Disney is attempting to do something really underhanded.
Quick background on how things work. Let’s say a hit movie is being released. A writer is hired to write a novelization of it. The movie comes out, the book is published, and then the parent company that produced the film and hired the writer pays royalty to said writer from the sales, usually a percentage of the earnings. For an average mass market paperback, for example, it would amount to about $1.60 or so.
Lucasfilm hired Alan Dean Foster to write many novelizations. He was the ghost writer for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. He wrote Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Approaching Storm, Alien, Aliens, etc. Everything went as expected.
Disney bought Lucasfilm. They are claiming that they bought the rights only and so they don’t have to honor any of the contractual obligations. They are saying that they don’t have to pay Alan Dean Foster a dime, even though they are collecting money off the sale of his books every day.
Disney is a giant corporation. This is a dangerous precedent and it’s ridiculous.
Here is an article that lays it out in detail: Disney Attempts to Withhold Royalty Payments from Veteran Star Wars Author Alan Dean Foster As SFWA Sparks Hashtag #DisneyMustPay
Mr. Foster has cancer. He and his family could really use the money now, not years from now, not months from now, now.
What can we do about it? We can tweet and Facebook at Disney. “Kowal concluded her statement by asking fans of Foster “to please let Disney know” that they felt the author should be properly compensated and putting forth the hashtags #DearMickey and #DisneyMustPay.”
Walt Disney had more integrity than that! Shame on Disney!
Walt Disney didn’t,that is a myth they promoted,Disney was ruthless, they treated their workers like crap, they ruthlessly went after competitors through lawsuits and other means, he was not a nice man. I enjoyed Tom Hanks playing him in Saving Mr. Banks, but that was like Jimmy Stewart playing Lindbergh, a nice guy playing an utter rotter.
Make a change.org petition.
It’s all well and good to send a message on Twitter and Facebook but the messages are the same and possibly from the same people…. it’s to much noise that doesn’t compute.
This is bullshit, no doubt but this isn’t the first time this has happened and the precedent has been set. Ghostwriters. Tricky business. That it’s Disney pulling this kind of shit is just, wow…..so disappointing and it needs to be heard that they are doing this. Then they should send it to celebrities who will possibly care. Seth Rogan, Mark Hamil, the 2 Jimmy’s, George RR Martin, whoever can get the word out. They need buzz and this deserves buzz because maybe if this is brought up enough then it won’t happen again.
What books of Alan’s can I buy where the royalties will go to him and not Disney?
Flinx, in fact all books from the Homanx Universe, Spellsinger,….
I shared the linked article and did the hashtags. How horrible. I hope we can help. I’ve read Mr. Foster since I was a teen. And that’s a long time ago!
I tweeted, more than once
Tweet and hashtag sent. This is outrageous.
I heard about this earlier this week and tweeted at the time. I’ve also helped share the post on facebook. I can’t hurt their wallet–we don’t get tv or movies out where I live, but I’ll tweet and retweet and share wherever and whenever I can. It’s ridiculous that a company would even try this nonsense. I’ll also blog the news as you did. My blog is pretty small, but it can’t hurt to have it out there one more time.
Alan Dean Foster along with Heinlein was my gateway to Sci-Fi books. Pip and Flinx is a series I’ve read over and over again. I’m going to purchase both the kindle books and the audible version so that I have the complete series again because I had to sell my entire paperback collection during the last recession.
I’m greatly saddened by the Shadowrun future appearing in real-time as MegaCorps take over with their legal teams to the detriment of all. We don’t even have the re-emergence of Magic to fall back on.
This year just blows.
So when I worked at an entertainment company that handled rights for film and tv intellectual properties, on occasion the company would pick up licenses from other companies that for one reason or another passed it on (like they’d gone out of business).
Unless a new contract was specifically negotiated for a new royalty rate at the time of the acquisition, the company always had to honor what came before. This is and has been standard operating procedure.
I’m absolutely flabbergasted.
The house of mouse is in part the reason our copyright law in the modern era is so weird, and by that I mean, the rights vary base on what year range things were published in.
Works published in 1978 or later (including today) — life of the original creator plus 70 years. For anonymous works, 120 years from the date of creation or 90 years from the date publication, whichever is shorter. So if by some miracle I live to be 113, it’d be 183 years before it was in the public domain.
Works published between 1964 and 1977 — 95 years from the date of publication.
