Disney cheats Alan Dean Foster of royalties

[Sidewinder]

From Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America

#DisneyMustPay Alan Dean Foster

A message from SFWA’s President, Mary Robinette Kowal:

Last year, a member came to SFWA’s Grievance Committee with a problem, which on the surface sounds simple and resolvable. He had written novels and was not being paid the royalties that were specified in his contract. The Grievance Committee is designed to resolve contract disputes like this. As part of our negotiating toolbox, we guarantee anonymity for both the writer and the publisher if the grievance is resolved.

When it is working, as president, I never hear from them.

When talks break down, the president of SFWA is asked to step in. We do this for any member.

In this case, the member is Alan Dean Foster. The publisher is Disney.

Here are his words.

Dear Mickey,

We have a lot in common, you and I. We share a birthday: November 18. My dad’s nickname was Mickey. There’s more.

When you purchased Lucasfilm you acquired the rights to some books I wrote. STAR WARS, the novelization of the very first film. SPLINTER OF THE MIND’S EYE, the first sequel novel. You owe me royalties on these books. You stopped paying them.

When you purchased 20th Century Fox, you eventually acquired the rights to other books I had written. The novelizations of ALIEN, ALIENS, and ALIEN 3. You’ve never paid royalties on any of these, or even issued royalty statements for them.

All these books are all still very much in print. They still earn money. For you. When one company buys another, they acquire its liabilities as well as its assets. You’re certainly reaping the benefits of the assets. I’d very much like my miniscule (though it’s not small to me) share.

You want me to sign an NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) before even talking. I’ve signed a lot of NDAs in my 50-year career. Never once did anyone ever ask me to sign one prior to negotiations. For the obvious reason that once you sign, you can no longer talk about the matter at hand. Every one of my representatives in this matter, with many, many decades of experience in such business, echo my bewilderment.

You continue to ignore requests from my agents. You continue to ignore queries from SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. You continue to ignore my legal representatives. I know this is what gargantuan corporations often do. Ignore requests and inquiries hoping the petitioner will simply go away. Or possibly die. But I’m still here, and I am still entitled to what you owe me. Including not to be ignored, just because I’m only one lone writer. How many other writers and artists out there are you similarly ignoring?

My wife has serious medical issues and in 2016 I was diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer. We could use the money. Not charity: just what I’m owed. I’ve always loved Disney. The films, the parks, growing up with the Disneyland TV show. I don’t think Unca Walt would approve of how you are currently treating me. Maybe someone in the right position just hasn’t received the word, though after all these months of ignored requests and queries, that’s hard to countenance. Or as a guy named Bob Iger said….

“The way you do anything is the way you do everything.”

I’m not feeling it.

Alan Dean Foster

Prescott, AZ

Mary Robinette Kowal adds:

In my decade with the organization, the fact that we are forced to present this publicly is unprecedented. So too, are the problems. The simple problem is that we have a writer who is not being paid.

The larger problem has the potential to affect every writer. Disney’s argument is that they have purchased the rights but not the obligations of the contract. In other words, they believe they have the right to publish work, but are not obligated to pay the writer no matter what the contract says. If we let this stand, it could set precedent to fundamentally alter the way copyright and contracts operate in the United States. All a publisher would have to do to break a contract would be to sell it to a sibling company.

If they are doing this to Alan Dean Foster, one of the great science fiction writers of our time, then what are they doing to the younger writers who do not know that a contract is a contract?

To resolve the immediate issue regarding their breach of contract with Alan Dean Foster, Disney has three choices:

1. Pay Alan Dean Foster all back royalties as well as any future royalties.

2. Publication ceases until new contract(s) are signed, and pay all back royalties to Alan Dean Foster as well as any future royalties.

3. Publication ceases and pay all back royalties to Alan Dean Foster.

This starts with a conversation. You have our contact information and offer to sit down with a Disney representative, Alan’s agent Vaughne Lee Hansen, and a SFWA representative.

Regardless of choice, Disney must pay Alan Dean Foster.

If you’re a fan of Alan Dean Foster or believe that a writer’s work has value, please let Disney know.

If you are a writer experiencing similar problems with Disney or another company, please report your circumstances to us here.

More reasons to boycott Disney. [Deadpan]Yay.[/deadpan]

[bilateralrope]

Wow. Disney really sees themselves as being above the law here. The NDA tells me that Foster isn't the only person they are screwing over like this.

Though I don't see going public like this helping. The only thing that's going to make Disney pay up is a lawsuit.

[Broomstick]

Disney wants eternal copyright for the company and fuck everyone else.

