upwards of $2 billion and Michael owns half.
MORGAN: Wow. So he took it from 40-odd million to $1 billion?
BRANCA: Yes. And I would say in addition to Sony ATV, Michael has his own publishing company which is called My Jack which owns all of his own songs as well as many other songs we bought over the years. So when you add the two companies together, it's even more valuable.
MORGAN: So all this stuff about Michael being half a billion dollars in debt when he died is a load of baloney, isn't it? Assuming the publishing rights alone by the sound of it were worth several billion dollars.
BRANCA: Well, Piers, I'd like to comment on speculation about Michael's debt. Net worth, you know, one doesn't want to have to sell those assets. So you know, those are cornerstone assets that we keep on -- we plan on keeping for Michael's children and keeping those in the family.
MORGAN: What kind of decisions have you taken which have turned out to be very smart ones in relation to handling his estate?
BRANCA: Well, my co-executor John MaClean and I -- let's face it, Piers, we're fortunate to represent Michael Jackson. Which makes our job an easy one in some senses. But I think the first thing we did is we made a decision to greenlight "This Is It," the motion picture.
And I will say at the time we were criticized. People -- you know, some family members said Michael wouldn't want these rehearsal tapes out there. But John and I felt that you really saw Michael as a great artist and a great humanitarian. That was our first big decision.
And it went on to become the biggest documentary and the biggest concert film of all time. And I think we converted even new followers for Michael.
MORGAN: When I interviewed Jermaine Jackson recently, he said that there were lots of outtakes from that film which, if people saw those, they would be concerned about Michael's fragility, his fragile condition. What would you say to that?
BRANCA: I'm not sure if that's true or not. Kenny Ortega, who is a great director, went through all of the footage to assemble it together. And you know, I think with any artist, they have their great days and they have off days. That's the nature of rehearsal.
So I have not seen all the outtakes, but I'm pretty confident that what you see on the screen represented the true Michael.
MORGAN: You were so close to him that, at one stage when you got married for the first time, Michael came, was best man. He brought Bubbles the Chimp who wore a tuxedo. Little Richard was the minister. Hard to imagine anyone being as close to him as you were at the time.
He brought you back into his business life shortly before he died, didn't he? Was that to run the concert stage of things? I know you weren't working for AEG, but explain that relationship. BRANCA: First, I'm glad you mentioned that first wedding, because I have fond memories of Michael being the best man and Bubbles in the tuxedo. It was priceless. It was priceless.
In terms of coming back into Michael's life, we separated amicably in 2006. And I got a call from Michael's manager, Frank Dileo, about a month before we met. And Michael was excited and Frank was excited about the tour. And they wanted me to give some thought about some ideas of what we could do around the tour.
Frank Dileo and I met several times. Then finally I met again with Michael about a week before he passed away. We met at the forum where he was rehearsing. And I'm so glad that we got that chance to see each other again.
MORGAN: How did he seem to you?
BRANCA: It wasn't a long meeting. You know, I was there for perhaps an hour. And Michael seemed fine. He seemed -- you know, there were different Michaels. I've seen Michael at times where he's been very introverted and very quiet, and other times where he's very extroverted.
I think that night he was really preparing for the show. He was leaving for England soon. So it was hard to draw any conclusions from that meeting.
MORGAN: We'll take a short break, John. When we come back, I want to talk to you and Howard about the moment you heard that Michael had died, and the problems that you've had in running this extraordinarily complex estate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: I'm back now with John Branca, co-executor of Michael Jackson's estate, and Howard Weitzman, Jackson's attorney. Howard, let me just bring in you in here. Obviously fascinating conversation there with John. People didn't really understand, I don't think, just what a business empire Michael Jackson had amassed by the end.
In all your experience of working in the entertainment industry, how did Michael's business empire rank?
WEITZMAN: Michael truly was one of a kind. There are very few legitimate icons in the entertainment business. A lot of people try to get to that level or are looked at in different ways, but Michael was really one of a kind. He had the ability to generate millions and millions of fans worldwide. That converted to huge numbers.
And we see that, unfortunately, post-death, as well as when he was alive. An extraordinary individual.
