Wheel of Time TV Pilot Producers Sue Robert Jordan's Widow For Defamation

An anonymous reader writes The tale of the late-night Wheel of Time pilot that aired in a paid infomercial slot on FXX has taken another odd turn. Producers Red Eagle Entertainment LLC and Manetheren LLC have filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for central California against Harriet McDougal (widow of James Rigney, who wrote the Wheel of Time novels under the pen name Robert Jordan), her company, Bandersnatch Group Inc., and twenty unnamed other persons ('Does 1-20'). The suit alleges that McDougal's statements about her lack of involvement in the pilot's production constitute breach of contract, slander, and interference with contractual relations and prospective economic relations; the suit demands declaratory relief and a jury trial.

Comments

Welcome to the U.S. of A.

[Anonymous Coward]

You looked at me funny, see you in court.

Re: Welcome to the U.S. of A.

[wisnoskij]

Still, if she inherited the copyright ownership, she inherited her way into the lease agreement. She has become the official head of the franchise. Just because a CEO changes does not mean that the company is no longer under any obligation to fulfill its contracts. And since she in the official in charge of this entity, it is far more like a ceo role than an individual. I am not certain, but if she was found to have officially stated this in her role as the head of the WoT universe, instead of just as an individual, I could see that holding some weight in court.

Re: Welcome to the U.S. of A.

[meerling]

"3. He claims it was high budget but the results, if you've watched the pilot, says otherwise...In other words is was terrible beyond measure."

Master of understatement there.
I've seen better stuff done by highschoolers in the early 1980s with a budget of less than $50 in only a week.
(No lie, it was some friends of mine.)

This was obviously a simple attempt at securing a cash grab and was done in bad faith and what I suspect is very questionable validity in the first place.

(ianal)

Re:What a reason to sue

[Austerity Empowers]

This is a clear case of not caring. On one hand the 'pilot' was a blatant attempt at working around their contract, and while I don't think it was as terrible as some think (as basic cable goes), was clearly an afterthought. On the other hand, it's hard to care at all about his wife's position. She was the one who delayed the ebook release for reasons that only cavemen can relate to, and she continues to generally pop up in annoying and unhelpful ways. Generally its' greedy people fighting over the monies, don't give a crap who wins or loses, the rest of us already have lost.

Re:Tragic series

[halltk1983]

It ends extremely well. I highly recommend finishing it. 14 books all told, grab them from the library if you don't want to invest the finance into it, it's definitely worth the time.

Re:What a reason to sue

[LordLucless]

She deliberately delayed the release of the electronic version, because she was trying to rig the Times Best Seller List (apparently, the Times only counted dead-tree book sales at the time, so she didn't release the e-book version to try and force fans to buy dead-tree, so the purchases would help propel it up the list)