Bermudian filmmaker says studio admits owing him $2.6m for beloved seasonal specials but ...
Bah humbug! Stingiest firm in Tinsel Town refuses to pay up
by Clare O'Connor
THE iconic Bermudian filmmaker responsible for such Christmas television classics as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman is not a jolly happy soul this holiday season as he battles international media giant Warner Bros for millions of dollars of past-due payments.
Harrington Sound resident Arthur Rankin, one half of animation powerhouse Rankin/Bass, is fighting the entertainment giant for $2.6 million owed to his company over the past two decades.
The dispute arose when popular 1980s cartoon ThunderCats was re-released recently as a DVD box set by Warner Bros, which owns the distribution rights to that and 21 other Rankin/Bass titles. The box set went on to sell over a million copies, prompting Mr. Rankin to wonder about profits owed to him and his colleagues.
"Sales were jumping off the charts," said Mr. Rankin in an exclusive interview with the Mid-Ocean News.
"But Warner Bros said they didn't have any accounting on it except that they'd sold a million copies. My legal team started investigating and found out that for the last 20 years they've been deducting handling fees of $200,000 annually."
Mr. Rankin explained that while Warner Bros readily admits an accounting error resulting in $2.6 million of improper deductions, they claim he caught the mistake too late.
"They knew it was wrong, but said that because it has been so long, the statute of limitations has kicked in. You would imagine that Warner Bros, which makes an awful lot of money with our productions would say, 'We're sorry about our mistake. Here's what we owe you'."
Mr. Rankin's Los Angeles-based legal team has been fighting for rightful compensation for months, and is now taking the case to the court of public opinion - just in time for Christmas, when Rankin/Bass' animated specials will repeatedly feature on TV schedules worldwide.
He intends to use the annual media interest in his animated shows to his advantage, as he explained in a letter to John Schulman, executive vice-president and general counsel at Warner Bros.
"At the outset of the Christmas season, countless national newspapers and media outlets contact me for interviews," Mr. Rankin wrote. "While WB invokes its Statute of Limitations excuse, I will defend myself via the media."
Mr. Rankin along with American partner Jules Bass paved the way for widespread commercial acceptance of stop-motion animation in the 1960s. His best-known creation, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, is the longest-running, highest-rated TV special ever, having debuted in 1964. Other well-known Rankin/Bass seasonal specials include A Year Without Santa Claus, Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail and The Stingiest Man In Town, an adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
Mr. Rankin intends to keep fighting Warner Bros until the $2.6 million deductions are repaid, no matter how long it takes.
In his letter to Mr. Schulman, he revealed plans to co-opt some of the press attention Warner Bros will receive in advance of the planned release of a feature film version of his classic cartoon ThunderCats in 2010.
"When WB readies the PR for its ThunderCats Movie I will again be vocal about the facts of this situation," he wrote.
The Bermudian filmmaker reminded Mr. Schulman and his colleagues that Rankin/Bass' creations have been putting coins in Warner Bros' coffers for decades.
"I am neither a lawyer nor an accountant, but I am Arthur Rankin, the founder of Rankin/Bass," he wrote.
"We created iconic programmes like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman as well as ThunderCats which is bolstering your home video division."
In the meantime, Mr. Rankin hopes the positive messages of his animated seasonal specials will get through to the Warner Bros executives withholding payment.
"If you take something by mistake, you put it back," he said. "You don't get to keep it. We put those kinds of ethics into our shows for children. Maybe the folks at Warner Bros should watch a few of them."
He added, in his letter to Mr. Schulman and Warner Bros, that he would pull no punches in reaching out to the media - and Rankin/Bass' large online fan base - should the company refuse to repay the $2.6m.
"I will tell them the truth and allow the Rankin/Bass web site and the many, many bloggers access to the facts," he wrote.
"When you take what is not yours, you need to give it back. This common tenet is lost on your team, and so my options reduce to a precious few. I will exercise those options to the fullest. This I promise you."
