Author Rosalind Wiseman has watched as “Mean Girls” became a worldwide cultural phenomenon.
She must be thrilled that her book, “Queen Bees and Wannabes,” was become a success movie, then a Broadway musical — and now the musical is to be become a movie too.
But while author and producer Tina Fey and Paramount Pictures have made thousands and thousands out of the franchise, Wiseman has made just over $400,000 after signing a deal to sell her film rights back in 2002, and never a cent since.
Now, she is speaking out against a real-life Mean Girls culture and the “painful experience” that has stopped her from getting her alleged dues — revealing Paramount has even told her the studio has not made any take advantage of the franchise.
Her lawyers are preparing to take motion, and she or he told The Post exclusively: “We have now reached out to Paramount to have things be more equitable, but Paramount just isn’t focused on that.”
It’s taken rather a lot for Wiseman, 54, to hit back. “For thus long I used to be so quiet about it, so, so quiet, but I just feel just like the hypocrisy is simply too much,” she said.
“I believe it’s fair for me to have the ability to get compensated in a roundabout way for the work that has modified our culture and adjusted the zeitgeist.
“Over time Tina’s spoken so eloquently about women supporting other women, nevertheless it’s gotten increasingly clear to me that, in my very own personal experience, that’s not going to be the experience. You don’t just speak about supporting women, you truly do it.”
Wiseman met Fey, the primary female head author on “Saturday Night Live,” in 2002 after the comedy star signed a development cope with Paramount.
Fey asked to purchase the film rights to “Queen Bees,” which guides parents on navigate the rocky world of sweet sixteen girls and their friendships, after reading Wiseman’s Recent York Times Magazine cover story.
“After I went to satisfy Tina and Lorne Michaels [‘SNL’ boss and ‘Mean Girls’ producer] a few years ago, it was very much a ‘we’re doing this together’ form of experience,” said Wiseman, who selected Fey above multiple other film offers.
Fey turned the book right into a blockbuster film starring Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried, Rachel McAdams and Lacey Chabert, also taking a job herself. Wiseman consulted on the movie.
Released on April 30, 2004, “Mean Girls” was a surprise hit and grossed $130 million worldwide. It had a $17 million budget, which then was doubled to incorporate marketing and PR costs.
“We created this thing, Tina took my words, she did a rare job with it,” Wiseman saids. “She brought it to life and the fabric has been used and recycled for the last 20 years.
“I’m clearly recognized and acknowledged by Tina because the source material, the inspiration. I’m recognized and yet I deserve nothing?”
Wiseman added: “For me, having a female author and never having that occur has not only been difficult due to the money, nevertheless it’s also been painful, very painful.
“It’s really what my work has been about, especially ‘Mean Girls.’ Women don’t should be best friends — we will get mad at one another, but when it comes right down to it we want to really support one another.” Referring to Fey, she said: “That has been especially hard as a author to author.”
In signing her original contract, Wiseman signed away in perpetuity all rights to original motion pictures and derivative works, including musicals and TV projects — although she said there was no discussion of every other projects on the time.
“Simply because you’ll be able to doesn’t make it right,” she said. “Yes, I had a terrible contract, terrible, however the movie has made a lot money, they usually keep recycling my work over and once more, so to not even consider me … “
To make matters more infuriating, Wiseman claimed, Paramount insists it has made no money from the franchise.
Her original contract included net profit points — that’s, extra money depending on how well the movie fares on the box office.
Nevertheless, the studio has continually told her they’ve made no net profits from “Mean Girls” and have actually incurred a lot extra cost there’s nothing left to share together with her. Wiseman’s lawyers now need to audit Paramount’s books.
Wiseman’s lawyer, Ryan Keech, told the Post: “I think most individuals can be shocked at how shabbily Rosalind Wiseman has been treated. And properly so. It’s nothing wanting shameful for an organization with the resources of Paramount to go to the lengths to which it has gone to disclaim Ms. Wiseman what she is fairly entitled to for having created what has turn out to be probably the most iconic entertainment franchises of the last 25 years.”
The Post has reached out to Fey and Paramount for comment.
Speaking from her Boulder, Colorado, home, Wiseman, a mom of two grown sons, told The Post that a theater producer had reached out to her many years ago about making a “Mean Girls” musical. Her agent contacted Fey and Paramount, asking if she could go ahead, but was told no.
Wiseman alleged that as an alternative Paramount used the request from the agent to stop her from being paid for the musical, by claiming that it meant she was aware she had no ownership of the rights.
“What’s hard is that they used my name within the Playbill,” Wiseman said. “And Tina, in her interviews, said I used to be the inspiration and the source, but there was no payment.”
Nevertheless, she did work with Fey on producing an academic program for top schoolers doing their very own productions of the musical and worked with solid and crew — for which she has never been paid, Wiseman said.
“When the musical was coming out, I approached Tina and said that is an incredible opportunity to speak about bullying, to assist parents confer with kids. She agreed and I did a workshop with the solid and the crew about bullying because they were going to get inundated with kids who were talking to them about their stories.
“I gave Tina so many notes as I knew high schools are going to make use of “Mean Girls” for his or her school musicals and I believed we were working towards this education program.”
You don’t just speak about supporting women, you truly do it.
Rosalind Wiseman
The last time that Wiseman saw Fey, 52, was on April 8, 2018 — the night of the Broadway premiere, with guests including Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld, Jimmy Fallon, Ellie Kemper, Titus Burgess and Alec and Hilaria Baldwin.
The party was held at TAO downtown with an expansion of kalbi sirloin and Peking duck, roasted cod and spring rolls, plus brownies packaged as Queen Bee Regina George’s favorite Kälteen Bars for dessert.
But this was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Wiseman, who said, “There was a moment for me, I used to be at this incredible party and I’m pondering how much money this party will need to have cost, probably greater than I used to be paid.
“There have been all these Paramount execs who had no idea who I used to be and I’m just walking around going, ‘Wow, wow.’ I had to go away.
“I noticed that night that nothing was going to occur with the tutorial program and that made me really offended. That’s after I reached out to my lawyers they usually pushed Paramount and said, ‘How are you going to be doing this to her?’”
The author claimed: “They never compensated me for the work I did, they never compensated me for the training I did for the solid and the crew.”
As Page Six revealed, 4 of the unique “Mean Girls” stars were in talks to seem in the brand new movie, but were left upset over Paramount’s “disrespectful” money offer.
McAdams — who played Regina George — was alleged to play “cool mom” June George, originally played by Amy Poehler. The role has now been taken by Busy Philipps, while the opposite actresses reportedly desired to make cameo appearances.
Asked in regards to the movie on the SAG Awards last month, Seyfried admitted: “I’m still hoping for a miracle. It’s not likely as much as us, is it?”
Wiseman said, “After I read in regards to the actresses supporting one another, I actually thought ‘that’s what this movie is about. They knew they were stronger together than apart.”
Wiseman, whose last book “Courageous Discomfort: How you can Have Essential, Brave, Life-Changing Conversations about Race and Racism,” was released in October, only heard in regards to the latest movie a couple of months ago within the press. She was not contacted by Fey, who’s producing, writing and co-starring within the project.
“For quite a lot of reasons I didn’t come forward for some time and one in every of the explanations for all of those years —because I used to be so focused on me not whining or attempting to trash Tina,” she said. “That’s just not who I’m and it’s almost disrespectful to the content of what we were doing. I just felt so trapped.
“But additionally, I feel really strongly once you’re able of power and privilege that you may have a responsibility to share that to create equity.”
