Cheetah Girls Never Prosper: A Cautionary Showbiz Tale
Deborah Gregory, creator of the Cheetah Girls series of children’s books, is the latest author to declare herself screwed over by Hollywood, in a profile by LA Times book reporter Josh Getlin. Gregory’s novels are published by Hyperion, and the property was merchandised out the wazoo by the publisher’s parent company, Walt Disney, from TV-movies and compact discs to “shoes, dolls, toothbrushes, video games, backpacks, note pads, pillows, posters, T-shirts and the like.” But Gregory signed a contract in 2001 that promised her 4 percent of the net from all that merchandising, and now she’s telling people she hasn’t seen anything from Disney about any net. As Getlin records:
“People think I must be living in a palace, when they think of the success of the Cheetah Girls,” she said, sitting quietly in the cramped studio apartment she rents in Manhattan. “But look at this place. It’s a … dump.”
Gee, I wonder what “…” could be a euphemism for? Anyway, despite $125,000 in option fees, and $180,000 in advances on her sixteen books, plus whatever royalties the 2 million copies of those books sold generated, Gregory believes she deserves more from the success that Disney’s had spinning her creations into merchandising gold, and she’s probably right—sure, that looks like more than a quarter of a million dollars, but it’s spread out over several years; before royalties, she was basically making a midlevel publishing salary. But, as just about everybody Getlin contacted for the article suggests, this is how Hollywood operates, unless you have an agent or a lawyer who won’t let the studios roll right over you. (The article notes that Gregory has ditched the woman who represented her on that Disney deal.)
Which can be hard; as Jane Dystel tells Getlin, “Studios are always offering authors take-it-or-leave-it deals, and if they don’t get what they want, they’re prepared to walk away. They’ll tell you that there are plenty of other good books out there for them to buy, and they’re right.” What authors need to do is prepare themselves to let the studios walk in such cases and hold out for a more equitable offer… or try Authors Guild executive director Paul Aiken‘s alternative: “The best advice we give is that you should try to get as much of your money upfront.”
UPDATE: FishbowlLA observes that Black Enterprise ran a similar story on Gregory fourteen months ago.
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