VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Tom Test · DC Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 629 Location: Chicago, IL

This caught my eye!

"She and her family were pressured into signing an unfair contract quickly, without consulting a lawyer, and then were subject to "three and a half years of exploitation and lies," according to her suit. Filed Wednesday, it seeks unspecified damages.

While she made $5,115 per episode, she wasn't paid or was grossly undercompensated for at least 160 extra hours of recording work, and at least 400 hours of promotions, marketing and interviews, her lawsuit said. While traveling the country to talk up the show, she got only $40 a day, it said.

She also wasn't paid her due share of profits from Dora merchandise and her residuals, or rerun fees, for at least 325 airings of her "Dora" episodes – even as Nickelodeon executives told her she'd played a big role in the show's success, according to her lawsuit. One said there had never been "a more high-profile face to a voice," the lawsuit said."

I can't judge if she has a legitimate lawsuit or not, but it looks like she was treated poorly from this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20101007/us-dora-the-explorer-lawsuit/
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Bruce · Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 6:01 pm Post subject:

Dumb parents, dumb Nikelodeon, happy lawyers.

B
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JBarrett · Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:40 pm Post subject:

Dora explores the judicial system. Pity.
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Moe Egan · Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 5:23 am Post subject:

And the take away from this, so we're all on the same page and able to bring our careers to the next level -

Caveat Vox
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Michael Schoen · Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:08 am Post subject:

This is a bad lawsuit on so many levels.
1. No one could have known how successful "Dora the Explorer" would be. Both parties signed the deal with eyes wide open.
2. Now that the deal is done, 14 year old Caitlin could try to add on to her career based on her initial success -- but instead chose to litigate.
3. You cannot believe the claims in a lawsuit -- lawyers go wide at the start.

I expect Nick will settle -- so she'll get a few more bucks -- but the process is bound to be painful...and could hamper her future efforts so she will have peaked at the age of 14.

In terms of "promises" made -- if it's not in the contract it will be hard to prove.
Do you really think they were "under duress" when they signed? I suspect they were thrilled to do it.
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craigcrumpton · Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:27 pm Post subject:

Michael Schoen · Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:33 pm Post subject:

Craig,
I don't think you are nitpicking -- I wasn't aware it was the second Dora.
Nonetheless -- I am sure they were falling all over themselves to get the gig -- and now that it's over, they are raising objection.
Totally agree parents should have had someone smart look at the deal -- but I am guessing if they asked for too much, there would have been a different Dora... and it was and will always be a buyer's market.
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craigcrumpton · Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:50 pm Post subject:

Yep, Sanchez was essentially being hired non-union for a soundalike gig, and if the agent/parents had held out for residuals and such, Nick would have kept looking until they found someone to work for *their* price.

And I would have personally been overjoyed with $5100 per episode for a soundalike, although the role was worth so much more than that. But I still would have had lawyers scrutinize the contract terms and maybe even gotten a different agent to negotiate if need be.
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Michael Schoen · Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:53 pm Post subject:

We agree Craig.
Sometimes you think you are worth X and you agent tells you the market will only bear Y. The agent is usually right.
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Bruce · Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 4:58 am Post subject:

As I read this article, an agent was not brought in to the process. The better/smarter production companies insist on talent getting an agent just to avoid problems like this. Even though it costs them more initially, it saves their bacon later as in this brouhaha.

A handshake and a smile have a higher potential for failure the higher the dollar figures get in any business.

Speaking of "child" stars succeeding through agents, Angus T. Jones, who plays the "half" on the show Two and a Half Men, just cut a deal for $300,000 an episode (x26) for two years, plus a half million dollar signing bonus. He's now 17.

B
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Michael Schoen · Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 11:09 pm Post subject:

Plus Angus will be getting checks for years as the show plays 5 days a week in syndication.
It's always good to be a cast member in a long running show.
Some years ago we were looking at houses in L-A -- and came across a nice one in the Hollywood Hills, not far from where we actually ended up. Views included the Hollywood sign. Typical multi level decks and a pool.
But the layout was a little strange and the rooms too small for our outsized furniture.
But something was strange. Pictures of Tony Danza and Judy Lite were everywhere along with other cast members from "Who's the Boss."
Turns out the guy selling the home was one of the original creators of that successful sitcom and he was moving back home to Massachusetts -- and out of Hollywood he had made so much money.
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Mike Sommer · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 7:31 pm Post subject: Dora the Extorter!!!

Now she's breaking out the baseball bat/

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/12/2010-10-12_dora_the_explorer_voice_caitlin_sanchez_sets_deadline_for_nickelodeon_to_reach_c.html

It kind of serves Viacom and other Studio executives right for paying unconscionably huge loads of cash and perks to hire Big Name Celebrities to appear in their feature animated cartoon, instead of using real Professional Voice Talent for their Star Character roles.

But I still think she a bit of a whiner: Her contract is not usual for a regular TV animation Day Player. And those promotional junkets are catered from start to finish. It's like an all expense paid, working vacation, with fine rooms, food and handlers.
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