Bourne Co. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation et al

Filing 34

DECLARATION of Paul M. Fakler in Support re: 28 MOTION for Summary Judgment.. Document filed by Bourne Co.. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit Exhibits E-G, # 6 Exhibit Exhibit H, # 7 Exhibit Exhibit I, # 8 Exhibit Exhibits J-K, # 9 Exhibit Exhibits L-M, # 10 Exhibit Exhibits N-O)(Fakler, Paul)

EXHIBIT C

N H t"lA-TSlJNO
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

BOURE CO., )

Plaintiff, )
)

va. ) No. 07 CIV. 8580 (DAB)
)

)

TWNTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM )
CORPORATION, FOX BROADCASTING ) COMPANY, TWNTIETH CENTURY FOX )

TELEVISION, INC., TWNTIETH )
CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMNT, ) INC., FUZZY DOOR PRODUCTIONS, ) INC., THE CATOON NETWORK, INC.,)

SETH MAC FARE, WALTER MUPHY,)
)

Def endan ts . )

30 (B) (6) DEPOSITION OF FOX EMLOYEE
LINDA SHIMA-TSUNO

TAKN ON
WEDNESDAY, MACH 12, 2008

Reported by:
Daryl Baucum, RPR, CRR, CBC, CSR No. 10356

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INDA

MA-TSUNO

9

I standards and practices?

A. In 2000.
3

Q.

What position did you have at the time that you

4 left?
A. Director of Standards and Practices.
6

Q.

And how long were you Director of Standards and

7 Practices?
A. I don i t rememer. Maybe two years.
Q. In your capacity in working in standards and

1 practices, were you involved at all in the "Family Guy"

11 television show?
1
1

A.
Q.

Yes.
What did you do with respect to the "Family

i 4 Guy" show?
A. I was assigned to "Family Guy" for standards

16 and practices purposes for clearance.
1

Q.

And did you do that from the beginning of when

18 the "Family Guy" show was first on the air?
A. Yes.
20
Q.

And were you assigned to the "Family Guy" show

2 up until the time you left Fox?

A. Yes, I was.
Q. Can you please explain to me what exactly is

4 standards and practices.

A. We review material for acceptability for
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LINDA SHIMA-TSUNO

broadcast.
Q. And when you were working on the "Family Guyll

3 show during that period of time, whom did you report to?
4

A.
Q.

Roland MacFarland.

5

And what was his position? Vice President of Standards and Practices.

6 7

A.
Q.

How would you characterize your working

8 relationship with the folks at "Family Guy"?
9

A.
Q.

I though tit was very good.

10

Do you remember working on an episode called

llWhen You Wish Upon a Weinstein?
2

A.
Q.

Yes, I do.

13

And how is your memory of the work that you did

14 on the Weinstein episode?
15 16
17

A.
Q.

Wha t do you mean?

Do you rememer it well?

A.

I rememer it. I may not rememer details. I

1 have put a lot of time into that episode because it was

19 problematic.
20
Q.
And why was that episode particularly

2 problema tic?
22

A.

It had the potential to be offensive to

23 Jewish -- to the Jewish community.
24

Q.

What it was about the episode that had that

potential?
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()

H ~1A- SUNO

1

A.

Well, Peter wanted to -- Peter wanted to be

good with money and he wasn i t a very bright guy. And in

speaking with his friends, he discovered that all his

4 friends had people helping them manage their money, and
it just happened that his friends i people had Jewish
last names.
7

So Peter deducted that Jewish people were good

wi th money, could handle money well, and so he wan ted to
9 become Jewish.

Q. Who at llFamily Guyll in the production did you
deal directly with for purposes of clearance?
2

A.
Q.

Mostly David Zuckerman and Seth MacFarlane.

13

And at what stage of the production of the

14 episode did you first get involved?
15

A.

Actually, I think someone brought it up during

1 the concept level. Tha t 's my memory.
7

Q.

Were you at the first table read of the

18 episode?
19

A.
Q.

I imagine I was - - yes, I was.

20

And what was your first reaction after the

21 table read?
A. That there were many problems with the episode,

23 tha t we would have to work through a lot of things in
4 the episode.
r, -'

Q.

And did you communicate thi s reaction to the

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LI N DA SH IMA-TSUNO

1

llFamily Guy" staff?
A. Yes.
Q. And in wha t ways did you have telephone
con

2 3
4

versa tions with them?

5

A. Yes, many.

6
7

Q. And did you also send letters?
A. Yes.

8
9

10
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7

Q. Can you tell me who Ken Dennis is?

A. Ken Dennis, he was a producer for "Family Guy. li
i

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24

Q.

Did Rabbi Levi ever provide a written letter

of -- any written form of his opinion about the episode?

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l.1A-T

A. You know, I don't recall.
Q. And what was his opinion?
A. He was not offended by the episode, but I do

4 believe that he thought the song might offend some

people.
Q.

I think everyone thought that.

And so did he

he didn't give an overall

7 approval of the entire episode?
A. No, he gave some notes, you know, on sections

9 that he thought should be revised.
10

Q.

And particularly, he mentioned the song as one

thing tha t he had a - 1
,

A.
the song.

That was one -- I believe everyone mentioned
So I am assuming he did, too.

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Q. And do you know who selected Rabbi Geller?
A. I did through a recommenda tion from someone

10 else.
11

Q.

And was she provided a copy of the script?

A. Yes.
Q. And I take it Seth and David knew you were
J" ê ,
1

going to talk to her, as well?

A.

Oh, yes.

Q. Did Rabbi Geller give any written opinion to

7 you?

A. You know, I don't recall if any of them gave a

1 wri tten opinion.
20
21

Q.

What was Rabbi Geller's opinion of the program?
She thought it was very offensive.

A.

Q. Do you recall what her specific problems were

2 with the episode?
24
2

A.
Q.

She didn f t like it at alI.

And I take it that would include the song?

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A. That included the song.

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Q. Did anyone at "Family Guy" ever tell you that
the "I Need A Jew" song was specifically meant to make
fun of the alleged antisemitism of Walt Disney?

A. I don't recall that.
Q. At some point -- I'm sorry -- what was the __
was the episode cleared during season two for broadcast?

A. No.
Q. Why not?
,q

A.

Senior management felt that it was just too

potentially offensive.

Q. At some point did you learn that Fox had

7 decided to broadcast the Weinstein episode?
., n

1.ü

A.

After I had left, yes.

Q. And were you surprised to find that out?

A. Actually, they did this once before. So, no.
MR. FAKER: Those are all the ques tions I
have.
MR. ZAVIN: Hold on just one moment.
(Off the record.)

MR. ZAVIN: Just a couple of very brief

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