FIRST OFF . . .

Paul Newman filed a $3-million suit Monday against Universal Pictures and MCA Inc., contending he was shortchanged in profits from videocassettes of four films he starred in--”The Sting,” “Slapshot,” “Winning” and “Sometimes a Great Notion.” In his suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Newman contends he was promised a share of the films’ videocassette profits by contracts he signed with Universal between 1967 and 1976 but is being shortchanged by the distributor’s accounting methods. His attorney, Maxwell Blecher, said to reporters that the bulk of the money from the videocassettes is being paid to their distributor, MCA Cassette Inc., and only 20% of the profits is being paid to Universal. Both companies responded that Newman is only entitled to a share of Universal’s profits, not that paid to the distributor.