From Entertainment Weekly Magazine,
August 27, 1999
Transcribed by alfornos on the DD newsgroup
It's Fox vs. Fox
by Joe Flint
In an exclusive interview, David Duchovny accuses Twentieth Century Fox
of bilking him out of X-Files profits and alleges that creator Chris Carter
is in on the conspiracy.
It's got all the makings of a great XFiles episode. Conspiracy-minded FBI
agent Fox Mulder takes on a shadowy corporation, gets betrayed by the one
man he thought he could trust, and finds himself alone searching for the
truth.
Unfortunately for David Duchovny, this isn't TV. In a multimillion-dollar
lawsuit against Twenteith Century Fox Film Corp. (a subsidiary of Rupert
Murdoch's News Corp., which produces The X Files for corporate sibling the
Fox Network), the actor claims the company cheated him out of millions in
X-Files-related profits. On top of that, Duchovny's suit alleges that X-Files
creator Chris Carter (who is not a defendant) conspired with Fox to keep
silent about the depleted profit sharing.
"I'm not looking to win the lottery," Duchovny tells EW in his first interview
since he filed the suit on Aug. 12. "I've fulfilled my contract and I want
them to fulfill theirs."
In a nutshell, Duchovny says he's a victim of synergy. He contends Fox
intentionally undersold X-Files' rights to its own affiliates (such as reruns
to its cable network FX and its local stations, as well as book rights to
Harper-Collins) in an effort to fatten the corporate bottom line at the expense
of all those with a percentage in the series.
Of course, proving Duchovny's charges could be harder than verifying an
alien-autopsy video. Yes, Fox did sell reruns of The X Files to FX in 1996,
but at the time it was for a cable record price of close to $600,000 per
episode. However, Peter Martin Nelson, one of Duchovny's lawyers, claims
that Fox never seriously shopped the show to other bidders. Indeed, a former
USA net exec says the company was willing to pay more for The X Files but
was shut out of the bidding.
Duchovny's suit is the latest example of the contentious relationship between
the creative and corporate sides of the business. In 1998, M*A*S*H star Alan
Alda brought a similar suit against Fox, accusing the studio of selling reruns
of his hit sitcom at below-market rates (the case was recently settled in
Alda's favor for an undisclosed sum). And it's not just Murdoch's company
that's coming under scrutiny. Earlier this year, the Walt Disney Company
also settled a suit with Home Improvement's Wind Dancer Production Group,
which charged the studio with cutting its sister network ABC a sweetheart
deal on the show's last two seasons. And get this: It's probably no coincidence
that the same litigator - Stanton L. Stein of the L.A. firm Alschuler Grossman
Stein & Kahan - is the man behind all three of these suits. "It's a growth
industry," cracks Stein.
He's got a point: As the entertainment industry continues to consolidate,
actors, producers, writers, and others, with a piece of a show's profits
are going to have to keep a sharp eye on this kind of in-house dealing. "This
stuff goes on every single day," says Derek Baine, a senior analyst for Paul
Kagan Associates. "But there are very few people who have the money and
wherewithal to file suit."
In Duchovny's case, the thing that surprised him most about Fox's fancy financial
footwork was Carter's apparent role as a willing dance partner: Duchovny's
legal team believes Carter has received a new-series commitment and in excess
of $30 million in "advances" - all at the expense of the actor's own cut.
"I was dismayed and disappointed," Duchovny says of Carter's alleged involvement.
He hasn't talked with Carter since filing the suit but did give the exec
producer a heads-up that it was coming. And although he's showing up at work
every day and says his legal battle has nothing to do with his feelings for
the show, the suit has left a sour taste in his mouth. "We're talking about
something I've devoted the last seven years of my life to. All my time, all
my energy. And that turns me off about the whole affair," says Duchovny.
As for his relationship with Carter, Duchovny says he hopes "Chris will be
my friend personally and professionally when this is all over."
Carter declined to comment, and all a Fox spokesperson would say is "We have
nothing but respect and appreciation for David and his talents and his
contributions to the success of The X Files. To see that he's apparently
being led by his own advisers into believing that Fox acted inappropriately
in its exploitation of the show is saddening."
Regardless of what happens, this is Duchovny's last season on The X Files.
Although he was wavering a few weeks ago, he now says: "As much as I love
the show, I think for me this will be the end. I always thought five years
was enough. Seven years is definitely enough."
As for costar Gillian Anderson, it's unclear whether she too has a piece
of the show (the actress' business manager declined to comment) - though
her contract calls for an eighth year if Carter and Fox decide to carry on
without Agent Mulder.
Duchovny says he hasn't discussed his suit with Anderson, reiterating the
point that although the two are onscreen partners, off screen they aren't
particularly close.
"The kind of illusion that everybody is best buddies and has no other cares
in the world *is* an illusion," he says. "We are separate individuals with
separate agendas, and we're all taking care of ourselves." Ain't that the
truth.
