Disney and Alan Dean Foster

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**reds8n**

quoting from : https://bleedingcool.com/comics/demands-disney-pay-alan-dean-foster-increase/

but there's various threads on twitter et al

Alan Dean Foster, a science-fiction author of note, has written the likes of the novelisation of the Star Wars movie as well as a sequel, Splinter Of The Mind's Eye before Empire Strikes Back was even on the blocks. He also wrote the novelisations of the Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 movies. The only thing is – that the royalties on all these books, which still continue to sell, have stopped. And he is directly blaming Disney.

He recently held a press conference with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, noting that if this is a problem for him, it could be a problem for every writer in a similar position. As he alleges that Disney have bought the publishers of their work, decided they own the publishing rights but not the obligations to pay the creators as originally contractually agreed.

Mary Robinette Kowal, the SFWA's President, issued the following release:

Last year, a member came to SFWA's Grievance Committee with a problem, which on the surface sounds simple and resolvable. He had written novels and was not being paid the royalties that were specified in his contract. The Grievance Committee is designed to resolve contract disputes like this. As part of our negotiating toolbox, we guarantee anonymity for both the writer and the publisher if the grievance is resolved. When it is working, as president, I never hear from them. When talks break down, the president of SFWA is asked to step in. We do this for any member. In this case, the member is Alan Dean Foster. The publisher is Disney. Here are his words.

Dear Mickey,

We have a lot in common, you and I. We share a birthday: November 18. My dad's nickname was Mickey. There's more.

When you purchased Lucasfilm you acquired the rights to some books I wrote. STAR WARS, the novelization of the very first film. SPLINTER OF THE MIND'S EYE, the first sequel novel. You owe me royalties on these books. You stopped paying them.

When you purchased 20th Century Fox, you eventually acquired the rights to other books I had written. The novelizations of ALIEN, ALIENS, and ALIEN 3. You've never paid royalties on any of these, or even issued royalty statements for them.

All these books are all still very much in print. They still earn money. For you. When one company buys another, they acquire its liabilities as well as its assets. You're certainly reaping the benefits of the assets. I'd very much like my miniscule (though it's not small to me) share.

You want me to sign an NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) before even talking. I've signed a lot of NDAs in my 50-year career. Never once did anyone ever ask me to sign one prior to negotiations. For the obvious reason that once you sign, you can no longer talk about the matter at hand. Every one of my representatives in this matter, with many, many decades of experience in such business, echo my bewilderment.

You continue to ignore requests from my agents. You continue to ignore queries from SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. You continue to ignore my legal representatives. I know this is what gargantuan corporations often do. Ignore requests and inquiries hoping the petitioner will simply go away. Or possibly die. But I'm still here, and I am still entitled to what you owe me. Including not to be ignored, just because I'm only one lone writer. How many other writers and artists out there are you similarly ignoring?

My wife has serious medical issues and in 2016 I was diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer. We could use the money. Not charity: just what I'm owed. I've always loved Disney. The films, the parks, growing up with the Disneyland TV show. I don't think Unca Walt would approve of how you are currently treating me. Maybe someone in the right position just hasn't received the word, though after all these months of ignored requests and queries, that's hard to countenance. Or as a guy named Bob Iger said….

"The way you do anything is the way you do everything."

I'm not feeling it.

Alan Dean Foster

Prescott, AZ

Mary Robinette Kowal adds:

In my decade with the organization, the fact that we are forced to present this publicly is unprecedented. So too, are the problems. The simple problem is that we have a writer who is not being paid.

The larger problem has the potential to affect every writer. Disney's argument is that they have purchased the rights but not the obligations of the contract. In other words, they believe they have the right to publish work, but are not obligated to pay the writer no matter what the contract says. If we let this stand, it could set precedent to fundamentally alter the way copyright and contracts operate in the United States. All a publisher would have to do to break a contract would be to sell it to a sibling company.

If they are doing this to Alan Dean Foster, one of the great science fiction writers of our time, then what are they doing to the younger writers who do not know that a contract is a contract?

To resolve the immediate issue regarding their breach of contract with Alan Dean Foster, Disney has three choices:

Pay Alan Dean Foster all back royalties as well as any future royalties.
Publication ceases until new contract(s) are signed, and pay all back royalties to Alan Dean Foster as well as any future royalties.
Publication ceases and pay all back royalties to Alan Dean Foster.
This starts with a conversation. You have our contact information and offer to sit down with a Disney representative, Alan's agent Vaughne Lee Hansen, and a SFWA representative.

Regardless of choice, Disney must pay Alan Dean Foster.

If you're a fan of Alan Dean Foster or believe that a writer's work has value, please let Disney know.

If you are a writer experiencing similar problems with Disney or another company, please report your circumstances to us here.

Wee bit cheeky by Disney here and -- if they win -- could basically just screw over the concept of royalties henceforth.

Disgraceful.

**BobtheInquisitor**

It seems like worker protections and rights have been withering away for years in this country, but I’m still surprised Disney is willing to screw over such a high profile author just to save some chump change.

**Overread**

For Disney its not just one author its likely many, this is just one that has gone public with it. Plus they are always looking for ways to secure more rights internally and not have to pay out so if they won this in any formal way it would benefit them greatly.