MORGAN: Is it right to say -- I don't want to be morbid about this, but is it right to say -- there's an old sort of joke about this, that when entertainers die, it's often their best career move, because billions and billions of their records get sold and so on. But there is a certain truth to that, isn't there, if you look at Elvis, John Lennon, Freddie Mercury and so on, their death can spark huge sums of money coming into the estate.
WEITZMAN: I think that's true. The catalog sales spike for a while. What differentiates Michael from others, in my opinion, the "This Is It" record -- or the "This Is It" film, for example, the "This Is It" CD, now the Cirque shows. He was able to create additional businesses well beyond the music. And that's unusual.
MORGAN: John, let me ask you. Michael was well known to be pretty profligate with his spending. How big a problem was that for him? I don't want you to get into the precise details of what debt he may or may not have had. But was his spending out of control, as people kept saying it was?
BRANCA: Well, that was an area that was handled by Michael's business managers and accountants. And Michael made a lot of money. And I probably believe it's true that he spent a lot of money. But he left a lot behind. He had a lot to show for it.
MORGAN: You worked on the Elvis estate briefly, I know that.
BRANCA: Yes.
MORGAN: How does this compare, two great entertainers, solo artists? How do their estates compare in terms of how you manage them?
BRANCA: Well, it's hard to compare. Elvis came up in a different era, in the '50s. I was a big Elvis fan. That's one of the reasons I got in the music industry.
But Michael, you know, went to the Berry Gordy Motown school of the music business, and then learned from great teachers. One of the things I have found representing various members of the hall of fame is, as the generations have gone by, musicians have become very much smarter. And so Michael, I think, learned from his predecessors, as did I.
And so he was able to control his assets in a way that previous entertainers had not.
MORGAN: How fast have those assets appreciated since his death?
BRANCA: Well, you know, we've tried to do the right things. I think John Maclean and I have had the advantage of having a decades long relationship with Michael. John went to school with Michael and his brothers, managed Michael at one point. I was a principle business adviser since 1980.
So we kind of knew how Michael thought, what kind of choices he would make. I was familiar with the assets. So we've been able to make decisions that we think were true to Michael. So therefore, we hope we're adding value to Michael's estate in that regard.
MORGAN: It's not been without its problems, this estate, because both Katherine Jackson and Joe Jackson challenged the will quite early on. What was that all about? Why were the family unsettled by the will? The will was written in 2002. So a long time before he died.
WEITZMAN: Well, I think they were ill advised and the challenge was ill conceived. Michael clearly appointed John Maclean, John Branca to be the executors of his will, the trustees of his trusts. Ultimately, the court rejected the challenge. The court of appeals rejected the challenge. And John Maclean and John Branca are, in fact, the executors and the trustees.
MORGAN: Am I right in thinking the estate is already petitioned to distribute 30 million dollars to the will's beneficiaries, who would be his immediate family and children?
WEITZMAN: Yeah. It's something we had planned on a year ago. It's only a preliminary distribution. You know, the court has a certain process we have to go through. You deal with IRS issues, state of California estate issues. But ultimately the executors, John Branca and John Maclean, decided that it was time for a preliminary distribution. Thirty million dollars went into Michael Jackson's family trust.
MORGAN: John, presumably as the co-executor, would you have read the will to the family?
BRANCA: Yes, I did, to Mrs. Jackson and several of Michael's siblings.
MORGAN: A pretty extraordinary experience. How was that?
BRANCA: Very emotional. Mrs. Jackson had lost her son. Michael's brothers and sisters have lost a beloved brother. And we gathered at Jermaine's house and read the will. And I left her with a copy of the will. I think we were all in a state of shock.
No one could have anticipated Michael's passing.
MORGAN: What was your first reaction, I guess? Did you know you were co-executor still? Were you aware that that 2002 will was still in play?
BRANCA: No, not at all. Michael had a succession of attorneys and business advisers subsequently. And I did not know which was the final will. We turned the will into the court. And we did not know if there would be another more recent will.
MORGAN: Have you managed to -- not patch things up, but have you managed to calm the family down now about your intentions being perfectly honorable in relation to the will? Are they in a more relaxed frame of mind about it?
