Fans of Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time were surprised this morning to find a pilot episode for a Wheel of Time TV series, titled “Winter Dragon,” suddenly airing on the FXX channel. They were not the only ones.
In a statement released early this afternoon, Harriet McDougal, the late author’s wife and CEO of the Bandersnatch Group, which contracted the TV and movie rights to the Wheel of Time book series to Universal Pictures, has made it clear that this pilot has never been seen or approved by the Jordan estate.
From McDougal:
This morning brought startling news. A “pilot” for a Wheel of Time series, the “pilot” being called Winter Dragon, had appeared at 1:30 in the morning, East Coast time, on Fxx TV, a channel somewhere in the 700s (founded to concentrate on comedy, according to the Washington Post).
It was made without my knowledge or cooperation. I never saw the script. No one associated with Bandersnatch Group, the successor-in-interest to James O. Rigney, was aware of this.
Bandersnatch has an existing contract with Universal Pictures that grants television rights to them until this Wednesday, February 11 – at which point these rights revert to Bandersnatch.
I see no mention of Universal in the “pilot”. Nor, I repeat, was Bandersnatch, or Robert Jordan’s estate, informed of this in any way.
I am dumbfounded by this occurrence, and am taking steps to prevent its reoccurrence.
Harriet P McDougal
President and CEO
Bandersnatch Group, Inc.
February 9, 2015
For background on who has owned the rights to a Wheel of Time TV show in the past, read Jason Denzel’s explanation on Dragonmount.
Poster does not approve of Estates.
Not to mention, it was god awful.
Tor, I think you broke Dragonmount. Again.
Is there a clause in the contract that rights revert to Bandersnatch if nothing is produced? This could be a quickie under the table way of keeping the rights at Universal by making something, no matter how poor, as a way of retaining the rights for some additonal period.
Can’t WOT just be books?
4. StrongDreams
Sounds like vice versa; Bandersnatch gave Universal the rights till the 11th? That’s what my reading of the letter is anyhow.
Clearly there are some legal issues to be dealt with in the near future. Without knowing the wording of the contract, we can’t say much except that it was in poor taste to release something like this without the approval – or even the knowledge – of those most nearly concerned.
That said… having watched it, there are hints of good filming ideas in it, but it most definitely reflects what was claimed to be a single day of shooting; the SFX were really lame; and Ilyena Sunhair should not be played by a brunette – not even one with red highlights.
#4, 6:
Yes, basically, they production company had until the 11th to distribute something, or ther rights would revert back to the estate. That is a pretty typical clause in TV and movie options. They aren’t paying for the rights to produce a whole show, but an option to produce the show. It prevents others from doing so. If a pilot is not aired prior to the reversion date, then the option is over.
What 8. Anthonypero said. This was a way for them to keep their option at the last possible moment, since they had as yet failed to produce anything.
Was it at least better than Legend of the Seeker?
I really feel bad for Harriet and it’s not a good sign that they weren’t consulted, but am I a bad person for thinking it was actually ok? Until the end (picking up sword and ascending staircases) I thought it was pretty good FOR WHAT IT WAS. I’d be cool with Zane as Ishamel/Mordin for the whole series to be totally honest. I liked the use of early 20th century formal wear which made it seem more interesting and appealing to a casual viewer (Gatsby esque feel) than a more standard fantasy opening. I thought the madness thing was not bad either. The end was not good though. IF, and that’s a big if, but if anything ever comes of this, they can always re-cast, re-animate, and re-shoot stuff. Game of Thrones had a very different pilot to what we saw on HBO. Unlikely, but I really hope eventually something good comes from this.
Just ’cause I have to say it: nobody has ever “owned” the TV rights. They have only ever “held” them. It’s an important distinction.
I say this is great, as it’s exposing WOT to a larger audience, and therefore making WOT as a whole more valuable. WTG, FXX.
Granted, I don’t own a TV, nor have I read WOT, but now I’m a little more intrigued to start (the latter at least).
(FWIW: my favorite Fantastic Four film is Roger Corman’s 1994 rights-extension)
Point 1 – This article and the letter say Universal, the link said Red Eagle. What’s the relationship? A 2010 article on Tor indicates that Red Eagle produced and Universal distributed. If that’s the case, the letter seems disingenious, since the agreement was with Red Eagle, and it was Red Eagle that partnered with Universal.