As noted if this did result in a win for Disney you could fast see big firms start up smaller companies, secure printing/publishing rights with royalties to creators and then simply buy-out the small firm, transfer the ownership of rights and then claim that they don't have to pay royalties. Done and dusted they'd have an efficient system of being able to secure rights and not have to pay out.

Hopefully tihs gets a resolution, though knowing Disney they can likely just block it in the courts (if it ever gets that far) for years.

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

Well clearly Disney are behaving like scum

but hardly surprising given the effort they've previously made to modify copyright legislation to favour themselves (https://www.theiplawblog.com/2016/02/articles/copyright-law/disneys-influence-on-united-states-copyright-law/)

**Captain Joystick**

Never retweeted anything before... hopefully I did it right.

I've worked in a big corporation long enough to know that Disney isn't actually making a concentrated attack on the concept of royalties here, they've simply gotten comfortable with a much more exploitative model used with newer authors and want to apply it to all their commissioned works, past and future. So they want authors receiving royalties to renegotiate terms to something that favors them and the only real pressure Disney can apply to make them do that is to withhold the payments, demand the author sign an NDA as a prerequisite to 'discuss' the issue, then rake them across the coals.

Disney's position about it's rights and obligations should not be taken as any serious argument: the language of current law does not support it and the language of the specific contract does not allow for it (the fact that the rights and responsibilities are both inherited by the company that buys out the owner is explicitly specified), if it were taken as fact in any legal arena it would effectively nuke the economics of the entertainment indsutry.

In fact, it only really works as an implicit threat: "I am going to argue this ridiculous position in court and it will cost you everything you own to fight it and you'll die before it's settled."

Also known as McDonalds' Hot Coffee Defense.

If anything though, it seems like Disney has made a misstep here: People are quoting the 'rights but not obligations' line as though a Disney rep said it - something I doubt they would have done unless they thought they were protected by one of those NDAs. If they didn't say it then they still have an opportunity to save face, if they did and it got out either through an NDA violation or mistaken assumption on their part then it should be the first and foremost thing people say about Disney until they get slapped down for it.

**reds8n**

Overread wrote:
For Disney its not just one author its likely many.

Indeed.

https://twitter.com/NostalgiaInk/status/1329200776934273026

It's not just Foster. It's every single writer or artist who created comic books in the Star Wars / Aliens / Predator franchises for Dark Horse Comics that are now being reprinted by Disney / Marvel. They are getting zero royalties on those reprints.

Now some of those creators may well have been hired on a strict one off no royalties contract -- but certainly not all of them did.

**Dysartes**

Terrible behaviour by Darth Mickey, and I hope they get taken to task for it - and then handed over to the facehuggers...

Unrelated question - isn't there a letter missing from the SFWA acronym? Shouldn't it be SFFWA?

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

https://www.sfwa.org/about/who-we-are/

originally it was science fiction writers only in 1956 when it was founded, and when it changed to add the fantasy writers in 1991 they kept their old acronym (too much old stationary to use up?)

**gorgon**

"I got screwed by Disney" is a thing in Hollywood, so it makes sense that kind of approach moved to publishing. They're notorious for this kind of thing.

**Easy E**

Where is Teddy when we need him?

Teddy would kick Mickey in the nuts over this.

**Vulcan**

Sounds like the only way to shut this down is a big Disney boycott. Of course, given how many fingers Disney has in a wide variety of pies, that could be easier said than done.

**RegularGuy**

RIAA and MPAA had enough clout to push youtube into detecting and flagging copyright works to some extent... Small writers haven't as much backing. I hope he find a way to get their attention monetarily/legally.

**Vulcan**

I'm surprised so many of us are actually surprised by this, given what Disney did to Robin Williams in the wake of Aladdin...

**creeping-deth87**

Vulcan wrote:
I'm surprised so many of us are actually surprised by this, given what Disney did to Robin Williams in the wake of Aladdin...

Oh I hadn't heard about this. What did Disney do to Robin Williams?

**Grimskul**

creeping-deth87 wrote:
Vulcan wrote:
I'm surprised so many of us are actually surprised by this, given what Disney did to Robin Williams in the wake of Aladdin...

Oh I hadn't heard about this. What did Disney do to Robin Williams?

I'm pretty sure it's about how Disney reneged on their deal with him regarding on how the genie was marketed and using his brand as a way to draw attraction to the movie.

**Vulcan**

Yep. That's it. Disney has a history of acting in very bad faith when it comes to contract law.

**chromedog**

The disney settlement with Robin Williams involved them giving him an original Picasso.

**The_Grim_Angel**

Disney: Dark Insidious SNeaky Empire of Youth; I don't remember who said that.

**Kid_Kyoto**

Side question, what the heck do NDA threaten people with?

I'm constantly hearing how NDAs stop folks from speaking about illegal activity, are they really that scary and iron clad?

**MarkNorfolk**

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Side question, what the heck do NDA threaten people with?

I'm constantly hearing how NDAs stop folks from speaking about illegal activity, are they really that scary and iron clad?

