Jessica Kovacevic — Direct/Cross
211 linesTHE COURT: All right. Your next witness.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Yes, Your Honor, we have Jessica Kovacevic. She's Amber's agent, and that's approximately 27 minutes.
THE COURT: How do yon spell the last nam: fur ire?
MS. BREDEHOFT: That's a tough one, K-0-V-A-C-E-V-I-C.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you JESSICA KOVACEVIC, being first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows: EXAMINATION BY COUNSEL FOR THE PLAINTIFF AND
MS. BREDEHOFT: COUNTERCLAIM DEFENDANT BY MR. CHEW:
MR. CHEW: Good afternoon, Ms. Kovacevic. And, Ms. Kovacevic, do you know that you are here today in your personal capacity and also as a representative of your agency, WME?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: I do.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: I'm a talent agent
MR. CHEW: Would you please describe in just very general terms what a talent agent does, generally?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Generally, you procure work for your clients. You make introductions. You read their scripts. You negotiate their deals.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MR. CHEW: And over the period that you've worked for -- with Ms. Heard as her agent, what have your job responsibilities entailed?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Like I mentioned before, introducing her to producers and directors, writers, studio executives, procuring work for her, introducing her - just introducing her to people that can employ her, and then negotiating her deals and then dealing with whatever happens on - while she is working, anything that arises that needs dealing with.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: She was cast in - I was. She was cast in Justice League first, and then the deal was to be in Justice League, the first Aquaman, and the !s second Aquaman.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Extremely.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: In the press, you mean? Or what do you mean specifically?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: No, there weren't any negatives.
MR. CHEW: As her talent agent, did you attempt to n b renegotiate Ms. Beard's salary for Aquaman 2?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: We did that around this time last year.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: It's standard to renegotiate these types of deals. It's normal practice. When a hot movie - when Aquaman came out, it was the most successful movie of all time, ever, so even more so for that reason. But for any successful franchise movie, when you make a three- or a four-picture deal like we did, in success, it's typical to go back and renegotiate the deal.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Because that's when her option was exercised.
MR. CHEW: And when you did get around to trying to negotiate, were you and WME successful in doing that?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Correct.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: It would have been the end of February last year.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MR. CHEW: At some point was there -- were there press reports that Ms. Heard was getting released from Aquaman 2?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: There were online rumors for a while that she was being replaced
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: First, I don't know exactly when, but it was way before - it was way before this. It was maybe even a year before this, six months before, maybe.
MR. CHEW: So nobody ever told you that Warner Brothers misrepresented the reason that they were replacing Ms. Heard, correct?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: No. Why would they?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: The financial terms?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: She was going to be making $2 million on the second film.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MR. CHEW: Is this consistent with what Warner Brothers originally gave as the rationale for not using her in Aquaman 2?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: The lack of chemistry between her and Jason?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MR. CHEW: So did there come a time when WME came to understand that Ms. Heard's role as Mera in Aquaman 2 was diminished in some way?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: When she was sent the script. She was I sent the script directly, which is the common practice for these films.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Bot is a fake account that's created to execute a certain objective.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: College.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: NYU.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Communications.
MR. CHEW: When WME first began working with Ms. Heard as her talent agent, you said she had some success. How well known was Ms. Heard?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: She was pretty famous. She was -- within the industry you could call anyone and they l'
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Knew who she was. So she had a certain level of fame. She had starred in movies and shows already I by that point. j 7
MR. CHEW: Going back and taking a wider lens, you Is know, over the time that you've -- the several years you've worked for -- with Ms. Heard, how O would you characterize the arc of her career?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: I would say she was a known actress when I started working with her, like she was the one that you could call executives and producers about and everyone knew her name. She hadn't yet, like, reached big star status, but she was definitely, you know, she could get the lead of an independent movie. She could get the lead of a TV series. When I worked with her, we slowly started to, like, strategically, you know, have her work on some more prestigious projects and work with, you know, better directors.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: And then when she got Justice League, that was a, you know, turning point for her. And then Aquaman, you know, subsequently was obviously the -- you know, the biggest thing she had ever been a part of.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Because, typically, when you have an actor who is in a movie as successful as that, as Aquaman was, their career totally changes, and they're in a different echelon. They, you know, get way more offers. They're just put in a different place, position-wise, with studios. They're more bankable, so she can greenlight projects.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: All of those kind of things are consistent with when you're in a blockbuster of that size, and with her, that did not happen. You know, it happened, you know, very significantly for her co-star. Obviously, he's the lead of the film and he's the title character, but even a small percentage of that did not happen for her. So that's my assessment.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Because, I mean, the evidence in that- in my experience and the experience of my colleagues and the experience of this business, you - your career takes a turn after something like that. She was very well received in the movie at the time. Everyone was very happy with her. At the time there were no issues. And then to have a complete downturn after that and then have that coincide with constant tweets and negativity put out about her, I don't have a physical piece of paper of evidence, but it's the only logical conclusion I can draw.
