The producer says the award-winning play “Stereophonic” took dialogue and scenes directly from his memoir about the making of the landmark 1977 album.
Ken Caillat, the sound engineer and producer who worked on the album Rumours of Fleetwood Macis suing the Tony-winning play “Stereophonic” for allegedly copying his memoir “Making Rumors.” Published in 2012, this book reveals the famous creation of Rumours experienced from the producer’s point of view, from the control booth.
“Stereophonic,” for its part, very similarly tells the story of a band on the brink of stardom, making an album in 1976 amid infighting and breakups. The similarities between “Stereophonic” and the story of Fleetwood Mac have been widely noted, although playwright David Adjmi has claimed that he drew inspiration from a range of influences.
But Caillat’s new complaint, obtained by RollingStone magazine, refutes that claim, saying the piece “copies the heart and soul of ‘Making Rumors,’ and is substantially similar.” Representatives for “Stereophonic” and Adjmi did not immediately respond to request for comment from RollingStone. The complaint claims that, by placing the play in a studio, the audience is positioned as if they are watching events unfold “from the perspective of the engineers and producers.” To that end, the lawsuit notes that this play features two sound engineers, one of whom is named Grover and whom Adjmi wished to see as the play’s “stealthy protagonist.” Just as Caillat had not worked with Fleetwood Mac before making Rumoursthe complaint notes that Grover is “new to the music business.”
Additionally, Grover moves from sound engineer to co-producer over the course of the play, just as Caillat was promoted during the making of Rumours. (The other engineer turned producer on Rumours was Richard Dashut.) The lawsuit goes on to allege that Stereophonic took specific scenes, and even snippets of dialogue, from Caillat’s book. In a scene from Making Rumors, he recalls an interaction with Christine McVie in which she pushed him and Dashut to act a little less like sound engineers and more like producers. Caillat remembers McVie telling him, “We don’t want to have to come and listen every time we try something different. We want you to start paying attention to tempos, keys, tuning and other things.” other important things, and that you help us “. In the play, the complaint claims Holly’s character tells Grover: “I don’t have time to come here and listen every time we ask something… Why don’t you listen to us and don’t you pay attention to what’s going on here? You start paying attention to the tempo and the key and the instruments and you give us some fucking help.”
As we can see, the similarities are numerous and do not stop at the examples presented above. Ken Caillat is seeking unspecified damages, including profits made from the production.