Point 1 – I agree with @1, I find Estates…..disturbing.
Point 2 – Since these types of productions are typical for these types of contracts, I’m hardpressed to feel any disappointment with Universal’s decision. WOT is a property that may or may not do well right now, but the market for it could (and should) heat up over the next few years as HBO starts to run out of GRRM material. Of course it is in their interest to distribute something that meets the letter of the contract.
And, to be frank, unless the agreement requires collaboration with the estate (the link notes that the agreement was signed after Jordan’s death), I don’t see why this is being decried. Bandersnatch clearly was not an industry novice, signing away rights without legal counsel. When you sign an agreement, it is poor taste to demand that the other party exceed the requirements therein. Would it have been poor taste for Bandersnatch to reassert control over the media rights on Wednesday, immediately after the option expired? What would the response have been from their camp had a letter from Red Eagle stated they were dumbfounded by Bandersnatch’s actions?
Red Eagle bought the film rights around 10 years ago. Red Eagle are a rights-handling company that existed basically to buy the rights low and sell them high, which they did when they re-sold the rights to Universal in 2008 in return for money and a production credit. Universal then owned the rights and Red Eagle did not.
That’s what makes the film odd. I can only assume that it was made with Universal’s permission, or Red Eagle bought back or leased the rights from Universal somehow. That’s something that needs to be clarified.
From what I can find out in the public domain…
“Red Eagle Entertainment” are a games company with a licence (at least according to a press release — the only thing on their site — that is) to produce WoT-based games.
The other production partner, Radar Television… Well, that appears to be either a defunct UK TV production company with about £19k debts, or a subsidiary of another UK TV production company “Radar Productions Ltd“.
Neither company seem to be directly affiliated with the TV rights option holders (Universal), and neither seem to be up to the level of dealing with WoT epicness.
FXx (owned by FOX/News Corp.) distributed/aired it. Again, it would seem that there was no distribution by Universal.
Thus ends my trivial investigative journalism for the day. ;)
No. The books have sold between 80 and 90 million copies and are the biggest-selling post-Tolkien epic fantasy book series. If thinks like SHANNARA can be made, with less than half of those sales, and things like KINGKILLER optioned with less than a tenth, than WHEEL OF TIME will eventually be adapted, whether that’s soon or ten years from now. It’s too massive a success for it not to happen.
I actually did like the opening scenes of it, when I realized we were in Lews Therins’ head (liked the dead bodies as dolls thing they do). But Lews Therin was way too subdued after realizing he’d murderd his own family. If they ever do a whole series, I want somebody more menacing and theatrical for Ishamel. And Lews Therins’ suicide depicted here was way underwhelming compared to what happens in the book.
I did sort-of-enjoy it, though, just as a fan of the book. But I think this pilot’s too talky and not dynamic enough to really appeal to a casual viewer.
io9 got the scoop on what was going on:
http://io9.com/the-real-story-about-that-wheel-of-time-pilot-that-aire-1684773094
So, yeah, Red Eagle did this quickly to stop the rights going to a more competent company who could actually get it made.
At least they’ve accepted that WHEEL OF TIME deserves to be on TV, which after eight years of them claiming they could somewhow make 14+ movies, is progress of a sort.
well it wasnt bad, it wasnt good, it wasnt even average either…. but its mediocrity is probably the worst thing to happen to the Wheel of Time.
A half hour pilot should not be so boring that you want to fast forward through it to get to a better scene.
sadly there are no better scenes no matter how fast you forward.
@7 re: Ilyena Sunhair being a brunette/redhead
I decided after her second scene that they had made the production decision to set the series on ancient Krypton, and that’s why they still called her Sunhair. That’s my headcannon and I’m sticking to it.
It wasn’t the worst adaptation imaginable. It definitely wasn’t good, but considering that they made it in under a week, and that the script was written in a one day marathon script session, it could have been so much worse.
Absolutely terrible
To quote the great Walter Slovotsky: “Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy, and taste good with salt.”
Lawyers gonna get fat on this one.
