Text 427, 54 rader
Skriven 2006-05-24 23:30:00 av Robert E Starr JR (873.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: An Open Plea to Mr St
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* * * This message was from Joseph DeMartino to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.m * * *
         * * * and has been forwarded to you by Lord Time * * *         
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@MSGID: <1148050940.122320.71290@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>
@REPLY: <jpebg.174729$P01.103260@pd7tw3no>
> They were
not officially filmed and are therefore Joe's and Fiona's personal
property, are they not? Wouldn't Mongoose have to pay something to
start
using details from them? (Or do they just own the words and not the
stories? But WB didn't pay for them, did they?) <

It doesn't matter whether they were filmed or not.  They still belong
to Warner Bros., which did indeed pay for them.  A script written to
assignment from a studio is *always* paid for - in fact, the WGA
agreement requires that parts of the agreed-to-fee be paid on delivery
of the outline (if one is required) and then each draft of the script.
They are not the personal property of the writers.

Under the WGA separation of rights agreement the writers do own the
actual text of the scripts *in script form* and they have the right to
publish them as individual scripts, in book form, excerpt them in
articles about scriptwriting, etc.  But they could not write a
novelization of  the script, or adapt it as a Broadway musical or a
radio play, or turn it into a comic book.  All of those subsidiary
rights are retained by Warner Bros.  So, no, Mongoose would not have to
pay the writers for doing books based on their work.  And Mongoose is
already compensating the owner of those scripts (Warner Bros.) for
their use in the form of license fees and royalties on the books they
sell or whatever exact arrangement they've negotiated.  And the writers
have already been compensated by Warner Bros. for the use of the
scripts including the right to novelize them.*  The scripts are
strictly "work for hire" and Mongoose would not have any legal (or
moral) obligation to pay the Warner Bros. employees who happened to
make them, anymore than you need to write a check to the guy at GM or
Honda who put the driver's side wheels on your car.  He's already been
paid for his work by the automaker.

Regards,

Joe

* I know that if footage from an earlier episode is used in later shows
that the actors and the writer get paid a fee.  I *believe* that if a
character created by one writer in a script is used in a later episode,
the original writer gets a fee and some kind of acknowledgment.  But
these things may only apply to produced episodes.  So I suppose it is
*possible* that there may also be some kind of WGA rule that requires a
fee for novelizations.  But if there is, it would still be Warner
Bros., not Mongoose, that would be liable to pay it.
                              
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