KATE GOSSELIN: HOW SHE FOOLED THE WORLD - THE RISE AND FALL OF A REALITY TV QUEEN (28 page)

On January 25, 2008, Kate sent an email to Wendy Douglas of Discovery to let her know about a
long conversation she had with “Brandon,” who was a representative from Burns Entertainment. She said Brandon was representing Frigidaire and their “new, largest available to date double oven” and he had chosen her to do the campaign. Kate told Wendy the campaign would involve her doing a media tour sometime in the spring “(preferably during our filming break),” morning shows, radio, and interviews.

Kate further explained that
Frigidaire had offered to supply “ALL appliances in the quantity that we desire for our new house that we badly need and desire in the form of product placement.” She said that Brandon had requested Wendy’s information and she was sure he would be in contact with her soon. She told Wendy, “This is really exciting for me. Talking about a kitchen appliance is wonderful and very comfortable for me. However, I also see this as a big way to advertise ‘Jon & Kate plus 8’ in a way that we haven’t yet had the chance! I am hopeful that we can all work together to make this happen!”

Kate then forwarded that email to Kirk Streb
, a producer on
Jon & Kate Plus Ei8ht
, telling him of the “(deeply desired) opportunity I have to work with Frigidaire!!!!” (On an unrelated note, Kate also wrote to Kirk in that email, “PS my carpet is beyond dandy and I am in love. Scott has footage of me rolling on it! Imagine!!!!!”)

Imagine.

Kirk replied to Kate and told her that he thought it was a cool offer and “outstanding!” But he gave her this caution: “The only thing that might get in the way is if the network has some deal with some other manufacturer... but, then wouldn’t they have to match it anyway?” He told her he was “Glad the carpet is groovy.”

Kate
was not happy to hear that there was a possibility that Discovery wouldn’t let her make a deal to get lots of free appliances from Frigidaire. She wrote to Kirk asking him to find out more about which company the network might have other deals with. She told him “I will be thoroughly annoyed if I cannot do this. This has
(don’t mention at this point to the network)
a pretty decent sized monetary price tag on it for me personally so to our family this is big!!!!
I am really tired of them sucking the life out of any other opp to do anything to help secure our future!
Who will help to push this for me????? This is the first of many of these to come our way and this is a perfect fit!!!!”

(
It’s funny that Kate didn’t say anything about that pesky Discovery “sucking the life” out of her when the network was making plans to build a new house for her family.)

Kirk then
very diplomatically took Kate to task. He told Kate that he wasn’t saying that he knew for sure that there was definitely WAS another manufacturer, just that it would only be a bump in the road that might possibly, by some remote chance, come up. He sheepishly added that he had NO reason to believe that it would. Kurt sounded scared to death of Kate Gosselin.

He asked Kate to please not
assume that the network was going to “suck the life” out of any opportunity, and told her that other opportunities were rolling in and getting bigger and better in part because a lot of people were working very hard to make the show a hit by promoting it and getting it into the press, etc.

Kirk told
Kate that in meetings he had at the network that week he had started to understand that “they look at ad deals and even the building of a house in a MUCH BIGGER way than we do... which is good.” He said, “With the proper alliances, through the ad sales people and the deals the network has in place, etc.—there’s almost no limit to what could be comped in the building of the house.” Kirk also said that while he and Kate might look at “birds in hands”, the network was “focusing on a whole flock!”, and he thought it was to her benefit to “at least imagine that they have the ability to pull off deals that would impress you in ways you’ve yet to be impressed- by far.”

Kirk closed out his email by saying, “
Above all, please remember- we truly do want to help you secure your future (I mean Figure 8 specifically). We all regard you as family, as trite as that may sound. I want every possible good thing for you and your family and that’s the truth.” He told Kate that when she gives them background information on deals like this, it helps them with their “endless behind the scenes ‘nudging and maneuvering’ that has benefitted you in ways you’ll never know.”

D
uly chastised, Kate changed her tune and apologized to Kirk, telling him how very grateful they were to everyone who was working hard for the same goals. Pretending to be aware of more than she was, she said, “Oh, okay. Thanks for clearing that up. I already knew that the snag would be other appliance companies that stand in the way.”