BRANCA: I would think so. I would hope so. Michael's brother Jackie is a consultant to the estate, as is Michael's nephew, Taj. And of course, Mrs. Jackson and Michael's three children are the sole beneficiaries of the estate other than, of course, the contribution we will make to charity. MORGAN: Another short break. When come back, I want to talk to you about, in particular, the Cirque Du Soleil project, which is probably the biggest thing that you sanctioned as a co-executor, and see what the plan is for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
MORGAN: Back now with my special guests, John Branca and Howard Weitzman. John, tell me about Cirque du Soleil, because your history with Michael and this particular show goes back I think to Santa Monica Pier. Is that right?
BRANCA: That's true, Piers. I remember a night, I believe it was in 1989, where Michael and I went to the first ever Cirque Du Soleil tent show, which was at the Santa Monica Pier.
What I remember about that night, we were in a van. I was driving. And why we were in a van, I cannot remember. Michael had a nice car, I had a nice car. Here was Michael, the biggest star in the world. And we went with no security. And I was so nervous driving Michael, I got lost on the 405 freeway.
So we ended up getting to the Cirque show. Michael was clearly captivated. He said to me, Branca, we have to go backstage after the show. Of course, Michael. So we go backstage and he wanted to meet the cast. I will never forget. I can't tell who was more excited, Michael to meet the cast or the cast to meet Michael.
It was one of those magical nights. And subsequently, Michael visited Montreal on more than one occasion to meet with the Cirque owner, Gilles la Liberte (ph). Michael was a big fan of Cirque.
So John Maclean and I knew we had to create a live show. Berry Gordie called Michael the greatest entertainer who ever lived. So to do a live show properly, we knew it had to be something really special. You certainly couldn't put somebody up on stage to try to impersonate Michael. That would be absurd.
So we considered the various alternatives. And low and behold, we got a call from Gilles la Liberte, who said Cirque was interested in doing a Michael Jackson show. If you've seen the Cirque du Soleil shows, they've created some of the greatest shows ever made.
We figured this might be the perfect marriage. If you saw "This Is It," Piers, you see what a perfectionist Michael was. And we see the same level of detail in Cirque du Soleil. So it seems like a match made in heaven.
MORGAN: The match, just to clarify, is a kind of fusion of Cirque du Soleil, as we would know it, but mixed with Michael's music. Is that right?
BRANCA: That's right. One of our key objectives is Cirque has a number of shows. And they're all outstanding. But we wanted to make sure this was a Michael Jackson show. Michael's fans want a Michael Jackson show. And Cirque was on board for that.
We have hired many people who collaborated with Michael. The director, Jamie King, danced with Michael. Two of the choreographers, Travis Pane (ph) and the Tallajuega (ph) brothers, worked with Michael.
There's a live band in the show, run by Greg Philinganes (ph), who played on all of Michael's albums and toured with Michael.
So what you see, this is a traveling rock show that will travel to arenas throughout the world, live band, Michael's vocals, incredible visuals and incredible choreography. And you'll come away seeing something that I don't think has ever been done before, a Michael Jackson show done by Cirque du Soleil.
MORGAN: In 2013, it goes to Vegas permanently and there will be a Michael Jackson Museum?
BRANCA: There will be another show that's created permanently and specifically for a theater in Las Vegas in 2013.
MORGAN: Let me bring you in, Howard. I think it's more appropriate to ask you about the ongoing trial with Conrad Murray. You were the guy who represented Michael over the child abuse allegations in 1993. What do you make of all this?
WEITZMAN: The issue in this case will be, did Conrad Murray engage in the appropriate standard of care for a physician in that situation. I have read the same stuff you have read about his defense. I have tried over 200 jury trials. So I know enough to know you can't really predict it. The evidence will be what it is.
But it seems to me, pointing the finger at the victim is always an uphill battle. That appears to be Dr. Murray's defense. What I hope personally is that the jury does the right thing.
MORGAN: Many people have said to me that the catalyst for Michael's problems with painkiller addiction and sleep problems and so on was two fold. One was the horrific accident with the Pepsi commercial where his hair was set on fire and it caused him severe burning. He took the pain killers for that.
Secondly, that the child abuse allegations had a hugely detrimental effect on his health and on his sleep. You were obviously at the center of that. What do you think of that?
