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.
With the pilot coming essentially out of nowhere and airing with no fanfare, very few fans of the series were even aware of its existence until after the fact; it was clear that the production was accomplished in very little time and on a minimal budget. The resulting effort (titled "Winter Dragon") did not resemble the series prologue very closely, and it quickly drew strong rebuke from McDougal, who claimed the pilot was made "without my knowledge or cooperation," and that no one from Robert Jordan’s estate has been involved in any way with it. McDougal claims that Universal currently holds the rights to the Wheel of Time TV series, not Red Eagle Entertainment, and that the pilot made no mention of Universal or her own company, the Bandersnatch Group.
That statement was apparently interpreted by Red Eagle Entertainment LLC—the corporate entity that produced the pilot and also claims to hold the television rights to The Wheel of Time—as fighting words.
The Hollywood Reporter has taken a stab at unwinding exactly what’s going on here, since Red Eagle/Manetheran’s suit seems to tell a different version of events from McDougal's. Briefly, the suit says that Manetheran (owned by Red Eagle) acquired the film and TV rights to The Wheel of Time in 2004 from James Rigney himself, and paid more than $600,000 to keep the rights through this past Wednesday, February 11. Manetheran had also entered into a deal with Universal Pictures to produce some kind of Wheel of Time movie or series, but that deal is said to have expired in 2014. A subsequent production deal between Manetheran and Sony appears to have fallen through.
The suit contradicts McDougal’s statement of non-involvement, saying that she had been informed by Red Eagle about the Universal deal’s expiration, and that further she had traveled from Charleston to Los Angeles (on Sony’s dime) to discuss the possibility of working with Sony. The suit says that McDougal was fully aware of Red Eagle and Manetheran’s control of the rights and of the February 11 expiration date.
All together, the suit claims that McDougal’s statement itself is defamatory and harms Manetheran and Red Eagle’s ability to do further business; that McDougal breached a nondisparagement agreement by making the statement; and that McDougal and the Bandersnatch Group are intentionally interfering with Manetheran and Red Eagle’s contractual and potential economic relationships. The suit states that Manetheran and Red Eagle are seeking compensatory damages, exemplary damages (that is, damages intended to set an example and deter others from engaging in the same kind of activity), and also immediate declaratory relief from the court (which would mean a judgment by the court settling the issue of who specifically has the series television rights).
The full filing can be downloaded and read here.
reader comments
366