I Will Not Pay for Star Wars Again
A task forcefulness made upwardly of science fiction and fantasy, romance, crime and horror authors has been formed in an try to persuade Disney into paying authors outstanding royalties for novelisations and comics relating to their properties, including Star Wars, Alien and Indiana Jones.
The so-chosen DisneyMustPay Joint Task Force includes major writers Neil Gaiman, Tess Gerritsen, Mary Robinette Kowal and Chuck Wendig amid its members. It has been formed by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in partnership with the Author's Guild, Horror Writers Clan, National Writers Union, Novelists, Inc., Romance Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.
The writer organisations came together after the SFWA became involved in the author Alan Dean Foster'south battle to go Disney to pay him royalties for his bestselling novelisations of Star Wars and Alien. Foster was asked to write his novelisation of Star Wars: A New Promise by George Lucas himself, which was published in 1976. When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, it bought the rights to the Star Wars novel, while Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019 meant it also bought rights to Foster's novelisations of Conflicting, Aliens and Alien 3.
But despite the books even so existence in impress, Foster claimed that Disney was not paying him royalties for them and that he'd had to go public after the company ignored multiple queries from his agents, legal representatives and the SFWA. The latter claimed that Disney had argued that information technology had purchased the rights, simply not the obligations of the contract.
Foster said he needed the royalties, citing his wife's "serious medical issues" and his diagnosis with an avant-garde form of cancer in 2016. Foster's story provoked mass outrage, with the hashtag #DisneyMustPay trending on Twitter.
"When ane visitor buys another, they acquire its liabilities as well as its avails. You're certainly reaping the benefits of the avails. I'd very much like my minuscule (though it's not small-scale to me) share," said Foster in November.
Foster recently hinted that a resolution was about, writing on his website terminal month that the "irritating imbroglio with Disney … is moving rapidly toward a mutually amusing conclusion". In its founding statement, the chore forcefulness says that Foster'due south case "has been resolved" but that it has since been contacted by "about a dozen" authors who are "similarly missing royalty statements and payments going back years" from Disney-owned or controlled companies.
The task force is calling for more authors who believe they are affected to come forward and says it has received "verified reports" of authors missing royalties for works relating to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Spider-Man, Stargate, Angel and Predator.
In ane example, the chore force alleges that the author of a Buffy comic had contacted Boom! Comics about their royalties. Pull a fast one on had initially licensed comic volume rights to Dark Equus caballus, but when Disney purchased Trick, the rights were taken from Dark Horse and given to Blast! Comics. The writer said they were told by Boom! Comics that "royalties don't transfer".
"Since Disney has declined to cooperate with the task forcefulness in identifying affected authors, the #DisneyMustPay Joint Task Force needs help to contact everyone who might exist affected. The joint task members need writers, readers, and fans to alert authors who may be affected," the chore force says in its annunciation.
"Writers must be paid or given missing royalty statements; these contracts must be honored," said Mary Robinette Kowal, author and president of the SFWA. "We urge all authors to review their statements to make certain they are in social club."
The task force is calling for Disney to honor the contracts it holds, and for the media giant to provide royalty statements and payments to all afflicted authors.
"SFWA wishes to create a cooperative human relationship with Disney, but the corporation flatly refuses to work with u.s.a.," said Kowal. "They say they are committed to paying the authors, just their actions make it articulate that Disney is placing the onus to be paid on the authors, while at the same fourth dimension attempting to isolate the authors from receiving counsel from their professional writer organisation."
A Disney spokesperson told the Guardian that they were working with authors and agents to resolve the cases that have been raised and then far. "We are advisedly reviewing whether whatsoever royalty payments may take been missed equally a event of conquering integration and will take advisable remedial steps if that is the case," they said.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/28/disneymustpay-authors-form-task-force-missing-payments-star-wars-alien-buffy
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