WEITZMAN: I think the pressures of any allegations, even though they're false and even though it turns out you're acquitted, put tremendous pressure on you. And I also think the demands of one's business can put pressures on you. I really am not privy to Michael's drug use. Again, only what I've read about and heard about.
Either way, someone else pointing the finger at him as being responsible for his own death is a concept that I reject.
MORGAN: Let me, John, finish with you. I saw Michael Jackson perform a couple times live. And to me he was the greatest entertainer that I ever saw. You have represented, as Howard has, many of the great entertainers in the world. What did you think of his status as a performer?
BRANCA: I think it was unparalleled. It's very rare you can see someone who can write the songs like Michael did, sing them with his vocal ability, choreograph them, produce them, and then go out and perform them. Anyone who could do any one of those things can be a star. Then you add in Michael's fashion sense and you have a one of a kind superstar.
MORGAN: What do you think his legacy will be?
BRANCA: As Berry Gordy said, the greatest performer who ever lived.
MORGAN: Howard?
WEITZMAN: For me, when people ask me to describe Michael Jackson, I say push the play button on the video or on your iPod and that says it all.
MORGAN: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. To me, he was the real king of pop.
WEITZMAN: Absolutely.
MORGAN: John, Howard, thank you both very much, indeed.
WEITZMAN: Thank you.
MORGAN: After the break, our exclusive with Michael Jackson's mother and his children as they attend to launch of the show which aims to keep the memory of their father alive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: "Michael Jackson, The Immortal World Tour" is a tribute to Michael and his music with Cirque du Soleil. The show opened in Montreal over the weekend. Michael's mother Katherine and his children were in attendance. We caught up with them exclusively.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHERINE JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S MOTHER: I thought every song was very good. My impression of the show that it was fantastic. I thought it was one of the best shows that I've seen.
PARIS JACKSON, DAUGHTER OF MICHAEL JACKSON: It was like amazing. It brought tears to my eyes. I almost cried. It was really amazing.
PRINCE JACKSON, SON OF MICHAEL JACKSON: He would have thought it was performed really well. It kept getting better and better.
K. JACKSON: I'm his mother, so quite naturally, I just thought everything was good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: An incredible show based on the life of an incredible entertainer. That's all for us tonight. "AC 360" starts right now.
Let me start with you, John. You very rarely give television interviews. What is your primary motivation in going public now?
BRANCA: Well, Piers, Michael is no longer with us, obviously. And we felt that we have a message to get out to talk about the Cirque Immortal show and various other questions that we felt would be good to address at this time.
MORGAN: You knew Michael for well on 30 years. An extraordinary long relationship with him. How would you describe the nature of your relationship over that time? It was a bit rollercoaster, wasn't it? You sort of dipped in and out of his business life.
BRANCA: Well, we started in January of 1980. And I'll never forget the first meeting. Michael had his sunglasses on. And in the middle of the interview, he leaned over and he said, Branca, do I know you? I said, I don't think so, Michael. I think this is the first time we've met. And he said, are you sure? And I said, Michael, I think I would remember.
(LAUGHTER)
BRANCA: So we went for about a decade, and then on and off for pretty close to three decades. I was his principle business adviser through much of that period. And we had developed a friendship as well.
MORGAN: I interviewed him once. Fascinating experience. And I've discussed this on the show a few times but you're the most interesting guy to talk to about that because I felt when I talked to him about charity work or children or whoever it may be, he had a soft, gentle, high pitched voice.
When I talked to him about anything to do with business, it seemed to drop a couple of octaves and he became much more serious and, dare I say it, adult in the way he spoke.
Did you find that with him?
BRANCA: Absolutely. Michael was multifaceted. He was misunderstood in some ways, but we think that the movie "This Is It" gave fans a pretty good glimpse at the real Michael. He was a perfectionist and at the same time he was a humanitarian who respected the work of his fellow artists.
MORGAN: Like a good businessman, would you say?
BRANCA: Yes, Michael had great instincts, particularly with regard to marketing and promotion. He was always connected with his fans. And he's had a loyal fan base to this day.
MORGAN: You had this extraordinary experience with him on "Thriller" when most videos at the time were going for about $50,000 to make them. And Michael had this ever more fanciful plan, which meant the cost of making the "Thriller" video was going to be $1 million. And he came to you and said, right, Branca, make this work.