Tremendously boring! Just people walking around a castle shouting at other people who either aren’t there or aren’t listening. Noooo thanks.
Just thinking – this was a good example of why Jackson made so many changes to his Tolkien movies. The text may be great on paper, but a literal to screen translation isn’t going to be very interesting (well, the acting, lighting, casting, directing, set design, special effects, and music in this cast left a lot to be desired).
kaal @15 – To be clear, Fox had nothing to do with either production or distribution, save for selling an infomercial time slot to Red Eagle so they could air it… or sell toasters, or whatever they wanted to do with their half hour.
It’s interesting that they bought the time à la an infomercial and it still had advertisements in it.
I’m wondering how long it will be until someone makes a parody of it, because some parts of the acting were just begging for it.
Being the heir to Robert Jordan estate doesn’t make someone an author so who cares, if they weren’t consulted? Ignoring the writer is one thing, but the CEO of the Bandersnatch Group? Bleh. I saw the episode, and while not Game of Thrones quality, I thought it had potential.
sjg: the CEO of the Bandernsatch Group is also Jordan’s widow and was also the editor of the series for Tor, so hardly a disinterested party. Also, to answer your question of “who cares” that would be, er, the law. The estate controls the rights to Jordan’s work. That’s what estates do.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
krad @30 – I want a Like or Upvote button here…
Putting something out before a deadline to save rights has a long history…Gilbert & Sullivan planned to premiere “The Pirates of Penzance” in the USA,but when it was learned that it had to be done in the UK first to save the copyright,they had the cast of a production of HMS Pinafore in the UK do what amounted to an unadvertised stage reading on the last day they could.
I certainly believe in copyright owners riding herd on rogue adapters.
It is about time someone did something to put WOT on film. I started to read WOT a long time ago, and it was only last year that I finally got the complete series. If they do succeed in beginning production, I can only hope that it is as well produced as Game of Thrones in all its aspects. Also, hopefully, they find people to match their character’s description as closely as possible, which has always been one of my pet peeves when it comes to bringing literature to film. In some ways, a tv series will be better than the books. For one example, no constant description of what people are wearing, as well as other repetetive subjects in the series. Sometimes I find myself annoyed to the point of wanting to yell out “YEAH, WE KNOW!!” Otherwise, very good series, almost to the last book. Looking forward to seeing them come alive on film. Sure, there will be disappointments in their choices of some actors, and such, but on the whole, I hope they do well.
You are talking about an intellectual property if really done right. Could be as good or even rival Game of Thrones. So potentially 100’s of millions is at stake here. Also, I think WOT would appeal to a wider market than GOT unless they make it as gritty. So toys, and a franchise that could be the likes of LOTR. I bet this is this has a lot to do with money. Not much else.
Here’s another article about it, which features comments from the actual production company confirming that, yes, it was produced and aired as a contractual obligation specifically to retain the TV rights.
That being the case, I don’t think it really matters whether the estate approves or not. They took money in return for the rights, with a stipulation that something had to go on TV by a certain date to keep those rights. And guess what? Just a couple days before the deadline, something went on TV. If the estate doesn’t “approve,” well, maybe they should have been more careful when they sold the rights.
I personally do not want the main sequence to be adapted. What I want, what I’ve been shouting for since 1998, is a Wheel of Time movie series, miniserie, TV series set OUTSIDE the main sequence. Show us the War of Power, the Trolloc Wars, or, here’s an idea… The Outriggers. That’s one way to get those done.
@Robotech
Its more complicated than that. Red Eagle sold the option back to Universal in 2008. They were to retain production credits in whatever came out of it but… It is very unclear if they had a right to do what they did.
I just watched it, and it was AWESOME! It was exactly like the book!
