Television spinoffs that are spawned from highly successful parent series can bring substantial financial rewards—including continued employment—to those who helped create the originals. Whether or not those rewards will be realized, however, depends substantially on the language of the claimant’s contract that sets out conditions to be satisfied.
Donald Bellisario was creator and executive producer of JAG, NCIS, and other television series including Magnum P.I., Airwolf, and Quantum Leap. A recent lawsuit1 in Los Angeles brought against CBS by him and his personal services company illustrates how satisfying those conditions might prove elusive. Still, in a Superior Court decision earlier this month, the plaintiffs overcame a demurrer by the defendant on the strength of their allegations that the meaning of the word “character”—which would determine their right to compensation—can mean the entire “look and feel” of a television series rather than a mere fictitious person portrayed by an actor.2
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