Mean Girls’ Author Rosalind Wiseman Claims Tina Fey Paid Her Nothing Post The Massive Success Of The Franchise(Photo Credit –Poster From Movie/wikimedia)
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Author Rosalind Wiseman’s book ‘Queen Bees and Wannabees’ turned into a hit movie, a Broadway musical and now the musical is turning into a movie too. However, when the author is supposed to be happy about it, she claims that she wasn’t given a cent for her book’s contribution to the huge success of the franchise. While Tina Fey and Paramount earned millions, Rosalind signed the deal to give away the rights for only $400,000. Scroll below to get the scoop.
The author revealed the ‘mean’ culture of the industry as she didn’t get her alleged dues from the franchise. She even mentioned how Paramount claimed that the studio didn’t earn any profit from the film.
Rosalind Wiseman is now fighting for her alleged dues from the Mean Girls‘ success and told The New York Post, “We have reached out to Paramount to have things be more equitable, but Paramount is not interested in that.” She further said, “For so long I was so quiet about it, so, so quiet, but I just feel like the hypocrisy is too much. I think it’s fair for me to be able to get compensated in some way for the work that has changed our culture and changed the zeitgeist.”
Mean Girls’ book writer Rosalind Wiseman further pointed fingers at Tina Fey and said, “Over the years Tina’s spoken so eloquently about women supporting other women, but it’s gotten increasingly clear to me that, in my own personal experience, that’s not going to be the experience. You don’t just talk about supporting women, you actually do it.”
Talking about how Rosalind met Tina Fey, she shared how Tina used her words and brought her characters to life and did a great job with it. However, she still can’t believe that she deserved the credit but not the money. She said, “When I went to meet Tina and Lorne Michaels [‘SNL’ boss and ‘Mean Girls’ producer] many years ago, it was very much a ‘we’re doing this together’ kind of experience. We created this thing, Tina took my words, she did an extraordinary job with it. I’m clearly recognized and acknowledged by Tina as the source material, the inspiration. I’m recognized and yet I deserve nothing?”
She further claimed, “For me, having a female writer and not having that happen has not only been difficult because of the money, but it’s also been painful, very painful.”
“It’s really what my work has been about, especially ‘Mean Girls.’ Women don’t have to be best friends — we can get mad at each other, but when it comes down to it we need to actually support each other. That has been especially hard as a writer to writer,” referring to Fey she mentioned.
It definitely had hurt Rosalind Wiseman in every sense, as she thought she was as much involved in the franchise as Tina fey was. Wiseman’s lawyer Ryan Keech told the Post, “I suspect most people would be shocked at how shabbily Rosalind Wiseman has been treated. And properly so. It is nothing short of shameful for a company with the resources of Paramount to go to the lengths to which it has gone to deny Ms. Wiseman what she is fairly entitled to for having created what has become one of the most iconic entertainment franchises of the last 25 years.”
Well, now, we just have to wait and see how Tina Fey and Paramount react to all these claims and work on it further. What do you think? Let us know!