OK, now that the facts seem to be a little clearer (I first saw that this existed very late last night and was, basically, what, am I already asleep).
a) This was a totally dickheaded move by Red Eagle, even though, as @35 says, it was probably legal.
b) A lot of this was totally craptastic, particularly the interminable and badly-read infodump (all of which any reasonably intelligent viewer could have gotten from the actual action) and Billy Zane’s inability to handle any of the Old Tongue words in his lines without looking like he was going to choke or laugh. Rehearsal, people! (But apparently this was made in two days. . .)
c) That said, for something made in two days, if you can look past the craptastic bits and the commercials that turn up at the worst POSSIBLE times: is there any chance that if a more competent production company now took over, this might be viable and worth watching? There was some effective psychological horror in there too, and without a truly fantastic actor (preferably stage-trained) as Lews Therin, I’m a lot happier with restraint than the operatic grief from the real prologue. And I think we can reasonably assume that the ending was altered because the real ending would not only have cost more than they had for this project, but made no sense if they weren’t proceeding immediately. And even if the modern-ish dress was partially a concession to budget, this did achieve something incredibly important for any potential WoT film version: Randland didn’t look or feel anything like like either Middle-Earth or Westeros. The fans who made the far superior “Flight From Shadow” pulled off the same trick (and without infodumping). If it’s been done twice now, maybe some company with both competence and money might realize that this could sell and not feel like a ripoff?
So in sum: my sympathies are totally with Harriet et al., because this was a jerk thing to do, but is there any hope for a competent WoT dramatization in our lifetimes? (Or maybe I just had a really, really bad day yesterday and I’m grasping at straws to start today off better?)
@36, if Robert Jordan were still alive, yours might be a great idea for getting a good series. But given that none of the material you mention appears to have even been even outlined to the extent that another writer could take over, what we’d get was “Robert Jordan” branded garbage that we’d probably just all be desperately trying to headcanon away. Unless it’s in the Encyclopedia, we’re never going to find out what happened in any of those timelines. :(
It was soooo bad! I stayed up to watch it even though my expectations were extremely low. There was absolutely no emotion! Just awful!
1. The Dark Lord? Maybe in the sixth age, Shai’Tan is Tom Riddle.
2. Lews Junior? Seriously? The only person who should have a son named Junior is Mat.
3. What weave is Lews Therin using that makes him become a ball of electricity like you find at a science museum?
@42, ROFL to all three.
It was bad. This was 3rd rate performance art at best. It would have been just as “good” on a darkened stage with one spotlight and the two actors interacting with each other. I’m reminded of the Dude’s landlord performing his dance quintet in The Big Lebowski…
Honestly, the only reason some people like it is the actors word for word used the dialogue from the prologue. It’s hard to complain when they don’t deviate from the source material. Until they did with the end scene because there was no budget for Dragonmount’s creation.
I hope Harriet and the folks at Bandersnatch can find a way to sue for the rights back. To me, it’s hard to call something a pilot episode when the only way they got it to air on television was by buying a time slot like it was some kind of infomercial.
For that reason alone I would try to legaly argue it WAS an infomercial and not a pilot for an actual tv show. To me, a pilot is a tv show bought and aired by a network as part of it’s regularly scheduled broadcasting. That is not what this was.
I don’t think that I can ever be truly satisfied with any theatrical adaptation of WoT, it’s too close to my heart and goes too far back in my childhood, you know those formative years. With that said, this was such an insult for these people to do this to the WoT legacy, with GoT out there, you can’t do this level of a disservice in adapting one of the pillars of epic fantasy. I don’t care about the sFx, I can excuse that, but the acting was so uninspired, so tired, so… I feel bad for Harriet, such a bastardization of her and Jordan’s work.
Curse on the production? The director, Seda James, passed away a few of days ago.
I saw Brandon’s post on FB and had to watch. Disappointing to say the least. It did however, re-ignited my passion for the series. I think the main pain point is the fervent hope to one day have a fabulously done television series based on this awesome epic story. And that this “pilot” could possibly delay that hope.
Meme Time:
It was bad. But it was exactly what Red Eagle claimed: merely a legal manouver it keep the rights in their hands. The potential for an extremely popular and lucrative miniseries is there, and hopefully it will be realized by an organization with the talent and budget to do so. The web of companies that are wrangling over it is very confusing. The only positive thing to come out of this is to show Hollywood that a little 22-minute bastardized version of 6 pages shot with B-grade actors can still cause an internet furor.
Ishamael reminds me of Sybok.
