A Los Angeles-based TV producer is shopping the first interview with Casey Anthony, who was acquitted in July of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Scott Sternberg and his Scott Sternberg Productions have been quietly pitching a no-holds-barred interview with Anthony, who has been lying low since being released July 17 after nearly three years in a Florida jail.
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Multiple sources say Sternberg is asking between $500,000 and $750,000 to deliver Anthony, a hefty license fee to be sure. According to sources with knowledge of the proposal, networks can choose the interviewer and Scott Sternberg Productions would co-produce the program. But so far, multiple cable networks have declined. Spokespeople for Discovery Communications' TLC and ID confirmed that the networks have passed on the project. A&E Networks, which includes Lifetime and A&E, also has passed, says a spokesperson.
HLN has not been approached, says a network spokesperson, who adds that the cable news network would not pay for an interview with Anthony anyway. MSNBC has also not been pitched the project. But sources at the NBCUniversal-owned cable channel also say they would not pony up for Anthony, who has become the target of national outrage since her acquittal.
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In fact, Anthony’s pariah status has already spurred news divisions to publicly disavow the common and age-old practice of licensing personal photos and home video from interview subjects as a fig leaf to paying outright for interviews. And ABC News, CBS News and NBC News all have stated adamantly that they would not pay for an Anthony interview specifically.
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Further complicating matters is that while the interview would likely be a ratings hit, it is not likely to be a moneymaker since it would be difficult to get advertisers to support a program that featured Anthony.
“It will get very good ratings,” muses one cable source. “But who would want to put their ads in that kind of show?”
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