And you had the brilliant idea of going off and pitching the making of the "Thriller" video as a TV show in its own right and a video. And you sold that for $1.2 million. So you ended up making Michael a profit. He must have thought you were a genius, didn't he?
BRANCA: Well, Michael was the genius. But the "Thriller" video was so good, it's been considered the greatest video of all time.
MORGAN: And the other smart business move that Michael Jackson made -- I know you were heavily involved in this -- was the decision to get his hands on the Beatles catalog. Tell me about that process.
BRANCA: Well, Michael was good friends with Paul McCartney. And after "Thriller," Michael had a lot of money, a lot of cash. So Michael asked me to call Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono, his good friends. He did not want to bid against them. And I spoke with Yoko. And I said, Yoko, are you bidding on this catalog? And she said, no. We'd be thrilled if Michael could get it rather than some big corporation.
I spoke to Paul McCartney's lawyer who said they were not bidding. So we went out. It took us a year to close that deal. It wasn't easy. There was a lot of competition. But Michael was passionate. He wanted to invest in things that he was passionate about. So we did buy the Beatles catalog. We later brought some Elvis Presley copyrights. And that publishing company now forms the cornerstone for his net worth.
MORGAN: But in terms of the Beatles music, is that still part of Michael's estate?
BRANCA: Absolutely, yes.
MORGAN: And in terms of the sheer number crunching here, could you tell me now what he paid for it and what it might now be worth?
BRANCA: Well, we bought the catalog in 1985. We spent $47.5 million, which is well known. We sold off a background music library. So his net investment was about $41 million. And while I can't give out confidential details, it's been reported that Sony ATV is worth upwards of $2 billion and Michael owns half.
MORGAN: Wow. So he took it from 40-odd million to $1 billion?
BRANCA: Yes. And I would say in addition to Sony ATV, Michael has his own publishing company which is called My Jack which owns all of his own songs as well as many other songs we bought over the years. So when you add the two companies together, it's even more valuable.
MORGAN: So all this stuff about Michael being half a billion dollars in debt when he died is a load of baloney, isn't it? Assuming the publishing rights alone by the sound of it were worth several billion dollars.
BRANCA: Well, Piers, I'd like to comment on speculation about Michael's debt. Net worth, you know, one doesn't want to have to sell those assets. So you know, those are cornerstone assets that we keep on -- we plan on keeping for Michael's children and keeping those in the family.
MORGAN: What kind of decisions have you taken which have turned out to be very smart ones in relation to handling his estate?
BRANCA: Well, my co-executor John MaClean and I -- let's face it, Piers, we're fortunate to represent Michael Jackson. Which makes our job an easy one in some senses. But I think the first thing we did is we made a decision to greenlight "This Is It," the motion picture.
And I will say at the time we were criticized. People -- you know, some family members said Michael wouldn't want these rehearsal tapes out there. But John and I felt that you really saw Michael as a great artist and a great humanitarian. That was our first big decision.
And it went on to become the biggest documentary and the biggest concert film of all time. And I think we converted even new followers for Michael.
MORGAN: When I interviewed Jermaine Jackson recently, he said that there were lots of outtakes from that film which, if people saw those, they would be concerned about Michael's fragility, his fragile condition. What would you say to that?
BRANCA: I'm not sure if that's true or not. Kenny Ortega, who is a great director, went through all of the footage to assemble it together. And you know, I think with any artist, they have their great days and they have off days. That's the nature of rehearsal.
So I have not seen all the outtakes, but I'm pretty confident that what you see on the screen represented the true Michael.
MORGAN: You were so close to him that, at one stage when you got married for the first time, Michael came, was best man. He brought Bubbles the Chimp who wore a tuxedo. Little Richard was the minister. Hard to imagine anyone being as close to him as you were at the time.
He brought you back into his business life shortly before he died, didn't he? Was that to run the concert stage of things? I know you weren't working for AEG, but explain that relationship. BRANCA: First, I'm glad you mentioned that first wedding, because I have fond memories of Michael being the best man and Bubbles in the tuxedo. It was priceless. It was priceless.
