TJL
03-19-2002, 09:27 PM
Bad news, Norm fans!
I copied this off on the AOl TV section.
It's a little long, but an interseting read.
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - NBC scrapped a sitcom pilot starring Norm Macdonald and Jon Lovitz on Monday, following a dispute with its producers about potential syndication revenues.
"Leave Me Alone," which is being produced by Adam Sandler's film company, fell victim to controversial new wording in NBC pilot contracts designed to limit the network's liability in lawsuits claiming that it did not maximize the rerun windfall for profit participants such as producers and actors.
Many network shows are produced by their respective studio arms, inviting "self-dealing" lawsuits from the likes of "X-Files" star David Duchovny and "NYPD Blue" producer Steven Bochco alleging that the companies engineered lowball deals among themselves at renewal or syndication time.
NBC has thus removed language from its pilot contracts that requires its NBC Studios producing arm to seek "fair market value" and conduct "arm's length negotiations" when selling the rerun or re-purposing rights to its shows, or when negotiating new license fees.
Such language, however, has virtually guaranteed litigation from profit participants since it's hard to prove a negotiation between NBC and NBC Studios is actually arm's length.
In its place, NBC has inserted a new clause requiring the network to act "in good faith" -- language that still leaves room for lawsuits if, say, NBC were to sell rerun rights to an NBC Studios sitcom to NBC-owned stations at a ridiculously low price.
Producers on several high-profile NBC Studios projects, including the Jeff Goldblum starrer "War Stories," have already agreed to the new language.
But the Endeavor Agency and Brillstein-Gray Entertainment -- which represent Sandler, scribe Tim Herlihy and Sandler's Happy Madison Prods. -- refused to sign the new deal, allowing a 5 p.m. Monday deadline to pass. As a result, NBC killed "Leave Me Alone."
The reps have already started to talk to other networks about picking up the program, but that could be difficult: NBC owns the script and might balk at letting the pilot go elsewhere.
NBC "tried to take away the gun to their heads (with the new language)," one insider familiar with the negotiations said. "Fair market value is an impossible standard to prove. (The new clause) still allows recourse if the profit participants think NBC makes a bad deal."
Others, however, believe NBC is trying to give itself the right to make sweetheart deals by making it harder to prove self-dealing. Happy Madison was willing to take smaller upfront fees in exchange for a bigger share of the syndication pie; the NBC language could potentially limit that backend, one argument goes.
During NBC Studios' recent renegotiation with NBC for "Will & Grace," the studio brought in outside legal consultants to ensure the talks were "arm's length." NBC Studios Ted Harbert ultimately struck an incredibly rich deal with the network, which will shell out roughly $100 million for three more years of the comedy -- a remarkable sum for a show that's only in its fourth year.
NBC, Endeavor and Brillstein-Gray all declined comment.
I copied this off on the AOl TV section.
It's a little long, but an interseting read.
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - NBC scrapped a sitcom pilot starring Norm Macdonald and Jon Lovitz on Monday, following a dispute with its producers about potential syndication revenues.
"Leave Me Alone," which is being produced by Adam Sandler's film company, fell victim to controversial new wording in NBC pilot contracts designed to limit the network's liability in lawsuits claiming that it did not maximize the rerun windfall for profit participants such as producers and actors.
Many network shows are produced by their respective studio arms, inviting "self-dealing" lawsuits from the likes of "X-Files" star David Duchovny and "NYPD Blue" producer Steven Bochco alleging that the companies engineered lowball deals among themselves at renewal or syndication time.
NBC has thus removed language from its pilot contracts that requires its NBC Studios producing arm to seek "fair market value" and conduct "arm's length negotiations" when selling the rerun or re-purposing rights to its shows, or when negotiating new license fees.
Such language, however, has virtually guaranteed litigation from profit participants since it's hard to prove a negotiation between NBC and NBC Studios is actually arm's length.
In its place, NBC has inserted a new clause requiring the network to act "in good faith" -- language that still leaves room for lawsuits if, say, NBC were to sell rerun rights to an NBC Studios sitcom to NBC-owned stations at a ridiculously low price.
Producers on several high-profile NBC Studios projects, including the Jeff Goldblum starrer "War Stories," have already agreed to the new language.
But the Endeavor Agency and Brillstein-Gray Entertainment -- which represent Sandler, scribe Tim Herlihy and Sandler's Happy Madison Prods. -- refused to sign the new deal, allowing a 5 p.m. Monday deadline to pass. As a result, NBC killed "Leave Me Alone."
The reps have already started to talk to other networks about picking up the program, but that could be difficult: NBC owns the script and might balk at letting the pilot go elsewhere.
NBC "tried to take away the gun to their heads (with the new language)," one insider familiar with the negotiations said. "Fair market value is an impossible standard to prove. (The new clause) still allows recourse if the profit participants think NBC makes a bad deal."
Others, however, believe NBC is trying to give itself the right to make sweetheart deals by making it harder to prove self-dealing. Happy Madison was willing to take smaller upfront fees in exchange for a bigger share of the syndication pie; the NBC language could potentially limit that backend, one argument goes.
During NBC Studios' recent renegotiation with NBC for "Will & Grace," the studio brought in outside legal consultants to ensure the talks were "arm's length." NBC Studios Ted Harbert ultimately struck an incredibly rich deal with the network, which will shell out roughly $100 million for three more years of the comedy -- a remarkable sum for a show that's only in its fourth year.
NBC, Endeavor and Brillstein-Gray all declined comment.