Guild Wins Late Pay Interest From Disney Dashboard Dashboard

Guild secures largest interest-only settlement in its history.

The WGAW’s legal team recently reached a $5.25 million settlement with Disney for interest owed on late paid residuals for five Fox animated series: The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show, and Futurama. Over 250 affected writers have already received checks for their portions of the interest collected.

In 2017, a rolling tri-Guild audit revealed that Fox had failed to make certain residuals payments on these series. After the WGAW contacted Fox, the studio found that an internal error had led to a widespread failure to pay the residuals for reuse in the foreign free television markets over several years. Fox paid millions of dollars in late paid residuals to the Guild in 2018, which was then distributed to the credited writers.

The Guild followed this action with a claim for the interest owed on these late payments and set the arbitration for early March 2020. Despite some resistance from Disney, including an attempt to delay the hearing, the company ultimately agreed to pay the entire amount due and the writers received $5.25 million in interest.

The Guild aggressively pursues interest when writers are not paid on time. If you are not paid within seven days of commencement of writing, delivery of a step, your weekly services, or when your residuals are due, interest on the late payment accrues at a rate up to 18% per year.

Contact the Late Pay Desk to report a late payment and speak with someone from the WGAW Legal Department.