[Darth Yan]

Really? This is just so god damned petty

[Ralin]

The larger problem has the potential to affect every writer. Disney’s argument is that they have purchased the rights but not the obligations of the contract. In other words, they believe they have the right to publish work, but are not obligated to pay the writer no matter what the contract says. If we let this stand, it could set precedent to fundamentally alter the way copyright and contracts operate in the United States. All a publisher would have to do to break a contract would be to sell it to a sibling company.

"We have altered the contract. Pray we do not alter it further."

[Formless]

Turns out monopolies are bad no matter which industry they occur in, who knew?

But seriously, Disney needs to end, and the shit they did to copyright law needs to be reversed as a matter of cultural preservation. Fuck em. As far as I'm concerned the whole area of law needs to be revised from the ground up.

[Solauren]

I'd be more interesting in seeing copyright law altered (and enforced), and how Disney responds, before going after them in court.
(It might be more cost effective)

[Broomstick]

Damn, just enforcing copyright law as it currently exists would work because Foster is still entitled to his royalties under the law as it presently is. Disney is counting on being too big to be challenged, which means it's time to challenge it.

[bilateralrope]

I'm thinking that Foster doesn't own the copyrights on these books. That he signed them over as part of the publishing deal. So all he's got to go on is contract law.

So Disney might be pulling a Trump move of "Yes, we signed a contract. You could go to court to get what you're owed. But that will cost you more than you'd get from us".

[Sidewinder]

I'm thinking that Foster doesn't own the copyrights on these books. That he signed them over as part of the publishing deal. So all he's got to go on is contract law.

So Disney might be pulling a Trump move of "Yes, we signed a contract. You could go to court to get what you're owed. But that will cost you more than you'd get from us".

Doesn't the loser of a lawsuit have to pay the winner's legal fees nowadays?

[bilateralrope]

I don't know what the law currently is regarding legal fees and contract disputes. Probably something that varies from state to state.

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

I find it a bit weird that despite Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 Foster still wrote the novelization of TFA (2015). Perhaps a separate deal while he was still trying to get Disney to pay?

[bilateralrope]

I find it a bit weird that despite Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 Foster still wrote the novelization of TFA (2015). Perhaps a separate deal while he was still trying to get Disney to pay?

One comment says that the payments stopped in 2014. So I'm thinking that Foster had already agreed to do that novelization when Disney stopped paying.

Of course, this assumes that the SFWA are being completely honest here. All we have so far is the one blog post linked at the top of this thread. I'm fine with making that assumption unless I hear something to make me question it.

[Broomstick]

Of course we don't have all relevant details here, but I'm not inclined to trust Disney here.

[Zaune]

So Disney might be pulling a Trump move of "Yes, we signed a contract. You could go to court to get what you're owed. But that will cost you more than you'd get from us".

Which has just backfired on them spectacularly, because we're only hearing about this because SFWA's greivance committee (whose normal policy is to treat all mediation proceedings as strictly confidential) have finally lost their patience with being stonewalled and gone public. This could cost Disney a lot more than they're saving by stiffing Foster, because they've just alienated a huge percentage of their potential work-for-hire talent. Not to mention the fact that they've managed the remarkable feat of doing something that the entire Star Wars fandom can agree is wrong, which takes some doing.

[bilateralrope]

I wonder how true that will prove to be. What I've seen repeatedly from gaming is that if the company stays silent, then anger at whatever thing they did goes away quickly. Then people get angry at the few who are still talking about whatever caused the anger in the first place for continuing to bring it up. Even if the thing that got people angry in the first place is still happening.

Now, alienating talent might make things different this time. Unless there are enough people who are some combination of:
- Desperate enough to take Disney's offer.
- Already stuck in a contract when they find out about this.
- Already stuck in a contract when they find out that they are working for Disney.
- Convinced that it won't happen to them.
- Doubting the truth of this story.
- Never heard about it.

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

Of course we don't have all relevant details here, but I'm not inclined to trust Disney here.

Me neither. Also looking at the posts surrounding that one it seems that there might be some legalese and technicalities involved. Which sucks.

[Broomstick]

If ADF wrote the books in question as work for hire then he may not own the copyright even if he has had some sort of payment for a very long time. The only reason I'm thinking about that is because all of those books listed are novelizations of movie scripts, except for Splinter of the Mind's Eye. In which case we're back to whatever the original agreement was under which he wrote those books.

[Dino-Mario]

Dammit Disney. They keep getting bolder and pettier every day.

[Darth Lucifer]

Copyright attorney Leonard French recently covered this topic:

[Solauren]

You know, I had an argument about something like this with a friend of mine once.