MR. CHEW: Can you name a single role she has lost as a result of any activity by Adam Waldman or anyone at his behest?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: There was a movie at Amazon that she had been offered with Gael Garcia Bernal - I don't know what the final title of it is called now. I can look it up. It had a working title at the time - that they took away from her and, you know, the lead actor who was the producer on it very much wanted it to be her and was very frustrated with the process and no one - no one could say out loud "We're taking this away from her because, you know, of this bad press," because it's nothing she did and it's all hearsay, and then it's all, you know, whatever. But there's no other reason.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Correct
MR. CHEW: And can you point us to any career opportunities that Ms. Heard has lost because of any statements made by Mr. Waldman?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: I mean, that Amazon movie, for one, is one that is tangible because that is an example of something she had before all of that that was then taken away. I know that a campaign she shot for TOD's via Katie Slater was scrapped and not used. There was not another specific example, because, like I said to you, no one is going to say to me, "Oh, we can't hire her because of these tweets," or whatever. They just don't want to hire someone that has bad press around them from, you know, these accusations calling them -- no one wants someone being accused of a liar and making something up and, you know, abusing somebody. No one wants that association with their project.
MR. CHEW: And directing your attention ten pages into the article, there's another quote from Mr. Waldman. Mr. Waldman states in this article 'Quite simply, this was an ambush, a hoax. They set Mr. Depp up by calling the cops, but the first attempt didn't do the trick. The officers came to the penthouses, thoroughly searched and interviewed, and left after seeing no damage to face or property.
MR. CHEW: So Amber and her friends spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their story straight under the direction of a lawyer and publicist, and then placed a second call to 911." Did I read that correctly?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: It just shows the top part of that on this page, but the top part was correct.
MR. CHEW: Okay. Did any potential -- was WME aware of Adam's statement, Mr. Waldman's statements, in this particular article?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Now, you talked earlier about there being a tweet from Adam. I assume you're ref erring to Adam Waldman; is that correct?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And what, if any, impact did it have on Amber's career and career path to have Mr. Depp's lawyers putting out statements in the press and in tweets that Amber Heard was lying, making things up, creating a hoax of abuse?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: I think that his comments spurred on - it just added fuel to the fire. So there "as already so much media coverage.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And that's what you observed?
MS. BREDEHOFT: That's what I observed.
MS. BREDEHOFT: I'm going to take you to Aquaman, and I'll call it Aquaman 1, just to make it easier to understand. What, if any, performance issues were raised with Amber Heard by anyone that was responsible for the filming of Aquaman?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: No performance issues raised whatsoever.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And what was yow- understanding of how Amber tested with the audiences in Aquaman?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: My understanding was that she tested extremely well.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And this is -- and Aquaman has reflected all the markers of a very successful movie at this point?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: You testified earlier that it's quite typical when you have a series of three to four films in a franchise or a series, to be able to renegotiate as you go into the sequels.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Do you recall that testimony?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Okay. And why is that?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Because you make the initial deals, you know, before the movie has done, you know, well. And then when the movie overperforms like that, it's just - it's a custom
MS. BREDEHOFT: In light of the success of Aquaman, would you expect that Amber Heard would be receiving endorsements as of this time?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And what is the typical -- what is the I typical process that happens after someone has starred in a very successful movie such as Aquaman and Amber was Mera?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: The endorsement department would - a combination of offers and then seeking out offers that - seeking out opportunities.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Now, given Amber's career trajectory leading up to and immediately after the success of Aquaman 1, did you expect her career to go on an upward, downward trajectory, or stay the same?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: I expected an upward trajectory.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And why is that?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Because in success of a film like that, it's usually always the case.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And immediately after the successes of Aquaman, would you have expected Amber's annual Is earnings to increase, decrease, or stay the same compared to the previous five years?
