Alex Ross accuses new DC owners of cutting creator incentives for adaptations

[Holt]

In a recent podcast, Ross accuses DC of stopping then incentive payments he used to get for his work being adapted into other mediums.

After Siuntres laments how bad that is, Ross went on. “I don’t see any money for the Wonder Woman movie using my armor or, hell, I designed Batwoman for heaven sakes, and she’s got a whole damn show.”

“But you know these are some the issues that I have not working with Warner Bros. anymore. You know, they can recycle my content and they used to pay. And I’m not kidding, they paid like a year ago for different things that were kind of — “discretionary bonuses”, is how they called it. Where they give you a gift of money so that you’re not out there effectively complaining like I’m doing right now. Saying ‘Oh, I got taken advantage of.'”

“Basically, in a buildup of a lot of projects over time, particularly peaking last year with the Crisis thing, there was a lot of stuff of mine that was getting in there physically. And of course, the interpretation Mark and I did of the broken Batman we now saw portrayed by Kevin Conroy, and every fan knows where that was coming from. But we got no love from the corporation, and I have to feel, it probably revolves around the new ownership. It’s probably cut the budget of any kind of discretionary money given, so it’s a really rotten thing. I can’t root for what they did with this stuff. The most I can do for myself is [ask] whether or not I’m going to watch it.”

https://aiptcomics.com/2020/12/02/al...perman-crisis/

[Frontier]

This is an interesting contrast to Jim Starling saying he got more money for KGBeast in BvS than he did for Thanos in the MCU, but I guess it's all relative depending on the artist and what's used in the movie.

[seismic-2]

AT&T is deeply, deeply in debt. Expect them to cut everything at Warners that they can possibly cut.

[Vordan]

AT&T is deeply, deeply in debt. Expect them to cut everything at Warners that they can possibly cut.

This right here is the reason.

[Frontier]

AT&T is deeply, deeply in debt. Expect them to cut everything at Warners that they can possibly cut.

Yeah, they just lost Crunchyroll (so much for anime on HBOMax).

[Crazy Diamond]

Yeah, they just lost Crunchyroll (so much for anime on HBOMax).

With all these streaming services its becoming harder and harder to keep up with anything.

[Dioman-san]

Fu**, but WHY Warner have been buy by AT&T ? Why nobody stop a structure in debt to buy a multinational who was okay before ??

[manwhohaseverything]

Yeah, they just lost Crunchyroll (so much for anime on HBOMax).

That was stupid.especially,when ips are gonna be a big thing.studios now have the capacity to distribute there own content without third person.

[Powertool]

Fu**, but WHY Warner have been buy by AT&T ? Why nobody stop a structure in debt to buy a multinational who was okay before ??

Your second question is 100% justified, of course, but that's exactly the kind of things the American government should have looked into before it happened. And quite unfortunately, it's hard to imagine a US Presidential administration and/or Congress pushing for that kind of public interference in private business ever since... oh, 1992, I'd say.

[iron chimp]

In a recent podcast, Ross accuses DC of stopping then incentive payments he used to get for his work being adapted into other mediums.


https://aiptcomics.com/2020/12/02/al...perman-crisis/

This is an odd one.

Up to 1980s id have greatest sympathy with creators because a lot of them were very young and easy to take advantage of or longstanding pros without a union or anything to protect them.

But by alex ross's time... you are saying you signed dud contracts and arent getting payments you arent contractually obliged to... thats not smart.

Doesnt make it fair or right but...

[titanfan]

This is an odd one.

Up to 1980s id have greatest sympathy with creators because a lot of them were very young and easy to take advantage of or longstanding pros without a union or anything to protect them.

But by alex ross's time... you are saying you signed dud contracts and arent getting payments you arent contractually obliged to... thats not smart.

Doesnt make it fair or right but...

No one had any idea about the technology of the future or the ways in which their works could be consumed. Even big companies have been caught with their pants down.

I think also as DC has gotten bigger, and more works and stories get adapted, it starts to become a bigger deal to pay out stuff for every little thing. The "Crisis" arc on CW would have had to quadruple it's budget if it paid out from everything they took from.

[iron chimp]

No one had any idea about the technology of the future or the ways in which their works could be consumed. Even big companies have been caught with their pants down.

I think also as DC has gotten bigger, and more works and stories get adapted, it starts to become a bigger deal to pay out stuff for every little thing. The "Crisis" arc on CW would have had to quadruple it's budget if it paid out from everything they took from.

Bu the time alex ross was on the scene a good number of ceeators were walking out the comic shop very wealthy people just from the books. The warnings were there too from alan moore and a bit later from leifeld, macfarlane etc.

At that point you definitely needed lawyers etc to do your contracts and management to basically protect yourself from the companies before you even started working for them as would be standard practise for a musician or author or film maker or any other art.

I dont know... its odd one. Why on earth are you signing contracts with companies where amorphous discretionary payments in the 1990s are a thing. But then why on earth are you offering contracts to creators where non specific discretionary payments are a thing.

It sounds shady to have that as a thing in the first place rather than decide later not to pay a non contractual obligation.

[HsssH]

No one had any idea about the technology of the future or the ways in which their works could be consumed.

But that is how things always are. For example we have no real idea how entertainment industry will look in 20 years, should writers/artists of today should be compensated for that somehow?

[skyvolt2000]

But that is how things always are. For example we have no real idea how entertainment industry will look in 20 years, should writers/artists of today should be compensated for that somehow?

There were still examples out there to warn Alex.

See the mess with Superman-how long was that lawsuit going?

Black Lightning says hello. There is a reason we didn't see him on Superfriends or animated until McDuffie's Crisis on Earth dvd.

You don't see the Ultraverse running around. Excluding Jones and a few others-everyone behind that is dead now.

Archie can't use The Fly anymore. Jim Simon's estate got that back.

Archie has WRONG many folks in terms of money. Not just Dan Decarlo but many creators including Tom Deflaco. Whose work did NOT get credited in some books. Tom has Betty & Veronica books-we just don't know how many. Also I can point out stories that were EDITED by someone else and took credit for it. Amazing Chuck Clayton can be in a Archie story from 1950 but he was created in 1970s. Or his hair style can change in the same story reprinted 5 times. I know because I OWN the original story the comic came from and 3 digests that reprinted them.

There is a REASON Milestone did not sell Static to DC.

Compensation is just that compensation. You can put provisions in a contract to cover 20 years into the future. Have something in place to have the contract reviewed if new technology arrives.

[John Venus]

He's not saying he didn't get paid at all, he is saying that he used to get paid when they adapt his ideas but now they've stopped paying him and so he is speaking out. In his own statement, he mentions the corporate restructuring as the probable cause and most of us know about the editorial bloodbath that happened this year. So it's not surprising that they cut off incentive payments as well.