Basically it got down to this -
When you are working for someone, anything you create for them, belongs to them. It doesn't matter if it's a physical creation, like say a birdhouse or a fence, or a intellectual creation, such as fantasy setting complete with characters and such.

You were paid to do that. You were paid to create that birdhouse, or that story, and those characters. Once you have been reimbursed for your work effort, you have no more rights to what you created. If you are not fully reimbursed, you might have a case for full or partial ownership.

At work, I have made several software programs, including a few that there were discussions of expanding them from a local, regional scope, to a national level scope. Despite the fact I created them more or less from 'scratch', and I'm the one that maintains the program. I made it for my employer, and it's now their program to do with as they see fit. (Unrelated note: Those discussions were put on hold as older systems at work are replaced with newer systems. The newer systems may have capacity to do what the programs I made did, so would be redundant).

Now, my friends argument was 'well, if I created the character, and it becomes popular, don't I deserve more money?'
My reply was: "If you didn't have the foresight to make sure that your sales contract included provisions about popularity, merchandising, and the like, then no, you do not. George Lucas had all that, because he was smart enough to make it part of his contract when it shopped Star Wars around."

So, really, this entire situation gets down to this:
No matter what Alan Dean Foster feels, it gets down to the legal agreement he had with Lucasfilm/Disney Corporation.
If his contract with them said "5% of sales" for a fixed time period, and that time period has not yet expired, and Disney isn't paying him, then yes, he's being cheated. He should sue them, and Disney should have to pay for his legal fees.

However, if his contract was "Fixed Payment of $X, 3% of sales until a fixed date", or something like that, and he was paid in full, and that date has expired, then it's too fucking bad for him. He signed a contract, the contract was fufilled, and that's that. He wants anything more, he's being the greedy asshole, not Disney.

So, unless we can see the actual contract he signed, we can't know for sure.


Another comparison I could make: General Motors makes cars. They employ engineers, etc. One of their car designs, after minor modifications by the owner (i.e custom paint job, gutted some of the excess weight, customized interior, fuzzy dice from the rear view mirror) ends up being used by a professional racer, who makes hundreds of millions of dollars.

Now, the lead engineer from that car's design team decides he wants a cut, and sues, stating his employment contract with GM didn't cover the car whening at racing, so he feels entitled to a cut of racers winnings. Despite the fact the engineer was paid in full for his services.

Everyone in the world would be telling the engineer to fuck off.

Depending on how Mr. Foster's contract was set up, we might end up telling him the same thing.

[Crazedwraith]

You reckon the guy and the writer's guild can't read his own contract then?

I mean what you said isn't wrong, but if he doesn't have a case, Disney wouldn't be claiming 'oh we didn't buy the obligations of the contract' they'd be saying 'we've fulfilled the contract'.

[Broomstick]

It is entirely possible that ADF negotiated for lifetime royalties for his work for making novelizations of movies, even in a work-for-hire situation. In which case Disney likely owes him money. It's a bit unusual for artists to negotiate something like that for work-for-hire but it's not entirely unprecedented, either. Potentially all sorts of different arrangements could be negotiated - that's why the principal actors of the original trilogy all got something like 0.25% of the box office which, given the box office generated, was actually not bad on top of their actual salaries. Since ADF was already an established writer at the time he did those novelizations he might have been able to afford a decent negotiating lawyer and have some pull due to name recognition.

Again, it comes down to the original contract and what it says.

[bilateralrope]

So far we have the SFWA and Foster giving us their side of the story and Disney is staying silent. Even that bit about Disney saying that they get to have the benefits without the obligations of contracts the purchased is only what SFWA says Disney is telling them.

I'll admit that I'm taking SWFA completely at their word here. I'll admit that's more based on my biases against large corporations than any actual evidence. I'll admit that the SWFA deciding to go public instead of filing a lawsuit over what they say is a clear breach of contract seems a bit unusual. Remember, lawyers generally advise their clients to not talk about anything related to the lawsuit because anything said in public could bite them in court.

Still, the SFWA are the ones talking and Disney are staying silent. I can't evaluate Disney's position if they won't tell us what it is.

[Solauren]

We also have no proof that Alan Dean Foster actually wrote any of that initial blurb, or anything else.

Disney actually pulling a 'none of the obligations' would seriously come back to bite them on the ass. Think about all the copyrights, agreements, and so forth they picked up purchasing Fox.

If they actually said 'none of the obligations', then anyone that had a deal with Fox that transferred to Disney would raise a shit-storm.

Hell, anyone with deals to any future companies that Disney tried to purchase would throw shit-storms before the purchase.