In all likelihood REE is still hoping Universal will decide to put on a big budget miniseries. Red Eagle has to do nothing in that case and still makes money. And if that happens, then WEEEEE, Billy Zane gets to make money to. Makes me shake my head, how Hollywood works.
Not sure how I’m feeling about this. Is it legal to make this kind of adaptation without the estate’s consent? If so, how is it that Harriet and co signed away the rights without even giving themselves the option to look at a production before it airs.
I am wondering if it is time for another fantasy adaptation though. Clearly they would have to cut a lot of the characters, and merge some of the main ones, but it would be pretty great if they could do something like GoT here.
A few thoughts:
1)I can’t even see Billy Zane without thinking of his scene in Zoolander. I kept wanting somebody to tell Lews Therin he should listen to his friend Billy Zane, he’s a cool dude.
2)Lews Therin (especially towards the beginning) – in particular his speech/diction – reminded me a lot of Sean Bean
3)That was NOT a take on Ishamael I was expecting. A more flippant and gleeful than I imagined him. As others have mentioned, he was a bit more angsty of a villain, and weary of the Wheel’s turnings.
4)The prologue immediately reminded me of Lord of the Rings…which then reminded me how, at the time, I thought the opening voiceover was a direct rip off from Wheel of Time, lol. We come full circle!
5)So, after the first scene, there was then this awesome scene of a woman with sun gold hair, donning battle gear and defending her home, and I was like, yeah, Ilyena kicks ass! But it was in fact a commercial for a game. LOL. They should have gotten her to be Ilyena!
6)Lews Jr.??????
7)I think Lews Therin was channeling Episode III Ob-Wan upon watching the security recording of Anakin. “No. No. It can’t be.” Its almost like halfway through, the actor just got BORED. And then I got bored.
8)All that aside, I definitely got a bit of a thrill watching a piece of WoT on the screen. I actually really liked the set and costumes – the Age of Legends should not look semi-medieval. I liked the feel they had for it. I think the beginning was well done – you knew something was a bit off, and realized that the inside of this man’s head was not sane. But I do agree that, for a movie/show, there needs to be a bit more showing than telling. The prologue is one of my favorite pieces of literature ever, but it’s hard to make it exciting to watch (I do think it’s possible, it just needs better acting, and maybe a few more uses of flashback – but I liked how it started off and how you gradually realize things are not as he sees them).
I could have done that opening scene so much better! Heck, even the least intelligent of my fist could’ve acted better than either of those actors. And would’ve looked better into the bargain.
Frankly, I was expecting to see just how badly damaged the palace was, through gaps in Lews Therin’s perception. And the palace was static; the book talks about it shaking, and some of us do know quite well how an earthquake looks – and feels.
It was a waste of time.
They should do WoT like Star Wars. Start with the last three books as stand alone movies, then swoop in to do prequels (you can probably fit the first 11 books into 3 movies) and leave room for some Mat spinoffs/sequels.
One news article called it an “unauthorized” pilot.
That isn’t correct, is it?
Without knowing the actual terms of the various contracts, we can’t say whether it was “unauthorized” or not. Red Eagle obviously thought it was “authorized” but it sure sounds like Harriet disagrees. We haven’t (to my knowledge) heard a peep out of Universal, who held the rights at the time it was released.
“Is it legal to make this kind of adaptation without the estate’s
consent? If so, how is it that Harriet and co signed away the rights
without even giving themselves the option to look at a production before
it airs.”
Harriet’s point about consent is that according to her Universal held the rights but Red Eagle made this show without them. It’s not that she thinks that Red Eagle should have shown her the script it’s that she thinks Red Eagle held no right to make the show on their own in the first place with any script good or bad.
What we DO know is that Red Eagle sold the option to Universal in 2008, that’s why Harriet says they have an option with Universal.
However, According to one source that I read, Universal’s purchase of the option allowed Red Eagle to retain production credit (in otherwords, Red Eagle retained certain rights to the property, which translates into a percentage of the dollars that producers make.) Another source said Universal purchased the option from Red Eagle, but that Red Eagle was to remain the Producer. These are two separate things, but the sources may not have known that (they are tech blogs, primarily, not publishing or legal blogs.)
In either scenario, REE probably has the right to do what they did, without Universal’s involvement beyond making sure they get their cut of whatever profits were made (which is almost cetainly a big, fat ZERO.)
