Emily Deschanel and Bones costar David Boreanaz have filed a lawsuit against Fox, claiming that the network owes them millions.
Deschanel and Boreanaz are joined by forensic anthropologist and author Kathy Reichs, whose novels serve as the basis for the popular show. According to Variety, they are accusing Fox of engaging “in a systematic and pervasive effort to cheat them out of profits.”
From Variety:
The most recent lawsuit claims that even as the series became more profitable for Fox, accounting statements issued by the studio “counter-intuitively shows plaintiffs falling farther and farther away from achieving profits.”
According to the lawsuit, Reichs, a forensic anthropologist on whose novels the series was based, was promised a 5% share of the profits for her rights as well as producing services. Deschanel and Boreanaz were entitled to 3% of the profits.
More on the lawsuit from The Hollywood Reporter:
In the new complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, the trio claim Fox has underpaid them through accounting tricks and “vertical integration,” in which a company’s production division licenses a show at an artificially discounted rate to the company’s affiliated distribution channel. They also claim Fox fraudulently accounted for revenue, employed strong-arm tactics to lower license fees to the point that the series never showed a profit, and withheld key documents that would help them better ascertain the extent to which they are owed money.
Booth and Brennan get their boots on for an all new episode of #Bones on December 10th at 8/7c. pic.twitter.com/mZehD9jTF0
— BONES (@BONESonFOX) December 1, 2015
Fox hasn’t commented on the lawsuit.
Bones is currently in its 11th season.