MS. BREDEHOFT: I would have expected them to increase. And why is that?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Because her profile had been raised internationally. She was in a movie that was successful worldwide. And when you are in a movie that performs that well worldwide, your bankability is stronger, you can finance an independent film more easily. You can greenlight a film more easily. You can just do more and for more money.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Do you recall what the budget was for Aquaman?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: The first one? I don't know. It would have been probably somewhere between 150 and 200 million.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Immediately after the success of Aquaman, would you have expected Ms. Heard to continue to earn at least the fee she made on Aquaman on future big-budget studio films or less or more?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: That becomes an actor's quote, their fee. And, yes, typically, like, you will then earn your -- not on a tiny independent film, you couldn't make that much money on that, but another studio film, another film on a streamer or whatever, something like that, you would make that much or potentially get a raise.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Other than Aquaman 2, has Amber obtained any roles with a budget the size of Aquaman's?
MS. BREDEHOFT: Has she been hired for any films with budgets for over a hundred million?
MS. BREDEHOFT: Immediately after the success of Aquaman, would you expect the success of Aquaman and her starring role in that film to increase her ability to get more movie studios to be interested in her, decrease, or stay the same?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Increase.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And did it?
MS. BREDEHOFT: Would you expect her to get more TV roles?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And why?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Why? Because I mentioned earlier in the conversation, you know, TV and films are so more blended now, and there's much less of a delineation between picking projects between film and TV.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And did Amber receive more TV roles as a result of Aquaman, the success of Aquaman?
MS. BREDEHOFT: Immediately after the success of Aquaman, would you have expected Amber to star in more than one project per year, less, or the same?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: It depends if it was a big - you know, Aquaman takes up six months of the year. Big movies take up longer time. Indies, you can do a couple of them a year. It just depends. So I wouldn't put a number on it, but definitely more than zero.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And has Amber starred in more than one project per year since then?
MS. BREDEHOFT: Immediately after the success of Aquaman, did you expect Amber to earn between $5- and $10 million a year for the next five years?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: I would expect to renegotiate on Aquaman 2, most certainly, and so right there, that would have been significantly more, and she would have -yes, I would have expected her to earn more in a combination of TV, film, and more endorsements.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Was it your understanding that WME passed on to L'Oreal suggestions to assist them in being able to block some of the harassing Instagrams they were getting at that time?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: All right. Let's bring up 30 again, please.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Now, did, in fact, L'Oreal suspend having Amber Heard on the International Women's Day campaign?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Tell us what the conditions were for the renewal.
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Just essentially that they were Is renewing her. It was the same fee. That was the bulk of it. It wasn't, you know, like a raise, but they were extending her.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Okay. And typically, coming out of the success of Aquaman, would you have anticipated that Amber could have negotiated larger fees for commercial projects?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes, we would.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Okay. And why would that be?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Because her profile had been raised. She was, you know-- she had done something super successful, so, typically, that's what you do. That would just be the standard practice.
MS. BREDEHOFT: When did you first learn about the change.org petition that was out there to try to get Amber Heard dropped from Aquaman 2?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: I don't know when I first saw it.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Were you aware of it as of May 27, 2020?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: You earlier talked about bots in response to one of Mr. Chew's questions. What, if anything, was your understanding of these bots at this time -- during this time frame?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: My understanding is just based off my own - mainly based off my own research just clicking on the accounts myself and then discussing it amongst the team.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And what did you learn when you did that?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Just as I would go through, you know, daily, just looking at comments or, you know, just the negative comments, clicking on them. Many of them were just kind of accounts made for this kind of commentary or just accounts that just had, you know, no followers, no post, nothing, or followed just Amber and Johnny, things like that.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And I'm sorry. And so what did you learn from clicking onto those that led you to believe they were bots?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: That they weren't consistent with what I know to be actual Instagram accounts.