Kate then made an excuse to Kirk that she had spoken
with Wendy once about it and Wendy had not mentioned anything that would compete. Kate said she realized that ad sales handled that more than Wendy did, but initially, she got minimal but slightly somewhat positive feedback.

She apologized, saying “
Sorry, if I am going beyond being ‘Kate’ in the show, but I also want to secure a ‘foreverness’ for our family (house, college etc) that goes beyond our show so that when I look back when I am old and gray
(and probably STILL filming- ha ha)
I know without a doubt that we did the right thing.”

In her closing paragraph, Kate did a little brown nosing. She told Kirk that
they are MORE than grateful for AMP/Figure 8. She added that they have all proven that they are on her side and are working with her goals in mind, while they were busily keeping the network happy! She thanked them for their tireless work and told Kurt that she has really come to enjoy working together and she loves them all.

Before signing off, Kate repeated that she was EXTREMELY
excited to work with Frigidaire not only for the obvious benefits, but because she felt it was a “big ad sales/ exposure opp for all of us- us personally and our show!!!!”

PLUGOLA/
PAYOLA

Jim Ford, director of Talent Business Affairs for Discovery, sent a letter to Paul J. Datte, Jon and Kate’s attorney at the time, to inform him about a couple of issues: 1) compensation for Seasons 4 and 5, and 2) a contract issue dealing with “Plugola/Payola”. It appears that Kate may have been trying to take advantage of financial opportunities outside the provisions of her Discovery contract. Jim Ford told Paul Datte that they needed to make sure that the Gosselins fully understood the standard plugola/payola provision in their agreement, and that it was very important for a number of reasons.

In his response to
Jim Ford, Paul Datte first addressed the compensation issue. He played a little bit of hardball with the network by letting them know that the Gosselins were “aware of the immense success” of their show. Datte told Ford that the episodic fee for the fourth and fifth seasons of their show had been the subject of significant discussion and consideration by the Gosselins, and that the compensation for those seasons would have to be adequate. He said that the Gosselins would need to be paid $9,000 per half-hour episode for the fourth season and $13,000 per half-hour episode for the fifth season. Datte also said that while he recognized that the final negotiation process for the contract addendum had been laborious, the Gosselins needed to wrap things up that week. Otherwise, they would need to review their options.

Datte
then addressed the plugola/payola issue. He wrote that the Gosselins were aware of the plugola/payola provisions and their implications in the contract, and they had done nothing to violate those provisions. He denied any impropriety on their part and said they had directed any potential endorsement or advertising opportunities to Discovery.

He
explained that if Discovery’s concern was related to a very recent opportunity the Gosselins had referred to Discovery, they recognized the obligation to address the opportunity within the bounds of the agreement, but viewed the opportunity to be significant. He said they would like to arrive at a mutually acceptable arrangement in that regard.

THE NEW HOUSE

In a
not-so-subtle way, Kate hinted to Discovery that she needed a new house, and fast! OK. There was no hinting. She bypassed that and went straight to outright begging. Here are some things she wrote about needing a new house and more privacy:


      
“What do we do???????!!”


      
“Okay, I am about to move to the south of France with Brangelina...”


      
“On a regular basis, without asking or knocking or whatever, in the middle of the day, people pull into our driveway, drop off all manner of who knows what for the kids, hang out for awhile hoping we emerge, and leave....”


      
“Meanwhile, we are all sequestered in our room with the shades drawn waiting to come out of hiding when they leave!!!”


      
“I can’t take it ANYMORE!!!!! Leave us alone, world... We give you our whole lives on TV....isn’t that ENOUGH?!!!????”


      
“Really, what can we do because we have had enough!!!!!!! Someone, anyone?!!!!!!!”


      
“I plan on putting our house on the market next week.... So that we can rent somewhere more private...... Hope it doesnt throw off our filming plans!!!! Hope the house plans work out so that we can move 'for real'  SOON!!!”

If she hadn’t put her children out to the world like a product to be consumed, and worked so hard to keep them and herself there, this problem would probably have been far more manageable.

This is a wish-list that Kate had written, in preparation for her new house.

Driveway to pool house / guest house.

Home monitoring security system w/surround sound – centralized system.

Gated entrance with key pad and sliding or swinging gate.

Fenced in property.

Centrally located wiring closet in office.

Barn (rumble room) for kids and storage.

Tray ceilings of production lighting.

Home theatre for Friday night movie nights.