Patrick Rothfuss and the campaign to buy Firefly rights.
POSTED BY: chapterandverse
UPDATED: Friday, February 25, 2011 23:45
VIEWED: 11747
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I am no expert, but from what I've seen and heard regarding other shows is that the show is owned by the studio not the network. So in this case its 20th Century Fox Television, not the FOX network. The fact that they are both divisions of the same parent corporation seems to create confusion.
This is the same company that owns the rights to Buffy and Angel -- 2 shows that did not air on FOX. So when you buy any Joss TV show on DVD, 20th Century Fox Television (and home video) gets the money, not FOX or the WB or UPN or the CW.
If you watch the extra, "Here's How It Was" on the Firefly DVD set, Gareth Davies says, "When you have a Joss Whedon on your payroll as the studio did, obviously they were trying to get another project out of him". Again, this shows it's the studio not the network that gave Joss the chance to come up with the idea for Firefly. Keep in mind, at that time Joss did not have anything on FOX, so Gareth could not have meant FOX the network.
The idea for a show is pitched to networks and if one likes it a pilot is requested, then if they like it they greenlight it as a series. I think we know how that went in the case of Firefly. If the network doesn't like the pitch or pilot, it can go to another network. This is the case with Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place which was an ABC aired show but was originally pitched (perhaps piloted as well) to FOX.
If you recall when Joss left television before his contract was up, the stipulation was that if he returned he had to go back to the studio, which was 20th Century Fox Television -- the studio that did his next series Dollhouse. This means that when he had lunch with Eliza and decided to create a show for her, he HAD to go back to 20th, but that didn't mean the show had to air on FOX, it just happened that they took the show.
Usually when a network cancels a show, the studio has the right to shop it around. We know this happened with Firefly. 20th Century Fox Television, not the FOX network even kept the sets up longer than normal just in case another network would take it. The problem is the other networks passed on optioning it, probably due to the low ratings it was getting and the expense of the show.
Networks don't own the show. They pay the studio for the right to air it and for a certain number of times. Usually its 2 airings per episode. I have heard of networks that had to pay the studio for the right to air a previous season's episode for a 3rd time in the current season (perhaps a Christmas themed ep from a prior year because the current season didn't have a Christmas themed ep).
Now this is not to say that the network doesn't have any say in anything regarding the show. They are airing it so they do get some control over things like casting which is why actors need to do studio and network auditions. They can also request changes to scripts, or request new pilots. This is basically the positionn of, we are airing it so we want to make sure it's something we agree with.
The amount the network pays for the ep usually does not cover production costs which is why the studio doesn't make money until the show gets to syndication, international broadcast, and home video.
I highly doubt that 20th Century Fox Television's rights to the show will expire. I've also never seen anything about the 10 years from an official source. What always made sense to me regarding the 10 years was that when Universal optioned the movie rights from 20th Century Fox Television, they probably wanted a clause that 20th would not make a new show based on Firfly for 10 years so they could have exclusive rights to the franchise for that amount of time, possibly enough time to make a trilogy.
If this is the case, then 20th is free to make a television series again probably in 2013. But the issue for them is will they make money off of it. The DVD sales were good, but are they good enough to produce network quality shows that are direct to DVD if no network will air it and stil
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That's a pretty solid summation, and a likely scenario with the 10 year concept.
"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."
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yeah, that's plausible.
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Quote:
Originally posted by rhuttner:
If you recall when Joss left television before his contract was up, the stipulation was that if he returned he had to go back to the studio, which was 20th Century Fox Television -- the studio that did his next series Dollhouse. This means that when he had lunch with Eliza and decided to create a show for her, he HAD to go back to 20th, but that didn't mean the show had to air on FOX, it just happened that they took the show.
He didn't decide to create a show for her. SHE has a deal, they wanted a series with her in it, and she contacted Joss and they talked about doing something. So he came aboard her show.
Technically. Even though the media talked about the new Joss Whedon show.
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Quote:
Originally posted by rhuttner:
If you recall when Joss left television before his contract was up, the stipulation was that if he returned he had to go back to the studio, which was 20th Century Fox Television -- the studio that did his next series Dollhouse. This means that when he had lunch with Eliza and decided to create a show for her, he HAD to go back to 20th, but that didn't mean the show had to air on FOX, it just happened that they took the show.
He didn't decide to create a show for her. SHE has a deal, they wanted a series with her in it, and she contacted Joss and they talked about doing something. So he came aboard her show.
Technically. Even though the media talked about the new Joss Whedon show.
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