Its possible that Universal could come back and say, “No, this wasn’t authorized, the option should just lapse and go back to the copyright holder.” Odds are they were prepared to do just that.
However, it doesn’t serve Universal’s interest to do such a thing now. A party of the contract made something that qualifies and distributed it. Universal gets to keep the option now without having to pay another dime. Even if they have no intention of EVER making a movie or TV series, the rights are worth money in resale. Why would Universal want the rights to revert when they can do nothing, spend nothing, keep the rights, and possibly resell them to someone else who WILL do something with them? In one scenarion, they’ve spent money and get nothing. In another scenario, they make money. Only one of those scenarios makes sense for Universal.
On a completely side note; Billy Zane is listed as a producer on that peice of garbage. Assuming the option IS extended now, and assuming someone else comes in, buys the option from Universal and Red Eagle and makes a series… Billy Zane will most likely be listed as a producer on the new series and make money (perhaps a LOT of money), because he and a few of his friends decided to do this for a friend on a random weekend. Not a bad gig.
@58: I guess I’m not sure why Billy Zane would be listed on he new series unless they actually were considering this the pilot for the series. I don’t see why a new studio can’t buy the option (either out of pure love for the series, or because of the internet furor over this thing [and possibly just to make sure it gets done right instead of staying in the hands of Red Eagle]) and then make a new pilot and say, “We bought the rights, but our series has nothing to do with that other thing.”
Because odds are that Red Eagle Entertainment gave Zane “back money” In otherwords, they paid Zane and the director in production credits.
If someone buys the option form Universal, REE still gets to keep their percentage of the production splits that is in their current contract with Universal. They most likely gave a percentage of that split to Zane and the director as payment. Until the option ACTUALLY expires, no matter WHO makes the thing, REE gets paid their production percentage.
Its the same reason why the Kuzui’s are listed as producers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV Show, and they got paid on it (and still do) even though they had no involvement in the series. They, at one time in the past, paid for an option on Whedon’s original script. They released a crappy movie, and because of that, retain rights to the entire property. They sold the TV rights back to Mutant Enemy, but got paid the whole time.
Anyone else who buys the Wheel of Time option before it actually reverts back to Harriet (in otherwords, from Universal) still has to pay REE their production splits, whatever is in Universal’s contract with REE. The new player could theoretically buy out REE for a flat fee up-front, but now that Zane and Seda James’s estate are involved… they would ALSO have to agree to a buy-out. Its possible that a buyout clause exists in either the Universal/REE contract, or the contract REE signed with Zane that lists him as a producer. In which case it becomes simple to calculate. Odds are, its higher than anyone would be willing to pay, however.
Obviously I’m speculating, but its solid speculation. The only reason Zane would ask for a production credit rather than cash up-front, knowing that this ashcan production was only MADE to retain the rights, was that Zane wants a piece of whatever eventually gets made. I can’t reiterate enough: THIS WASN’T A REAL PILOT. No matter what REE tries to say. This was an obvious ashcan production. I doubt either Seda James or Billy Zane got paid any up-front money to produce this (which they did on January 21st, according to James’ twitter account.) They certainly didn’t get paid enough money to make it worth doing. The ONLY reason to do this left as a cut of whatever show gets produced. Anyone with a brain knows that REE has no shot of producing one themselves, at this point. They can’t get the financial backing necessary. That’s always been the problem. They can’t do it with their own money, because they don’t have enough of it. That’s why they resold a percentage of the option back to Universal in the first place, because they needed the cash to continue. Its why they signed a distribution only deal with EA for the video game… they needed the cash to pay people who’d already worked on conceptual items (scripts, test shoots, etc…).
Its why Iyena Sunhair was a freaking BRUNETTE. I’m willing to bet that was somebody’s wife/gf who didn’t get paid. She was all they had to work with on the two weeks notice they had to do the shoot.
@@@@@ 61, 62 anthonypero Ilyena’s actress was Billy Zane’s girlfriend.
I doubt Seda James got a percentage of the rights. He seems to have been a starting director, very eager to get his first real chance to direct something big. His lack of CV makes me think he was glad just to be paid and to be associated in some way to something that would air sometime on TV. I don’t think his death adds any complication to the legal matters in this.