In terms of coming back into Michael's life, we separated amicably in 2006. And I got a call from Michael's manager, Frank Dileo, about a month before we met. And Michael was excited and Frank was excited about the tour. And they wanted me to give some thought about some ideas of what we could do around the tour.
Frank Dileo and I met several times. Then finally I met again with Michael about a week before he passed away. We met at the forum where he was rehearsing. And I'm so glad that we got that chance to see each other again.
MORGAN: How did he seem to you?
BRANCA: It wasn't a long meeting. You know, I was there for perhaps an hour. And Michael seemed fine. He seemed -- you know, there were different Michaels. I've seen Michael at times where he's been very introverted and very quiet, and other times where he's very extroverted.
I think that night he was really preparing for the show. He was leaving for England soon. So it was hard to draw any conclusions from that meeting.
MORGAN: We'll take a short break, John. When we come back, I want to talk to you and Howard about the moment you heard that Michael had died, and the problems that you've had in running this extraordinarily complex estate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: I'm back now with John Branca, co-executor of Michael Jackson's estate, and Howard Weitzman, Jackson's attorney. Howard, let me just bring in you in here. Obviously fascinating conversation there with John. People didn't really understand, I don't think, just what a business empire Michael Jackson had amassed by the end.
In all your experience of working in the entertainment industry, how did Michael's business empire rank?
WEITZMAN: Michael truly was one of a kind. There are very few legitimate icons in the entertainment business. A lot of people try to get to that level or are looked at in different ways, but Michael was really one of a kind. He had the ability to generate millions and millions of fans worldwide. That converted to huge numbers.
And we see that, unfortunately, post-death, as well as when he was alive. An extraordinary individual.
MORGAN: Is it right to say -- I don't want to be morbid about this, but is it right to say -- there's an old sort of joke about this, that when entertainers die, it's often their best career move, because billions and billions of their records get sold and so on. But there is a certain truth to that, isn't there, if you look at Elvis, John Lennon, Freddie Mercury and so on, their death can spark huge sums of money coming into the estate.
WEITZMAN: I think that's true. The catalog sales spike for a while. What differentiates Michael from others, in my opinion, the "This Is It" record -- or the "This Is It" film, for example, the "This Is It" CD, now the Cirque shows. He was able to create additional businesses well beyond the music. And that's unusual.
MORGAN: John, let me ask you. Michael was well known to be pretty profligate with his spending. How big a problem was that for him? I don't want you to get into the precise details of what debt he may or may not have had. But was his spending out of control, as people kept saying it was?
BRANCA: Well, that was an area that was handled by Michael's business managers and accountants. And Michael made a lot of money. And I probably believe it's true that he spent a lot of money. But he left a lot behind. He had a lot to show for it.
MORGAN: You worked on the Elvis estate briefly, I know that.
BRANCA: Yes.
MORGAN: How does this compare, two great entertainers, solo artists? How do their estates compare in terms of how you manage them?
BRANCA: Well, it's hard to compare. Elvis came up in a different era, in the '50s. I was a big Elvis fan. That's one of the reasons I got in the music industry.
But Michael, you know, went to the Berry Gordy Motown school of the music business, and then learned from great teachers. One of the things I have found representing various members of the hall of fame is, as the generations have gone by, musicians have become very much smarter. And so Michael, I think, learned from his predecessors, as did I.
And so he was able to control his assets in a way that previous entertainers had not.
MORGAN: How fast have those assets appreciated since his death?
BRANCA: Well, you know, we've tried to do the right things. I think John Maclean and I have had the advantage of having a decades long relationship with Michael. John went to school with Michael and his brothers, managed Michael at one point. I was a principle business adviser since 1980.
So we kind of knew how Michael thought, what kind of choices he would make. I was familiar with the assets. So we've been able to make decisions that we think were true to Michael. So therefore, we hope we're adding value to Michael's estate in that regard.
MORGAN: It's not been without its problems, this estate, because both Katherine Jackson and Joe Jackson challenged the will quite early on. What was that all about? Why were the family unsettled by the will? The will was written in 2002. So a long time before he died.
WEITZMAN: Well, I think they were ill advised and the challenge was ill conceived. Michael clearly appointed John Maclean, John Branca to be the executors of his will, the trustees of his trusts. Ultimately, the court rejected the challenge. The court of appeals rejected the challenge. And John Maclean and John Branca are, in fact, the executors and the trustees.
