Disney Has Stolen Royalties From George Lucas’ Ghost Writer For ‘Star Wars’

Alan Dean Foster is a name that would likely be familiar to avid readers of Star Wars novels. In fact, he was the ghost writer for the first novel ever made for the franchise, which was the original film's novelization, released in November 1976 (six months ahead of the film's release. He later wrote the first Expanded Universe novel, 1978's Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which was based on ideas from George Lucas for a low budget Harrison Ford-less sequel film that could have been made had the original film not been successful. 2002 saw the release of Foster's The Approaching Storm, which preceded the release of Attack of the Clones and explains the "border dispute on Ansion."

After the 2012 sale of the franchise to Lucasfilm, Foster returned to pen the novelization for 2015's The Force Awakens. He also wrote a short story about minor character Grummgar titled "Bait" for Star Wars Insider 162 around that time. Since then, he has not had further contributions to Star Wars, but now it appears that Disney is rubbing him the wrong way.

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America website shared Alan Dean Foster's open letter to Disney, whom Foster addresses as "Mickey." He expresses displeasure over no longer being paid royalties for the original Star Wars novelization and Splinter of the Mind's Eye, despite them still being in print. He also mentions Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox, and how Disney has never paid him for his novelizations of Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3. The letter continues to talk about NDA's:

"You want me to sign an NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) before even talking. I’ve signed a lot of NDAs in my 50-year career. Never once did anyone ever ask me to sign one prior to negotiations. For the obvious reason that once you sign, you can no longer talk about the matter at hand. Every one of my representatives in this matter, with many, many decades of experience in such business, echo my bewilderment."

Foster continues to say that Disney has ignored his questions from his agents, his legal representatives, and the SFWA. He also expressed concern over the possibility that something like this could be happening with other writers who have done work with Disney. Foster goes on to mention his and his wife's medical issues:

"My wife has serious medical issues and in 2016 I was diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer. We could use the money. Not charity: just what I’m owed. I’ve always loved Disney. The films, the parks, growing up with the Disneyland TV show. I don’t think Unca Walt would approve of how you are currently treating me. Maybe someone in the right position just hasn’t received the word, though after all these months of ignored requests and queries, that’s hard to countenance. Or as a guy named Bob Iger said…. 'The way you do anything is the way you do everything.'"

Other authors have rallied behind Foster over on Twitter, where #DisneyMustPay was trending. On the SFWA page itself, president Mary Robinette Kowal writes the following:

"The larger problem has the potential to affect every writer. Disney’s argument is that they have purchased the rights but not the obligations of the contract. In other words, they believe they have the right to publish work, but are not obligated to pay the writer no matter what the contract says. If we let this stand, it could set precedent to fundamentally alter the way copyright and contracts operate in the United States. All a publisher would have to do to break a contract would be to sell it to a sibling company."

Kowal goes on to assert that, in order to resolve a breach of contract, Disney needs to pay Foster all back royalties and future royalties, and perhaps even cease publication of his works until a new contract is signed.

According to New York Post, Disney mentioned having been in talks with Foster since last year about the Alien novels and had never before heard about any problems regarding the aforementioned Star Wars novels. Disney claimed to have reached out to Foster's team last March and not heard back. Apparently, they have sent another inquiry since the open letter was published. Disney also said that it had only asked Foster to acknowledge that their conversations would be confidential rather than sign an NDA, something that they claim to be standard practice when it comes to negotiations.

People are used to thinking of Disney as this perfect magical thing, but it is a corporation that can make missteps. And missteps need to be fixed. Especially when they pertain to the people who contributed to the works on which the company profits.