I liked it, except for Billy Zane’s acting and the VFX. Of course the wife should not have been Brunette. It reminded me of the book.
That seems like a lot of legal nonsense that people in Hollywood made up just to get rich. I guess my default mode of thinking would be in terms of the “buy out” option you mention, but less shady. I mean, if someone else buys the rights from them, then they would have them, and any previously existing contract would be null and void.
Ysure, if you can get the contract worded that way. But here’s the thing… A company buys the option from the author. Then they spend money, sometimes a lot of money, on getting a script written, then trying to shop the script. Some company is interested in funding it, but wants to see some script changes. More money spent. And all along, as more hands touch it, because the original company can’t afford to pay anyone outright, production credits leak out like a communicable disease.
Selling the option but retaining production credits is a way to try to make that money back. Intellectual properties are like long term investments.
Ryanamo@63:
Except there’s this:
He’s listed, alongside the guys who own Red Eagle Entertainment, as an Executive Producer. He’s definitely taking back end money, not getting paid upfront.
I wonder if the tv rights included the right to use the WOT chapter icons from the books? I was surprised to see those being used so liberally in the intro credits.
I do wonder about that, because those are copyrighted by the artist, it says so in the front matter of the books.
So any new news on this? Is anything going down legally?
The best part of the whole thing, for me, was seeing the chapter icons up there on the screen ;)
Latest development I’ve seen is that REE is trying to sue Harriet/Bandersnatch for slander/libel/defamation of some sort, for implying that they didn’t have the right to do this.
Yeah, how to make friends and influence all the people who would have liked to see something come of the game, graphic novel, film, or TV rights they’ve failed to convert.
ETA: rereading what little is available, it’s not clear whether they’re suing her for implying they don’t have the rights they think they do, or for “disparaging” their work by referring to the “pilot” in quotation marks.
eyerolls, facepalms, and headdesks all seem singularly inadequate here.
EATA: They’re claiming that Harriet’s statement is turning public opinion against them and anything they produce. Uh, guys, you did that all by your little selves. You didn’t need help from her.
That at least, is vaguely semi-quasi-plausible. But they are claiming more than that!
They are saying that Harriet knew it was happening. they had paid her a significant sum of money to keep her happy, and she attended meetings about it. http://uproxx.com/gammasquad/2015/02/wheel-of-time-pilot-lawsuit/
This isn’t some Aes Sedai always tell the truth thing, is it? These seem easy enough to disprove.
The claim of her attending meetings is not meant to prove she knew about this particular pilot, but that she knew the rights had reverted from Universal back to Bandersnatch, to establish that she willfully lied and misled people in her statement… Which is the crux of their argument. Its a stupid lawsuit, obviously we already hated it, before her statement, and wanted the rights to revert back to Harriet. But they have a solid argument, because that statement… I don’t know what she would release that into the wild without consulting her attorney first.
Awesome possibility: someone on the Dragonmount forum posted that Red Eagle Entertainment was suspended by the Franchise Tax Board last year which means they can’t sue anybody. (I would link to the post but my tablet is acting up).
Except it doesn’t mean that. It just means they can’t do business as Red Eagle Entertainment in the State of California. Which is why the production is listed as an asset of Winter Dragon, LLC. But they don’t lose their right to bring someone to court.
I have grown up eith these books which my desecesed father would read to me as a child and have been exitedly anticipating a tv relization that could rival game of thrones but i was so dissapointed by the laziness of the adaptation, how do you mess up dialoge that was WRITTEN FOR YOU
So glad I’m not the only one who finds this mockery disgraceful.
It’s an insult to Robert Jordan’s creativity and his imagination – and an insult to his fans.
I never bothered to watch past the first half of the intro, which so blatantly smacked of copycatting the opening lines from Fellowship of the Ring, complete with a Cate Blanchett sound-alike. It’s thinly veiled plagiarism.
Clueless people without an ounce of creativity or imagination have no business sticking their snotty noses into best sellers.
So anyone know what is going on with this?
Apparently they settled on July 6. I can’t find any info on the settlement.