Marvel: Yelena Belova Creators Criticize Artist Deals
With the Blockbuster Black Widow celebrated the new character Yelena Belova their premiere in Marvel Cinematic Universe. A performance that its creators, Devin Grayson and JG Jones, was supposed to bring in a lot of money that Marvel would never have paid for. Now the two raise serious allegations.
Marvel is designed to lure creators in with large sums and only pay out a fraction
Compared to the Hollywood reporters they said they believed they had signed a contract that would allow them both to appear in the MCU film, as well as further appearances of the character (action figures, games) $25,000 each should contribute. they would have received only $5,000.
According to Jones, he and his colleague are no isolated casesbecause this procedure should at Marvel have method: “Having spoken to a number of artists, Marvel’s financial offerings seem like a lure of sorts.” As he goes on to say, the totals would then gradually more and more shortened.
In this regard, Grayson adds that such a contract would clear terms of payment as well as related totals. In her case would have the film appearance should bring her 25,000 US dollars. For Yelena Belova’s appearance in a TV series would have been $2,000 (more than 30 minutes runtime) or $1,000 (up to 30 minutes runtime).
Furthermore, there are agreements for merchandise items given. Would be a action figure released in a year, Marvel would pay $5,000. It would be $10,000 for two figures and $25,000 for three or more. For the Appearance in a video game An amount of US$ 30,000 is planned, which will be divided among all creators of the included figures.
But how come now to that grayson and jones significantly less money received for Yelena Belova’s MCU debut in Black Widow? According to the Hollywood Reporter, the contract contains a clause that Marvel a great discretion would allow the company to end up making the payments to the creators reduce drastically could.
For example, the group could split the agreed $25,000 between the two creators of a character. It would even be possible for such an amount divided among the inventors of all characters appearing in the film, whereby each person would receive only a fraction. In the case of the MCU film, this would be characters like Red Guardian or Melina Vostokoff include.
However, according to a Marvel source, in such cases it would no real upper limit. Accordingly, it would be conceivable that the company to the data subjects as a whole pay out more than just $25,000. However, exact amounts were not given.
It also notes another way Marvel is said to be driving down its potential cost of appearing with such characters. Should a figure in less than 15% of the term of a film, this would happen as a cameo classified, for which the creators would be entitled to less money. An example of such a case would be Captain America’s role in Avengers: Infinity War.
Additionally, within the article with regard to Special character agreements of this kind a so-called non-disclosure agreement (NDA), i.e. a non-disclosure agreement. This is intended to prevent the inventors of a character from expressing themselves in such cases.
An author who recently violated such a requirement was Joe Casey. He has the young Marvel heroine America Chavez, which premiered in comics in 2011. However, for her appearance in the MCU blockbuster “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”. received no payment (via The Hollywood Reporters).
At that time, Casey explained, already the sums themselves are problematic. As he explains, $5,000 would certainly seem like a lot of money to young, up-and-coming talent. “It’s an insult to many of us who have been in the business for decades”he continued in this regard.
But back to the Yelena Belova creators: As the character famously in the Hawkeye series celebrated his comeback, Grayson expected the $2,000 per episode agreed in the contract. However, Marvel got her instead just $300 per episode offered.
It’s not the first lawsuit Marvel has faced in recent years. Last year sued Scarlett Johansson Disney, since “Black Widow” was released at the same time as the cinema release for a fee on Disney Plus in the stream should be offered.
Reference-www.playcentral.de