"Smallville" Producers Sue The CW

[Brian Damage]

Notice the producers filed this lawsuit after "Smallville" was renewed for a tenth season.

"Smallville" producers have accused studio WarnerBros. and the network it co-owns that airs their show, The CW, of "self-dealing" the series at a below-market cost -- thus short-changing executive producers with a stake in the show's profits. Reads the suit:

"Warner Bros.' practices of unfair self-dealing include licensing the series for broadcast on its own affiliated WB and CW networks for unreasonably low, below-market license fees, resulting in lower gross revenues for the series and less compensation for plaintiffs, and failing to renegotiate the series' license fee to cover its production cost... depriving [plaintiffs] of compensation to which they are entitled ... by failing to maximize profits from the series, all to the benefit of the vertically-integrated conglomerate Time Warner."

The idea is that WarnerBros. sold the show at a bargain rate to its own network. Then, for the international market, lumped "Smallville" together with other less successful shows as a package deal -- diluting its individual value.

But really. Nine seasons and Superman still can't fly? If anything, fans should sue the producers for breach of creative contract.

http://www.thrfeed.com/2010/03/small...e+Live+Feed%29

[tv star collector]

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

Notice the producers filed this lawsuit after "Smallville" was renewed for a tenth season.

"Smallville" producers have accused studio WarnerBros. and the network it co-owns that airs their show, The CW, of "self-dealing" the series at a below-market cost -- thus short-changing executive producers with a stake in the show's profits. Reads the suit:

"Warner Bros.' practices of unfair self-dealing include licensing the series for broadcast on its own affiliated WB and CW networks for unreasonably low, below-market license fees, resulting in lower gross revenues for the series and less compensation for plaintiffs, and failing to renegotiate the series' license fee to cover its production cost... depriving [plaintiffs] of compensation to which they are entitled ... by failing to maximize profits from the series, all to the benefit of the vertically-integrated conglomerate Time Warner."

The idea is that WarnerBros. sold the show at a bargain rate to its own network. Then, for the international market, lumped "Smallville" together with other less successful shows as a package deal -- diluting its individual value.

But really. Nine seasons and Superman still can't fly? If anything, fans should sue the producers for breach of creative contract.

http://www.thrfeed.com/2010/03/small...e+Live+Feed%29

That's not a surprise: when the show debuted, the network pretty much
guaranteed "no flights, no tights." That was the whole premise of the show:
Kal-El/Clark Kent before he finally becomes Superman.