When Lee Cowan interviewed Woody Allen last July for “CBS Sunday Morning,” it was a news segment tied to the release of Allen’s memoir, “Apropos of Nothing.”
But the piece debuted this morning, nine months later, it was not on a CBS News program but on CBS’s pay streaming subscription service, Paramount Plus.
The Allen team had no idea what had happened to the Cowan piece or that it was going to be charged for.
Woody’s sister and producing partner Letty Aronson, tells me exclusively: “They lied to us month after month, finally breaking their word that it would be about Woody’s career and new book and play with absolutely no controversy (we don’t do that on our Sunday Morning show).”
I asked if, with the switch to pay streaming, if there was now remuneration involved. Suddenly, CBS is getting income from charging for a Woody Allen interview. Aronson added in an email: “And he’s not getting paid.”
Not getting paid, as well as rights issues, may be a problem now. It could be argued that CBS pulled a fast one on Woody, actingi duplicitously and disingenuously.
PS Paramount Plus isn’t even promoting the interview. You have to search for CBS Sunday Morning and find it there. A fair piece? I’ll tell you in a bit.
stay tuned…
PS Here’s a real Woody Allen interview I did in 2014.
Flashback: Woody Allen Makes a Brilliant Chocolate Malted, Hasn’t Had a Hot Dog in 15 Years
