‘The Pitt’ Is Not A “Derivative Work” Of ‘ER’, Warner Bros. TV Says In Response To Michael Crichton Estate Suit
Warner Bros. Television, the studio behind hit NBC medical drama ER and the upcoming Max medical drama The Pitt, has officially responded to the breach of contract lawsuit filed in August by Sherri Crichton, the widow of ER creator Michael Crichton, on behalf of John Michael Crichton Trust’s Roadrunner JMTC.
“The Pitt is a completely different show from ER,” the redacted filing says. “Plaintiff cannot use Mr. Crichton’s ER contract as a speech-stifling weapon to prevent Defendants from ever making a show about emergency medicine.”
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The motion to dismiss (you can read it here) was filed Nov. 4 by attorneys for the TV studio as well as the ER alums working on The Pitt named in Crichton’s suit, exec producer John Wells, star/exec producer Noah Wyle and writer/exec producer R. Scott Gemmill. It pushes back on the estate’s claims that “The Pitt is ER” and that WBTV and the producers proceeded to create a version of the NBC series set at an urban Pittsburgh hospital after negotiations between the two sides for an ER reboot failed, infringing on the estate’s contractual right of approval for any “derivative work.”
The studio argues that similarities between the two shows are only generic “and shared by numerous shows in the medical drama genre—like stories about emergency medicine in an urban hospital or interns overwhelmed by their new jobs—and the fact that ER and The Pitt have one actor (Wyle) in common.” (To support the latter claim, the filing notes that ER star George Clooney had previously starred in a medical show titled E/R. Both series were set at a Chicago emergency room.)
“The Pitt is not a “derivative work” of ER,” the motion says. “And it would be absurd to interpret the ER Agreement as prohibiting WBTV from ever again making a medical drama about emergency medicine (and Wyle, who was not even a party to the Agreement, from ever starring in one) without Mr. Crichton’s consent.”
The document, filed by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, has been redacted to conceal plot and character details about The Pitt, which is yet to be released. The new series is believed to take place in real time over a day in the vein of 24. The motion argues that The Pitt‘s plot, themes, dialogue, characters, mood, setting, pace and sequence are all different.
In a statement (you can read it in full below), Sherri Crichton’s spokesperson called the motion “meritless” and “a transparent attempt to dodge discovery and prevent the true facts from coming out,” and the filing’s timing on the anniversary of Michael Crichton’s death “emblematic of the studio’s callousness and utter disregard for Crichton’s legacy.”
WBTV’s filing details the studio’s failed 2021-22 negotiations with the Crichton estate for a potential ER reboot with Wells, Wyle and Gemmill, which the estate had described as “fraught with bullying and veiled threats” in its suit.
The studio called Sherri Crichton’s demands for “many millions of dollars” “exorbitant” and “unreasonable”, “well above industry standards.” WBTV claims that its monetary offers were “substantial” with “generous terms.” It also says that, to help make a deal happen, Wells offered $%M of his own money to Crichton.
Here is the statement by Sherri Crichton’s spokesperson:
“The defendants’ motion is a transparent attempt to dodge discovery and prevent the true facts from coming out. That the defendants filed their meritless motion on the anniversary of Michael Crichton’s death is emblematic of the studio’s callousness and utter disregard for Crichton’s legacy. Warner Bros. negotiated with the estate for nearly a year, knowing it could not proceed with its ER reboot without the estate’s permission. When those discussions failed, Warner Bros. slapped a new name on the series, changed its location, and proceeded anyway in clear violation of Crichton’s contract. The defendants’ last-minute attempt to rebrand their ER reboot as The Pitt is not fooling anyone. The estate looks forward to presenting its case to a jury and is confident it will prevail.”
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