MORGAN: Am I right in thinking the estate is already petitioned to distribute 30 million dollars to the will's beneficiaries, who would be his immediate family and children?
WEITZMAN: Yeah. It's something we had planned on a year ago. It's only a preliminary distribution. You know, the court has a certain process we have to go through. You deal with IRS issues, state of California estate issues. But ultimately the executors, John Branca and John Maclean, decided that it was time for a preliminary distribution. Thirty million dollars went into Michael Jackson's family trust.
MORGAN: John, presumably as the co-executor, would you have read the will to the family?
BRANCA: Yes, I did, to Mrs. Jackson and several of Michael's siblings.
MORGAN: A pretty extraordinary experience. How was that?
BRANCA: Very emotional. Mrs. Jackson had lost her son. Michael's brothers and sisters have lost a beloved brother. And we gathered at Jermaine's house and read the will. And I left her with a copy of the will. I think we were all in a state of shock.
No one could have anticipated Michael's passing.
MORGAN: What was your first reaction, I guess? Did you know you were co-executor still? Were you aware that that 2002 will was still in play?
BRANCA: No, not at all. Michael had a succession of attorneys and business advisers subsequently. And I did not know which was the final will. We turned the will into the court. And we did not know if there would be another more recent will.
MORGAN: Have you managed to -- not patch things up, but have you managed to calm the family down now about your intentions being perfectly honorable in relation to the will? Are they in a more relaxed frame of mind about it?
BRANCA: I would think so. I would hope so. Michael's brother Jackie is a consultant to the estate, as is Michael's nephew, Taj. And of course, Mrs. Jackson and Michael's three children are the sole beneficiaries of the estate other than, of course, the contribution we will make to charity. MORGAN: Another short break. When come back, I want to talk to you about, in particular, the Cirque Du Soleil project, which is probably the biggest thing that you sanctioned as a co-executor, and see what the plan is for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
MORGAN: Back now with my special guests, John Branca and Howard Weitzman. John, tell me about Cirque du Soleil, because your history with Michael and this particular show goes back I think to Santa Monica Pier. Is that right?
BRANCA: That's true, Piers. I remember a night, I believe it was in 1989, where Michael and I went to the first ever Cirque Du Soleil tent show, which was at the Santa Monica Pier.
What I remember about that night, we were in a van. I was driving. And why we were in a van, I cannot remember. Michael had a nice car, I had a nice car. Here was Michael, the biggest star in the world. And we went with no security. And I was so nervous driving Michael, I got lost on the 405 freeway.
So we ended up getting to the Cirque show. Michael was clearly captivated. He said to me, Branca, we have to go backstage after the show. Of course, Michael. So we go backstage and he wanted to meet the cast. I will never forget. I can't tell who was more excited, Michael to meet the cast or the cast to meet Michael.
It was one of those magical nights. And subsequently, Michael visited Montreal on more than one occasion to meet with the Cirque owner, Gilles la Liberte (ph). Michael was a big fan of Cirque.
So John Maclean and I knew we had to create a live show. Berry Gordie called Michael the greatest entertainer who ever lived. So to do a live show properly, we knew it had to be something really special. You certainly couldn't put somebody up on stage to try to impersonate Michael. That would be absurd.
So we considered the various alternatives. And low and behold, we got a call from Gilles la Liberte, who said Cirque was interested in doing a Michael Jackson show. If you've seen the Cirque du Soleil shows, they've created some of the greatest shows ever made.
We figured this might be the perfect marriage. If you saw "This Is It," Piers, you see what a perfectionist Michael was. And we see the same level of detail in Cirque du Soleil. So it seems like a match made in heaven.
MORGAN: The match, just to clarify, is a kind of fusion of Cirque du Soleil, as we would know it, but mixed with Michael's music. Is that right?
BRANCA: That's right. One of our key objectives is Cirque has a number of shows. And they're all outstanding. But we wanted to make sure this was a Michael Jackson show. Michael's fans want a Michael Jackson show. And Cirque was on board for that.
We have hired many people who collaborated with Michael. The director, Jamie King, danced with Michael. Two of the choreographers, Travis Pane (ph) and the Tallajuega (ph) brothers, worked with Michael.
