“Gilmore Girls” executive producer Gavin Polone has filed suit against Warner Bros., The CW and others, accusing them of wrongfully depriving him of money from the program, which received a Netflix revival in 2016.
“Unfortunately, Warner Bros. has not been willing to share the financial benefits flowing from ‘Gilmore Girls’ and ‘Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life’ in a fair, equitable, or contractually-mandated fashion,” the suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, reads. “Indeed, Mr. Polone repeatedly has been forced to take Warner Bros. and its affiliated companies to court to seek a just distribution of the shows’ financial rewards. After years of stonewalling in response to Mr. Polone’s latest efforts at economic and contractual justice, the Warner Bros. parties have forced Mr. Polone to seek judicial intervention once more.”
Among the accused misdeeds, according to the suit: “erroneously applying — sometimes multiple times — deductions to gross receipts for items not covered under the parties’ agreements” and “engaging in self-dealing by overstating production costs payable to affiliated entities, resulting in artificially reduced profitability.”
“Defendants have also utilized the anti-competitive practice of ‘straight-lining’ — allocating the same portion of the licensing fee to every movie or television show in a package without regard to the true value of each television show or film, which deprives profit participants of a fair allocation of the licensing fees to which they are entitled,” the suit continues.
According to the suit, the latest filing is the fourth dispute between the parties relating to the series agreement and participation payments due to Polone.
TheWrap has reached out to Warner Bros. and The CW for comment on the suit.
Accusing the parties of breach of contract, fraud and other counts, the suit seeks unspecified damages.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.