Disney Writers Seeking Royalties Show Support for Scarlett Johansson

Earlier this yr, a bunch of individuals working with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and different writing guilds shaped the “Disney Must Pay Task Force.” This was the results of a public disagreement between the studio and Star Wars and Alien tie-in novelist Alan Dean Foster over Disney holding again on royalty funds. Their newest push isn’t to help one other author—however to name out Disney’s ongoing authorized tussle with Marvel’s Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson.

Over the summer season it emerged that Johansson was taking the Walt Disney Company to courtroom, alleging that its movie studio breached her contract for the solo Black Widow film. This got here after a number of delays from its authentic 2020 launch window and the superhero title premiering concurrently in theaters and as a part of Disney+’s Premier Access service. After a number of public back-and-forths by which Disney accused the actress of “callously” leveraging the covid-19 pandemic in opposition to the poor little megacorporation, the House of Mouse is now taking a look at non-public arbitration as a substitute of a trial. The very public battle sparked a flurry of debate about blockbuster actor contracts within the age of streaming debuts.

Disney’s makes an attempt to maneuver the controversy away from the general public eye, whereas unsurprising, haven’t stopped organizations and public figures from placing their help behind Johansson’s lawsuit. Last evening, the Disney Must Pay Task Force—the SFWA’s initiative for looking for correct royalty funds for writers of licensed materials throughout comics and books like Alien, Star Wars, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer previous to Disney’s acquisition of these licenses—released a press release supporting the actress. “The #DisneyMustPay Joint Task Force calls on Disney to respect Scarlett Johansson’s professional and artistic work on the film Black Widow,” the assertion offered to press begins. “The first way to respect Ms. Johansson is to pay her properly and not use unethical contractual maneuvers to avoid payment. This is not the first time the Task Force has seen Disney attempt such twisting of contractual language.”

The group has already made important good points in looking for correct therapy for writers: Foster revealed he had settled his state of affairs with Disney earlier this yr. The firm had beforehand refused to pay him royalties for Star Wars and Alien film tie-in novelizations (in addition to the primary Star Wars expanded universe novel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye) written earlier than the enormous acquired each Lucasfilm and Fox, regardless of the very fact the corporate has since re-released a few of that work underneath new branding. In May, Boom Studios—which gained the license to create Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics from Disney in 2019, after its acquisition of Fox terminated a previous cope with Dark Horse—lent its help to the SFWA, saying it might assist affected writers liaise with Disney to hunt the royalties they have been owed.

The process pressure’s newest assertion serves as a reminder that it’s not simply writers that Disney’s contracts might have short-shrifted, and that this can be a battle by which staff, no matter their relationship with the corporate, ought to stand collectively. “The #DisneyMustPay Task Force is working to ensure that contracts are honored for all creators. This includes writers, actors, illustrators, and other artists,” the assertion concludes. “Disney has a pattern of behavior that forces creators to jump through unnecessary and tedious hoops to receive their agreed-upon payments. They continue finding new ways to avoid paying people for their creativity and honoring their contracts. Disney must pay all creators for their work, and the #DisneyMustPay Joint Task Force is leading the way to make sure that happens.”

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As a reminder, the Walt Disney Company’s last estimated net worth was $122.18 (that’s 122,100,000,000) billion.

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