There's a live band in the show, run by Greg Philinganes (ph), who played on all of Michael's albums and toured with Michael.
So what you see, this is a traveling rock show that will travel to arenas throughout the world, live band, Michael's vocals, incredible visuals and incredible choreography. And you'll come away seeing something that I don't think has ever been done before, a Michael Jackson show done by Cirque du Soleil.
MORGAN: In 2013, it goes to Vegas permanently and there will be a Michael Jackson Museum?
BRANCA: There will be another show that's created permanently and specifically for a theater in Las Vegas in 2013.
MORGAN: Let me bring you in, Howard. I think it's more appropriate to ask you about the ongoing trial with Conrad Murray. You were the guy who represented Michael over the child abuse allegations in 1993. What do you make of all this?
WEITZMAN: The issue in this case will be, did Conrad Murray engage in the appropriate standard of care for a physician in that situation. I have read the same stuff you have read about his defense. I have tried over 200 jury trials. So I know enough to know you can't really predict it. The evidence will be what it is.
But it seems to me, pointing the finger at the victim is always an uphill battle. That appears to be Dr. Murray's defense. What I hope personally is that the jury does the right thing.
MORGAN: Many people have said to me that the catalyst for Michael's problems with painkiller addiction and sleep problems and so on was two fold. One was the horrific accident with the Pepsi commercial where his hair was set on fire and it caused him severe burning. He took the pain killers for that.
Secondly, that the child abuse allegations had a hugely detrimental effect on his health and on his sleep. You were obviously at the center of that. What do you think of that?
WEITZMAN: I think the pressures of any allegations, even though they're false and even though it turns out you're acquitted, put tremendous pressure on you. And I also think the demands of one's business can put pressures on you. I really am not privy to Michael's drug use. Again, only what I've read about and heard about.
Either way, someone else pointing the finger at him as being responsible for his own death is a concept that I reject.
MORGAN: Let me, John, finish with you. I saw Michael Jackson perform a couple times live. And to me he was the greatest entertainer that I ever saw. You have represented, as Howard has, many of the great entertainers in the world. What did you think of his status as a performer?
BRANCA: I think it was unparalleled. It's very rare you can see someone who can write the songs like Michael did, sing them with his vocal ability, choreograph them, produce them, and then go out and perform them. Anyone who could do any one of those things can be a star. Then you add in Michael's fashion sense and you have a one of a kind superstar.
MORGAN: What do you think his legacy will be?
BRANCA: As Berry Gordy said, the greatest performer who ever lived.
MORGAN: Howard?
WEITZMAN: For me, when people ask me to describe Michael Jackson, I say push the play button on the video or on your iPod and that says it all.
MORGAN: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. To me, he was the real king of pop.
WEITZMAN: Absolutely.
MORGAN: John, Howard, thank you both very much, indeed.
WEITZMAN: Thank you.
MORGAN: After the break, our exclusive with Michael Jackson's mother and his children as they attend to launch of the show which aims to keep the memory of their father alive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: "Michael Jackson, The Immortal World Tour" is a tribute to Michael and his music with Cirque du Soleil. The show opened in Montreal over the weekend. Michael's mother Katherine and his children were in attendance. We caught up with them exclusively.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHERINE JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S MOTHER: I thought every song was very good. My impression of the show that it was fantastic. I thought it was one of the best shows that I've seen.
PARIS JACKSON, DAUGHTER OF MICHAEL JACKSON: It was like amazing. It brought tears to my eyes. I almost cried. It was really amazing.
PRINCE JACKSON, SON OF MICHAEL JACKSON: He would have thought it was performed really well. It kept getting better and better.
K. JACKSON: I'm his mother, so quite naturally, I just thought everything was good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: An incredible show based on the life of an incredible entertainer. That's all for us tonight. "AC 360" starts right now.
ExoticPrincess
Guests
I liked the interview and the best part about the Piers Morgan Show last night was that Deepak Chopra's segment was evidently ditched so that they could cover the Amanda Knox acquittal!LOL
yanmjj
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PRINCE JACKSON, SON OF MICHAEL JACKSON: He would have thought it was performed really well. It kept getting better and better.