I can only assume there is some horrendous financial penalty stipulated to be due if the agreement is broken.

**beast_gts**

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Side question, what the heck do NDA threaten people with?

I'm constantly hearing how NDAs stop folks from speaking about illegal activity, are they really that scary and iron clad?

It can vary, but generally blacklisting from your profession, financial penalties (fines, loss of pension/benefits, etc.) and/or imprisonment (mostly for Gov ones or if there's contempt of court).

**Overread**

I'd figure getting blacklisted in any market that has small numbers of high profile companies, could be very damaging. Especially if they share blacklists between each other.

Heck even if you broke a GW NDA and if GW then ceased to trade with you it could be a huge blow to a local store or youtube (or similar social media) channel.

Plus don't forget the purpose of the NDA is to sound and look scary as heck because its all about the company protecting itself and its information. The threats/risks are not in the small print, they are in the big print.

Of course NDA are not all bad, many times they are used purely for marketing purposes so that GW doesn't have info on the next 5 years releases out there including things that they might cancel or change and thus don't want presented to the public. Some will also protect both parties from each other and they can also be very key in spelling out exactly what information is allowed to be shared and which isn't and any corresponding dates. For a social media channel or such, it could be very important in helping to ensure that both sides know the key dates and when the social media channel can publish information on pre-release content they've got.

So at their core NDA are not pure evil nor are they always to be feared.

That said the Disney deployment of them for basic negotiations sounds excessive, which makes one feel that they are using it in a more aggressive manner.

**Vulcan**

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Side question, what the heck do NDA threaten people with?

I'm constantly hearing how NDAs stop folks from speaking about illegal activity, are they really that scary and iron clad?

If you break an NDA, the company sues you, PERIOD.

And they're not going to sue you for any amount you can actually realistically afford. It's 'sell everything and go thousands of dollars into debt' or 'go to prison for not paying'.

**Overread**

Vulcan wrote:
Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Side question, what the heck do NDA threaten people with?

I'm constantly hearing how NDAs stop folks from speaking about illegal activity, are they really that scary and iron clad?

If you break an NDA, the company sues you, PERIOD.

And they're not going to sue you for any amount you can actually realistically afford. It's 'sell everything and go thousands of dollars into debt' or 'go to prison for not paying'.

Not necessarily; one would assume any (good/sensible/proper) NDA would be like most contracts and specifies penalties for breach of contract within the NDA.
If they sued you then they'd have to prove a loss of earnings or similar to justify the value they'd place on it. Of course a major company can still sue for insane numbers just to help prolong the court proceedings; knowing that either way they will still win and that the longer it goes on for the faster the other side will want to do a deal to get out of the increasing costs.

**Jadenim**

Certainly here in the UK an NDA cannot be used to prevent you from reporting illegal activity, because otherwise that would effectively force you to be complicit in the crime.

**Easy E**

The NDA claimant basically plans to kill you with Legal Fees by suing you, and you have to defend.

**Dreadwinter**

Vulcan wrote:
Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Side question, what the heck do NDA threaten people with?

I'm constantly hearing how NDAs stop folks from speaking about illegal activity, are they really that scary and iron clad?

If you break an NDA, the company sues you, PERIOD.

And they're not going to sue you for any amount you can actually realistically afford. It's 'sell everything and go thousands of dollars into debt' or 'go to prison for not paying'.

But those lawsuits do not hold up in court if you are whistleblowing illegal activity. NDAs are really just used to try and bully people in to not saying something. But rarely do they actually hold up in court.

**Matt Swain**

isn't about time we all faced some obvious truths and facts?

Corporations are at the very best utterly amoral. The largest ones can probably best be described as sociopathic, if not psychopathic.

Think I'm going to far? Read this, bub. https://www.axios.com/apple-lobbied-congress-uyghur-slave-labor-china-daf5a4b1-55ed-493c-a243-85f64db2adf9.html

Big corporations are usually ran by the most aggressive, selfish, ruthless Type A personalities around, and the wealth a corporation gives them gives them power to act on their tendencies without fear of consequences.

This is just another example of a corporation deciding to arbitrarily rewrite the laws for its own benefit, and knowing it's got the power to do it.

If foster pushes this case hard I hope he doesn't end up like Karen Silkwood.

**Slipspace**

Yeah, NDAs aren't some magical device to allow companies to utterly silence anything you might want to say about them. There are limits to what is legally enforceable.

However, as many people have pointed out, just because an NDA may be legally unenforceable, or at least on shaky ground, that doesn't prevent companies drawing them up and getting people to sign them. Even if an NDA is legally unsound, you generally need a court case to show it. That costs money and means going up against the big corporation and its army of lawyers. Big corporations are really good at sounding scary and official so unless you're very sure of yourself, or successful enough to be able to afford to go to court the corporations usually win.

**kodos**

Easy E wrote:
The NDA claimant basically plans to kill you with Legal Fees by suing you, and you have to defend.

don't know of the UK, but like here in Austria there are those NDAs that prevent you from making things public until the courts have done their part

an NDA cannot be used to prevent you from reporting crimes to the police, but if there is already a process going on this is a standard process to prevent anyone to involve the media