Works published between 1923 and 1963 — 28 years from date of publication unless it was renewed, then 95 years.
Works published before 1923 are no longer protected by copyright and are in the public domain.
Disney has used their financial might and weight to help push for extensions of copyright, in part to protect their own intellectual property, i.e Mickey Mouse. So to have them trying to flout things, is not only a really bad, dick move, but a bit hypocritical given their history. Makes me wonder what SAG-AFTRA has to say, because screenwriting and related should be under their union. Can you imagine if they decided to blackball Disney? @_@
I’m gesticulating at my screen, seriously. This is the shittiest thing I’ve heard in a while.
Agree completely with you! No Shame! Yes, I too have worked in the Tele/Communications business.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I don’t do much twitter but have tweeted my disgust.
I’d been waiting to see if you would post something about this because it really does seem outrageous.
The thing that really gave me pause was this part of the statement from SFWA [1]:
“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 get away with this, it would be an industry-breaking precedent.
[1] http://www.sfwa.org/disney-must-pay/
This is just terrible. I shared to Facebook, Shame, Shame on Disney.
May I have your permission to repost this on some of the screenwriter and writer’s forums that I am part of?
That cannot be even remotely legal. If you buy a company, you owe their debts and contractual obligations. Because, gee, if you can get away with not paying the debts of the company you just bought, why didn’t I just buy out one of those stores that went bankrupt and keep it going without paying what they owed? The answer, of course, is because you can’t do that. And Disney can’t be allowed to do it, either. It’s time to smash the monopoly.
What they need to do is find an attorney’s office that is not terrified of the Disney name and get them to sue for this money that’s owed. Yes, Disney has a ton of attorneys and they can fight for years, but the laws are on the side of the author here. Go for an immediate judgement.
I have zero social media accounts, can’t do anything to shame Disney, but really, if you think about it, does Disney care about shame? I don’t see it. It’s all about the Benjamins with them. As long as they rake in those, they’re happy and whistle a little tune as they steamboat along. I don’t have any Disney channels, I don’t buy their movies on DVD’s unless it’s something I really want to see or I don’t realize it’s even them I’m paying, and they get nothing from me, for the most part already.
It’s a wonder those people can sleep at night.
Posted the article to my FB Newsfeed with the #DisneyMustPay hashtag just now. Highway robbery. Jerks. So much irony. Corporations are NOT people, but they *are* enormously powerful entities which must be held to account.
I saw this yesterday on Reddit. It is absolutely sickening. I either own or have read every single one of his non tie-in novels. If someone starts a go fund me or something of the sort to help him out, please also post that here. He’s brought me so many hours of pleasure with his books, I’d like to recommend some of my favorites.
The Dig
Interlopers
Journeys of the Catechist (trilogy)
Spellsinger (six books)
(Also, if you are buying any of his books, know that Disney also owns Alien and Predator franchises now. Foster has written tie ins for those too, though I don’t know if they have started to screw people over with those ones yet.)
That is RIDICULOUS and I imagine how they can get away with it legally. I was part of the participation accounting team having to handle these issues when Turner Broadcasting bought MGM/UA in the late 80’s. Turner bought the whole film library, then sold the UA titles back. Whatever participation agreements each movie/tv product had in place also transferred to Turner Broadcasting including paying residuals to the guilds. Whenever the products aired, the participants earned a fee and then we paid that out to whatever director/producer/actor etc. If Disney gets away with it this has a huge domino affect for all artist and their work!
Done. Mr. foster was my first Fantasy/SciFi author. Decades of enjoying his stories.
Public social media pressure is one tool to use in helping Foster and his family.
I’m so glad to hear of an avenue to address this. I can’t believe they are so cheap. Walt Disney, if he were still alive, would have never let this happen. Speaking from first hand experience it is horribly difficult to advocate for yourself when you are fighting cancer. I’m glad we can do something to help.
*cracks knuckles*
I’m about to tweet these fools into oblivion!
A family member worked doing ‘inking’ and artwork on comic books and did several Disney comics. Disney is famous for their stingy and mean interactions. Artwork that was done for use in comic books received a per page fee, and months /years later, Disney would reuse that same art work but with translations for foreign markets, or take images from the comics to use in coloring books, or tshirts or advertising. This is the old media version of ‘working for the exposure’ – the ‘prestige’ of having worked with Disney.