MS. BREDEHOFT: When you look to set a career trajectory for an actor who just broke out in a major franchise film, would you look to other comparable actors' careers to ascertain what type of acting jobs they could get?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: I mean, I've been doing this job for, you know, quite some time, so I don't necessarily look to one or the other. But, in general, when someone is in, you know, what was at the time the most successful film ever released, the natural progression is growth and more films, more, you know, more work, more money, all of that stuff.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And when you say "the most successful film ever," you're referring to Aquaman 1, correct?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Correct.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Okay. Are comparable actors' salaries used, in your mind, to ascertain the asking price for an actor in a similar film?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Would you consider Ana de Armas' career Is to be comparable to Amber's initially -- where Amber would have been after Aquaman 1?
JESSICA KOVACEVIC: Yes, I would say that would be a comparable - that would be a good comp.
THE COURT: All right. Yes, ma'am. Is that what you have for today?
MS. BREDEHOFT: That's it.
THE COURT: Okay. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we've come to the end of our day and the end of our week. So I want to make sure you have a good three days and come back for our last week of testimony and enjoy your weekend. I just want to remind you again of what we need to remember as we go through the weekend, okay? So you're not to read anything about this case. You're not to watch anything about this case. You're not to listen to anything about the case. This applies to television, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and any online sites. Further, you're not to read, watch, or listen to anything about this case on any social media, networking site, or streaming service.
THE COURT: In addition, you must not communicate with anyone about the case, whether in person, over the phone, by email, text, or instant messaging or by any other electronic or nonelectronic means. This includes your fellow jurors, friends, family, co-workers, acquaintances, and strangers. I also instruct you that you cannot do any research or make inquiries about this case, whether online or by any other means.
THE COURT: For example, you cannot look information up on the Internet as related to the case or related to persons involved in the case, nor may you consult dictionaries or other reference materials. What you learn about this case is limited to what you learn in the four walls of this courtroom when proceedings are underway, all right?
THE COURT: So enjoy your weekend. We'll see you bright and early at 9:00, ready to go on Monday morning, okay? Thank you.
THE COURT: All right. Also, in this matter, Ms. Heard and Mr. Depp, please do not do any posts on social media over the weekend and no public statements, please, all right?
THE COURT: And we will see you on Monday morning.
THE COURT: As for the attorneys, 8:00 a.m tomorrow. I thank you for all the jury instructions, objections. Going through those now. I appreciate that. I am missing some exhibits from depositions that we need to get, so if you get with Jamie so we can get them all taken care of for the week Another thing that I'm doing, just to give you information, I'm getting IT together to do a laptop for the jurors for deliberations. The laptop is going to be scrubbed, and it's just going to have the audio and the video files on them, okay? So they're going to get me a mockup by Tuesday. It's just going -- it's not going to have any Wi-Fi or Internet. There are no passwords. So it's just going to have that on it.
THE COURT: So once I get it and I approve it, I'm going to have both parties take a look at it and make sure everything is on there that's supposed to be on there. And that's going to go to the jury when the physical evidence goes to the jury, okay? Just seemed like that was a better way to do it for the audio and video files, okay?
THE COURT: As far as times go, I can give you your updated times as of this minute.
THE COURT: For plaintiff, plaintiff has used 42 hours and 45 minutes.
THE COURT: Defendant has used 53 hours and 1 minute.
THE COURT: So the time remaining for the plaintiffs is 18 hours and 30 minutes.
THE COURT: And the time for the defendants is 8 hours and 14 minutes, okay?
THE COURT: So anybody have any other issues before I we're done for tonight?
THE COURT: All right. We'll see you tomorrow morning, 8:00 a.m ,6
MS. BREDEHOFT: Thank you.
COURT BAILIFF: All rise.
COURT BAILIFF: I, JUDITH E. BELLINGER, RPR, CRR, the court reporter before whom the foregoing hearing was taken, do hereby certify that the foregoing excerpt transcript is a true and correct record of the proceedings; that said proceedings were taken by me stenographically and thereafter reduced to typewriting under my direction; and that I am neither counsel for, related to, nor employed by any of the parties to this case and have no interest, financial or otherwise, in its outcome.
COURT BAILIFF: IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my notarial seal this 20th day of May, 2022. My Commission Expires: September 30, 2024 NOTARY PUBLIC IN AND FOR THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA