EXCLUSIVE: In a extremely uncommon scenario, ABC is getting ready to foot a invoice price greater than $460,000 to make sure that contestants on sport present Fortunate 13 obtain the winnings they’re owed.
Although it’s below no authorized obligation to take action, the Disney-owned community is near finalizing an settlement below which Fortunate 13 winners will obtain their prize pots after the messy demise of the sequence hosted by Shaquille O’Neal and Gina Rodriguez.
Fortunate 13 was fortunate by title, however not fortunate by nature for these concerned within the making of the present, which aired on ABC final yr below a novel greenlight mannequin. UK producer Studio 1 pre-funded Fortunate 13 in return for a share of ABC’s promoting and product placement gross sales, however income fell nicely wanting projections and the present was not renewed for a second season.
Fortunate 13 Holdings and Studio 13 Leisure, the particular goal firms Studio 1 set as much as home Fortunate 13, successfully declared chapter, leaving contractors — together with hosts O’Neal and Rodriguez — out of pocket by at the least $500,000.
Studio 1 was additionally answerable for paying winnings to contestants, however Deadline understands that members haven’t obtained their money prizes amid the monetary strife.
13 individuals walked away from Fortunate 13 with prizes totaling $461,500. The most important prize received on the present was $125,000, whereas the smallest was $3,750. Sources stated contestants ought to have been paid inside 120 days of their look. The ultimate episode of the sequence aired on September 19, which was 138 days in the past.
Disney is now stepping in to proper this incorrect. “ABC is simply the home licensee, however once we realized that Studio 1 wouldn’t meet these obligations, ABC entered into negotiations to ensure the contestants receives a commission,” an ABC supply stated. “We’re nonetheless engaged on that settlement, however are assured that will probably be finalized quickly.”
Studio 1 declined to remark. Adrian Woolfe, Studio 1’s CEO, stated final yr that he was restructuring the corporate to “defend the worth of the now-proven Fortunate 13 IP.” Menzies, the UK accountancy firm overseeing the Fortunate 13 Holdings and Studio 13 Leisure administration course of, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Fortunate 13 examined contestants’ data with 13 true-or-false trivia questions however with a twist: simply how nicely do they know what they know — and, simply as importantly, how nicely do they know what they don’t know? In the event that they precisely predicted how efficiently they’ve answered 13 questions, they may take house a $1M money jackpot.
It turned ABC’s most-watched summer time sequence premiere when it launched final July with 2.7M viewers. Fortunate 13’s season finale was additionally ranked No. 1 in its time interval.
Woolfe created the present and served as showrunner. Actor Kevin Bacon was an government producer alongside Mark Wells, Glenn Coomber, Aaron Stone, Alastair Burlingham, Gary Raskin, David Schiff, Scott Henry, and GW Wright. O’Neal government produced alongside Colin Smeeton and Michael Parris for his Jersey Legends Productions, whereas Rodriguez government produced through her I Can & I Will Productions.