Friday, March 29, 2024

Gabrielle Union Sues BET over ‘Being Mary Jane’ Contract

Actress Gabrielle Union attends 'The Birth Of A Nation' International Premiere screening during the 60th BFI London Film Festival at Odeon Leicester Square on October 11, 2016 in London, England.
Actress Gabrielle Union attends ‘The Birth Of A Nation’ International Premiere screening during the 60th BFI London Film Festival at Odeon Leicester Square on October 11, 2016 in London, England.

*Things are not going smoothly between BET and one of its biggest stars.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, “Being Mary Jane” star Gabrielle Union is accusing the network of using trickery to try and squeeze out more episodes per season than her contract allows.

According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Union claims BET agreed it would never produce more than 13 episodes per season, but is now trying to tape two 10-episode seasons back-to-back to “cram all of the episodes into a single season in order to fraudulently extend the term of Ms. Union’s contract.”

Union’s attorney Martin Singer claims the network is combining seasons four and five to avoid paying his client’s contractual raise and to extend its option to engage her services for another year. Under her contract, Union is set to receive $150,000 per episode for season four and $165,000 per episode for season five.

The actress is suing the network and Breakdown Productions for breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation.

According to THR, Union was content with her film career and hesitant to commit to a TV series when BET first approached her to star in “Being Mary Jane.” BET’s then-general counsel Darrell Walker assured Union’s reps that she wouldn’t be required to appear in more than 13 episodes per season — but a corporate policy required her performer agreement to include a provision allowing for a minimum of 10 episodes and a maximum of 26.

BET produced just eight episodes in the first season and 12 in the second. This prompted Union’s representatives to renegotiate her contract so she would be paid for 13 episodes, even if BET didn’t order that many. In 2015, her contract was amended again to include an executive producer credit and to require that at Union’s request a BET executive be physically on set during taping, according to the complaint. The suit also claims that Walker has been appointed the executive on set despite no longer being a BET employee and having no authority to act in response to production issues.

After season three wrapped in June 2015, the series lost its showrunner. So season four didn’t start filming until last month. Union wasn’t notified until a week before principal photography began that BET planned to shoot all 20 episodes as season four.

Union never would have agreed to star in “Being Mary Jane” if BET executives hadn’t assured her they’d shoot no more than 13 episodes, according to the complaint. She’s seeking damages of at least $1 million and an order that her contract be amended to reflect that there be a maximum of 13 episodes per season.

BET has yet to respond to the lawsuit.

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