Why are 'Bones' Stars Suing Fox?
Looks like Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz have bones to pick with Fox! The stars, as well as executive producer Kathy Reichs, filed a lawsuit Monday in Los Angeles alleging 20th Century Television, Fox and affiliations shortchanged their profits from their show, Bones.
The lawsuit claims that none of the three have seen profits from the show in recent years, despite the fact the show is now on its 11th season and is one of the most successful shows on television.
Bones producer Barry Josephson filed a similar lawsuit on Nov. 25.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the plaintiffs are arguing that they haven't seen adequate funds from Fox putting full, current seasons on Hulu. They say that the arrangement, known as "stacking," made it so that Netflix paid less for episodes than it otherwise would have.
The lawsuit also alleges "more than a dozen accounting errors, tricks, and deceitful acts that 20th TV has used to deprive plaintiffs of their entitlement to profits," including license fees being lowered so the show wouldn't show profit and incorrectly accounting for revenue. A quote directly from the suit says, "As the series became more profitable for Fox over the years, these accounting statements issued by 20th TV counter-intuitively showed plaintiffs falling farther and farther away from achieving profits."
Accounting statements from 2009 allegedly showed Reichs "was nearly $90 million away from receiving profits payments, and plaintiffs Boreanaz and Deschanel received statements showing they were nearly $100 million away from profits."
Deschanel, Boreanaz, Reichs and Josephson claim 20th Century TV and Fox both threatened the bunch with cancelation of the show if they did not accept the reduced license fees.
Fox has yet to comment on the controversy. No word yet on how, or if, the proceedings will affect the future of the show.