You would think Disney’s lawyers would have their hands full trying to prevent the expiration of the copyright for Steamboat Willie (and with it Mickey) – which will happen on Jan 1, 2024. The copyrights to Superman, Batman, Disney’s Snow White, and early Looney Tunes characters will all fall into the public domain between 2031 and 2035.
I adore a Pip and Flinx! Alan Dean Foster RULES! Disney ????. They are like a 99% cocoa. You want to stuff your face with it but it’s just bad.
Thank you for brining this to our attention. It terribly easy to get lost in our every day DRAMA. USA + COVID + (he who must not be named)????. Yes, I’m talking about Darth Vader not Voldemort. Darth had kids, Voldemort not so much. Honestly, besides the heavy breathing I can’t recall his catch phrase. ????
I am not on Twitter and such but did send an email to Disney. This really tans my hide. I am in on the boycott. Thank you for letting us know about this!
And I thought that Disney reopening the parks in the middle of a Covid wave was bad enough. Smh.
I never read any of the star wars novelizations, in general i do not read books based on movies. But I AM an Alan Dean Foster fan and have read and reread and rereread the books set in his Humanx universe.
I have many issues with Disney and this is just one more thing to hold against them. I guess I have a love/hate relationship with them, since many of their films are icons of my childhood and i love them. But it is a greedy basssss… erm basket case of a Corporation with an agenda well beyond entertaining kids and families.
Is there an email address or a street address where we can send our disgust with this treatment. I do not have the cable channel for Disney, but I would like to send them a letter to let them know the cost of such conduct.
Disney Corporate Offices are located at
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521-9722
Phone (818) 560-1000
Fax (818) 560-1930
Here is the current executive leadership at Disney
https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/#leadership
Current head of Disney is Iger
Several of the executives have their emails listed here:
https://wdwthemeparks.com/disney-contact-information/
Other contact info listed here:
https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/contact-us/
Tweeted! It goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway: SHAME on Disney!
Disney Plus cancelled. “Alan Dean Foster” entered when reason requested.
Just tweeted at Disney!
My daughter and I are planning a modest Christmas this year. We decided on purchasing a few nice ‘family gifts’ to stretch the budget and maximize our fun together. We selected an expensive board game that we enjoy immensely, cake decorating tips for making extravagant cupcakes, and a year of Disney+ for entertainment. However, learning that Disney is cheating Alan Dean Foster is far too ugly to ignore.
We’re supporting Alan Dean Foster with a hard pass on ALL Disney and Disney related products this holiday season.
I read some of Alan Dean Foster’s Start Wars books. My first ADF book was Nor Crystal Tears. It remained one of my favorite sci-fi books for years, and hooked me on first contact novels.
I am sorry (although sadly not surprised) to hear what is happening. I hope Disney backs down and abides by the contracts.
What if he transfers the potential earnings of this contract, as a record, to the estate? This way the contract isn’t void when he dies.
This is also a disturbing abuse
https://www.susanmaywriter.net/single-post/audiblegate-the-incredible-story-of-missing-sales
Thank you for sharing this. I doubt I would have heard of it otherwise…
This kind of behavior is shameful and disgusting. I really hope Disney rethinks it’s stance so he doesn’t have to try to fight them in court.
According to the very end of a Newsweek article from 11/20 Disney claims they are back in discussions with Alan Dean Foster. FYI, my son had already heard about this through the channels he follows. I’ve been watching to see if more mainstream media picked up the story too.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/star-wars-writer-says-disney-refusing-pay-royalties-because-it-bought-rights-not-liabilities-1549189%3famp=1
Idiotic. That legal idea never hold in a legal court. Guess they think that because in the US your legal costs are yours (at least at the start) they can throw your megabillion dollar weight around. Ugly.
Just pay the guy. You’re making money hand over fist for his work. Walt Disney is probably ashamed of all of you. Lost my respect and money I would have spent. Passing it down the line.
I canceled my subscription to Disney+ and told them this was why, and that they would not get anymore of my money until they paid him his. It’s a small thing, but maybe it will help.
If you have time, write Disney a physical letter. Letters are supposed to be 10+ more effective than electronic communication. If we inundate Disney with physical letters, they will sit up and take notice. This is a very bad look for them – horrible optics when they need our eyeballs the most.
Walt Disney Company
Legal Department
500 S. Buena Vista St
Burbank, CA
91521-9722