Star Wars novelist says Disney won’t pay him the royalties he owes him

Alan Dean Foster, author of several Star Wars novels, says Disney has not paid him his royalties. According to Foster, Disney also asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement before the company spoke to him.

“You continue to ignore the requests of my agents,” Foster wrote in a letter published by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. “You continue to ignore the queries of SFWA, the science fiction and fantasy writers of America. You continue to ignore my legal representatives. I know this is what gargantuan companies often do. Ignore the requests and demands in the hope that the petitioner will simply disappear. Or maybe die. But I’m still here, and I’m still entitled to what you owe me.

Promote ghost writing of the romanization of Star Wars: A New Hope, under the signature of George Lucas; it was released in 1976 before the film’s release. He also released a sequel to Star Wars, Shard of the eye of the spirit. Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012; according to Foster, Disney stopped paying him royalties. Last year, Disney bought 20th Century Fox, acquiring the rights to other new Foster releases: Extraterrestrials, extraterrestrials, and Alien 3. Disney didn’t pay Foster a dime on any of the Extraterrestrial pounds, he said.

Disney says he’s engaged with Foster and his agent for over a year during the Extraterrestrial books – and that this is the first time they have heard of Star wars romanizations as a point of contention. According to Disney, their last correspondence was in March, requesting a meeting, and the company has not had a response. Disney considers the NDA to be standard practice around negotiations.

According to SFWA President Mary Robinette Kowal, Disney maintains that when it bought Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox, they bought the contractual rights – but not the legal obligation to pay Foster for his work. “If we leave that position, it could set a precedent to fundamentally change how copyright and contracts work in the United States,” Kowal wrote. “All a publisher would have to do to break a contract is sell it to a sister company.” Disney declined to comment on this characterization of their position.

Kowal also expressed concern that Disney could use similar tactics with other writers.

Under the hashtag #DisneyMustPay, authors Cory doctorow, John Scalzi, NK Jemison, and Catherynne M. Valente, among others, opposed Disney’s alleged treatment of Foster, who has cancer.

This isn’t Disney’s first brush with a drastic copyright change. Disney has consistently lobbied Congress to extend copyright terms – in part to protect its mascot, Mickey Mouse. Disney has done a lot of lobbying for the Copyright Term Extension Act 1998, which was introduced by Sonny Bono; if this law had not passed, Mickey would already be in the public domain.

Read the full text of Foster’s letter here:

Dear Mickey,

We have a lot in common, you and I. We share a birthday: November 18th. My father’s nickname was Mickey. There is more.

When you bought Lucasfilm, you acquired the rights to some books that I wrote. STAR WARS, the novelization of the very first film. SPLINTER OF THE MIND’S EYE, the first sequel novel. You owe me royalties on these books. You have stopped paying them.

When you bought 20th Century Fox, you finally acquired the rights to other books that I had written. The novelizations of ALIEN, ALIENS and ALIEN 3. You have never paid royalties on any of these products, nor even issued royalty statements for them.

All of these books are all still very printed. They are still making money. For you. When one company buys another, it acquires its liabilities as well as its assets. You are definitely reaping the benefits of assets. I would love my tiny share (although it’s not small for me).

You want me to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) before I even speak. I signed a lot of NDAs over my 50 year career. No one ever asked me to sign one before negotiations. For the obvious reason that once you sign up, you can no longer talk about the subject in question. Each of my representatives in this matter, with many, many decades of experience in this area, echoes my amazement.

You continue to ignore the requests of my agents. You continue to ignore queries from SFWA, the science fiction and fantasy writers of America. You continue to ignore my legal representatives. I know this is what gargantuan companies often do. Ignore requests and requests in the hope that the petitioner will simply disappear. Or maybe die. But I’m still here, and I’m still entitled to what you owe me. Including not to be ignored, just because I’m just one writer. How many other writers and artists do you similarly ignore?

My wife has serious health issues and in 2016 I was diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer. We could use the money. No charity: just what I owe. I have always loved Disney. Movies, parks, growing up with the Disneyland series. I don’t think Unca Walt would approve of the way you treat me now. Maybe someone in the right position just hasn’t gotten the word out, but after all these months of requests and ignored requests, it’s hard to take. Or as a guy named Bob Iger said….

“The way you do anything is the way you do everything.”

I do not feel it.

Alan dean foster

Prescott, Arizona

Updated November 19, 8:30 p.m. ET: Add Disney’s response.