Of passing industry interest (both on a creative and a financial level)

[lagilman]

As I try and try and try to hammer into my students' heads, you have to pay attention to the business side of things, too...


The Lawsuit of the Rings

By ROSS JOHNSON
Published: June 27, 2005

What if Frodo Baggins, instead of confronting the evil empire in "The Lord of the Rings," just got himself a lawyer and sued?

The real-life corollary is going on now in Hollywood where Peter Jackson, one of the film industry's most powerful and popular directors, is suing New Line Cinema, the subsidiary of Time Warner that financed and distributed his Oscar-winning "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy.

In his lawsuit, Mr. Jackson claimed that New Line committed fraud in its handling of the revenues generated by 2001's "The Fellowship of the Ring," and as a result, he was underpaid by millions.

The suit does not specify a damage award. But in an interview last week, his lawyers said that, after New Line applied its contract interpretation from "Fellowship" to the other two movies, Mr. Jackson was underpaid by as much as $100 million for the trilogy.

Lawsuits in Hollywood are as common as hobbits in Middle Earth. What makes Mr. Jackson's suit draw such widespread interest here, other than his clout in the industry and the amount at stake, is one specific allegation about New Line's behavior. The suit charges that the company used pre-emptive bidding (meaning a process closed to external parties) rather than open bidding for subsidiary rights to such things as "Lord of the Rings" books, DVD's and merchandise. Therefore, New Line received far less than market value for these rights, the suit says.

read more here


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warning: go into this with an understanding that it's not about right or wrong, or creative vs suits, but greed. There is no sum of money great enough to satisfy anyone. If there's blood in the water, everyone wants a chunk of meat, too. And that's not always a bad thing, so long as you keep it all in perspective and acknowledge that the house pretty much always gets the larger cut, and that's just how the game gets played.

Comments

[nick-kaufmann.livejournal.com]

for subsidiary rights to such things as "Lord of the Rings" books, DVD's and merchandise.

Umm, do they mean new books?

[havocthecat]

The only thing I can think of is the books with covers from the movie stills.

[lagilman]

any tie-in merchandise. Picture books, movie tie-in editions, Making Of books...

[havocthecat]

Oh, yeah, duh. *facepalm* Thanks!

[atimson.livejournal.com]

The roleplaying game as well....

[havocthecat]

Thanks for the link! And interestingly enough, I read the article before I had a chance to read your comment on it, and came to about the same conclusion. I understand wanting that extra $100 million dollars, but at the same time--dude, it's $100 million dollars. I can kind of understand when people are screaming about Hollywood excess, especially after this article.

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

The suit charges that the company used pre-emptive bidding (meaning a process closed to external parties) rather than open bidding for subsidiary rights to such things as "Lord of the Rings" books, DVD's and merchandise. Therefore, New Line received far less than market value for these rights, the suit says.

Awww, it's like Duchovny vs. Fox all over again.

[j-bluestocking.livejournal.com]

It's not about the money to me, it's about the clash of the titans. Hollywood studios are like Microsoft; they get away with a lot of shit because they can. What makes an impression on their code of behavior? The answer, as we all know, is certainly not ethics, or even good sense. It's simply money. Most individuals wouldn't have the power to give them a salutary kick in the shins, but Jackson does.

Can you tell I'm also a believer in the concept of punitive damages? :)

[lianneb.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the attitude I got out of the article was 'hey, he got lots of money, so he shouldn't care if we make huge amounts more and not pay him what we agreed to before'. $200 million is a lot of money that he's made so far (And deservedly, considering the vision he brought to the project), but it's not so much that he shouldn't be able to point out that the studio is pulling a fast one to avoid paying more when it's contracted.