Mean Girls
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Writer Rosalind Wiseman has watched as “Mean Girls” became a global cultural phenomenon.
She should be thrilled that her book, “Queen Bees and Wannabes,” was turned into a hit movie, then a Broadway musical — and now the musical is to be turned into a movie too.
But while writer and producer Tina Fey and Paramount Pictures have made millions out of the franchise, Wiseman has made just over $400,000 after signing a deal to sell her film rights back in 2002, and not a cent since.
Now, she is speaking out against a real-life Mean Girls culture and the “painful experience” that has stopped her from getting her alleged dues — revealing Paramount has even told her the studio has not made any profit from the franchise.
Her lawyers are preparing to take action, and she told The Post exclusively: “We have reached out to Paramount to have things be more equitable, but Paramount is not interested in that.”
Released on April 30, 2004, “Mean Girls” was a surprise hit and grossed $130 million worldwide. It had a $17 million budget, which then was doubled to include marketing and PR costs.
In signing her original contract, Wiseman signed away in perpetuity all rights to original motion pictures and derivative works, including musicals and TV projects — although she said there was no discussion of any other projects at the time.
“Just because you can doesn’t make it right,” she said. “Yes, I had a terrible contract, terrible, but the movie has made so much money, and they keep recycling my work over and over again, so to not even consider me … “
To make matters more infuriating, Wiseman claimed, Paramount insists it has made no money from the franchise.
Her original contract included net profit points — that is, extra cash dependent on how well the movie fares at the box office.
However, the studio has continually told her they have made no net profits from “Mean Girls” and have actually incurred so much extra cost there is nothing left to share with her. Wiseman’s lawyers now want to audit Paramount’s books.
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You sell the rights, you sell the rights. That part is going nowhere .
OTOH, studios are famous for their creative accounting. Thar be the booty, mates. I suspect they owe her millions.
That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse. - Samuel Clemons
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@Jolly said in Mean Girls:
You sell the rights, you sell the rights. That part is going nowhere .
Exactly.
OTOH, studios are famous for their creative accounting. Thar be the booty, mates. I suspect they owe her millions.
Exactly, again. She's not the first victim of "creative accounting."
