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Alan Dean Foster, author of several Star Wars novels, claims Disney didn’t pay him his royalties. According to Foster, Disney also asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement before the company spoke to him.
“You continue to ignore my agents’ requests,” Foster wrote in a letter published by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. “You continue to ignore the questions from SFWA, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. You keep ignoring my legal representatives. I know this is what giant corporations often do. Ignore the requests and questions, hoping the petitioner will leave. Or maybe die. But I’m still here and I’m still entitled to what you owe me. “
Foster ghost-wrote the novel of Star Wars: A New Hope, under the signature of George Lucas; was released in 1976 before the movie was released. He also released a Star Wars sequel, Splinter of the mind’s eye. Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012; according to Foster, Disney has stopped paying him royalties. Last year, Disney bought 20th Century Fox, acquiring the rights to a few more of Foster’s novels: Aliens, Aliens, is Alien 3. Disney didn’t pay Foster a dime for any of the Alien books, he says.
According to SFWA president Mary Robinette Kowal, Disney claims that when it bought Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox, they bought the rights to the contract, but not the legal obligation to pay Foster for his work. “If we let this happen, it could set a precedent for fundamentally altering the way copyright and contracts work in the United States,” Kowal wrote. “All a publisher would have to do to break a contract would be to sell it to a sister company.”
Kowal also expressed concern that Disney might use similar tactics with other writers.
Under the hashtag #DisneyMustPay, authors Cory Doctorow, John Scalzi, NK Jemison, is Catherynne M. Valente, among others, opposed Disney’s alleged treatment of Foster, who has cancer.
But beyond the individual injustice inflicted on Foster, Kowal and SFWA fear that this represents a series of new corporate anti-writer tactics: overturning assets without accountability, refusing to talk about them without a non-disclosure agreement.
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– Cory Doctorow #BLM (@doctorow) November 19, 2020
This is not Disney’s first attempt to radically alter copyright. Disney has consistently lobbied Congress to extend copyright periods, in part to protect its mascot, Mickey Mouse. Disney lobbied heavily for the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act, introduced by Sonny Bono; if that law hadn’t been passed, Mickey would already be in the public domain.
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read the full text of Foster’s letter here:
Dear Mickey Mouse,
We have a lot in common, you and me. We share a birthday: November 18th. My father’s nickname was Mickey. There’s more.
When you bought Lucasfilm you acquired the rights to some books I wrote. STAR WARS, the novel of the very first film. SPLINTER OF THE MIND’S EYE, the first sequel novel. You owe me the royalties on these books. You stopped paying them.
When you bought 20th Century Fox, you eventually acquired the rights to other books I had written. The stories of ALIEN, ALIENS and ALIEN 3. You have never paid royalties on any of these, nor made any royalty declarations for them.
All these books are still widely printed. They still earn money. For you. When a company buys another, it acquires both its liabilities and its assets. You are definitely reaping the rewards of resources. I would really like my tiny share (even if it’s not small for me).
You want me to sign an NDA (Nondisclosure Agreement) before you even speak. I have signed many non-disclosure agreements in my 50-year career. No one has ever asked me to sign one before the negotiations. For the obvious reason that once you sign, you can no longer talk about the matter in question. Each of my representatives in this matter, with many, many decades of experience in this area, echoes my bewilderment.
You continue to ignore the requests from my agents. You continue to ignore the questions from SFWA, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Writers of America. You keep ignoring my legal representatives. I know this is what giant corporations often do. Ignore the requests and questions, hoping the petitioner will leave. Or maybe die. But I’m still here and I’m still entitled to what you owe me. Including not to be ignored, just because I’m just a lonely writer. How many other writers and artists out there are you similarly ignoring?
My wife has severe health problems and in 2016 I was diagnosed with advanced cancer. We could use the money. Not charity: only what is owed to me. I’ve always loved Disney. The movies, the parks, grow up with the Disneyland TV show. I don’t think Unca Walt would approve of the way you treat me right now. Maybe someone in the right position hasn’t gotten the word, even if after all these months of ignored requests and questions, it’s hard to take. Or as a guy named Bob Iger said….
“The way you do anything is the way you do everything.”
I don’t feel it.
Alan Dean Foster
Prescott, AZ
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