Soon, They'll Outsource the Actual Filmmaking to India

Sacha Baron Cohen's "Da Ali G Show" has won a libel case in Los Angeles by outsourcing all the motion papers and legal research to low-cost lawyers in India. Historically, many Hollywood damage claims have been settled because it was cheaper to pay off the plaintiff than pay the lawyers to fight their claims in court.

This could mean fewer jobs for $750/hour lawyers and less opportunity for Hollywood hangers-on to get paid, but a greater number of actual trials that get gossipy TV coverage on "Access Hollywood." Whether this is a good or a bad thing has to be your call. Read the whole story at Deadline Hollywood Daily.

James Barber has written about music and movies for Slate, Blender, Good and AlltheMusicNews.com. He is also a record producer, band manager, music business technology consultant and was an A&R guy at Geffen/DGC Records (back in the 90s when that meant something). He has never been a celebrity chef in Canada, even though he gets a lot of internet fan mail for that guy.