Big Chief Studios - 1/6 Doctor Who - #10 David Tennant

[Captain Britain]

I would be surprised if Eccleston did decide to do it. He keeps such a distance between himself and Dr. Who.

He might do it if BC offered to donate a couple of grand towards a drama school scholarship.

 

[Niceman]

He might do it if BC offered to donate a couple of grand towards a drama school scholarship.

I hope he does. I suspect he won't.

 

[DGTWoodward]

Can a company monopolise a person's likeness rights in perpetuity, as has been suggested? In just about everything else, the possession of such rights is only legal for a fixed period of time.

It seems odd that David Tennant should now (at best) own only a 50% share of his own likeness, and ongoing for the rest of his life? No, that just cannot be right.

 

[pixletwin]

Likeness rights only apply as they pertain to a certain character. BBC owns the rights to Tennant's likeness in the role as the Tenth Doctor. But that can't stop him from, say, allowing Kaustic Plastic to use his likeness to make generic David Tennant dolls.

 

[kl241]

Eccleston is a ****.

 

[DGTWoodward]

Eccleston is a ****.

A bit harsh.

 

[DGTWoodward]

Likeness rights only apply as they pertain to a certain character. BBC owns the rights to Tennant's likeness in the role as the Tenth Doctor. But that can't stop him from, say, allowing Kaustic Plastic to use his likeness to make generic David Tennant dolls.

So they could OK a BCS figure of Doctor #9 (Chris E's) without his approval, and he would have nothing to say over it? No that cannot be correct either.

 

[pixletwin]

So they could OK a BCS figure of Doctor #9 (Chris E's) without his approval, and he would have nothing to say over it? No that cannot be correct either.

The final approval is in Chris' hands. Correct. We have seen examples of this with Billie Piper and her turning sculpts down with Character Options. It is the actor and their management and or estate owners who approves likenesses, not the BBC. But the actor has no say in how their image as it pertains to the BBC owned chaters is presented (ie in video or photographic mediums).

 

[kl241]

A bit harsh.

But true.

 

[Niceman]

So they could OK a BCS figure of Doctor #9 (Chris E's) without his approval, and he would have nothing to say over it? No that cannot be correct either.

It depends on his contract.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

I am quite prepared to admit if I was wrong and apologise...but as it is difficult to properly gauge emotion from a short piece of text, the usage of the word "clearly" in this context, and its general shortness...it read as negative to me.



If Doc tells me I'm wrong, I'm happy to say sorry.

Just to clear things up, I was not being negative about BCS, I was giving them a thumbs up for giving an extra 50 customers the chance to get an autograph, fortunately one of those plaques will be mine, on the day of the pre-order my laptop started playing up, and it took a while for me to get through, so I might have gotten lucky because of the extras.

 

[ProgMatinee]

It depends on his contract.

Exactly. Not all contracts are alike, even within the same film or show.

 

[Ex-Parrot]

It depends on his contract.

Exactly. It all depends on the individual contract. And depending on exactly what was negotiated at the time, contracts can vary wildly, even on the same show. Star Trek is a rather famous example of this, at least in regards to the original series and Next Generation. Things were pretty much standardised for later shows, but if you take Next Generation for example, some actors have no say whatsoever as far as their characters and likeness use for merchandising goes, while others always have to be negotiated with, because they had it written into their contracts at the time, or at the time of contract extensions/renegotiations.

However, if you play The Doctor you can bet that part of that contract would involve a perpetuity or locked in renewable option that basically allows the BBC to make use of your likeness from your time in the role for current and future merchandise and promotional use, just as a matter of course. I imagine it would just be standard expectation for undertaking the role with very little wriggle room for the actor to negotiate away from. Especially in the modern era, for a heavily merchandised property which has always remained so, even when the show wasn't being made. Though some degree of (optional) involvement in the approvals process (if an actor chose to engage it) wouldn't be unusual, either. Regardless, I doubt that Eccleston could put the kibosh on a figure of him, even if he cared to. I also doubt he'd be interested enough to care, to be honest.

Ultimately, it's all down to what was agreed to, and for how long, in the contracts that were signed. And it appears that RTD did engineer certain actor contracts during his time on the show to make them either fixed term (time on the show plus who knows how long) and/or to allow the actor to have right of refusal, at least after a certain point. Just as he went out of his way to protect Big Finish from the BBC taking back the classic series audio rights. However I doubt even he would have been allowed to do much in the case of any person actually cast as The Doctor himself. In fact, I'd be willing to bet money on it. Because the face of the show is where the real money is seen to be.

Also, from what I understand, the Piper issue has been such a pain for BBC merchandising (they have even had to change book covers on reprints because of it) that I doubt they would ever let such a contract happen again on the show either.

Of course none of us will ever see these contracts, so it's all idle speculation anyhow. But just based on empirical evidence, such as the fact that new merchandise continues to be made sporting Eccleston's likeness as The Doctor, I'd say that there is little chance that BCS can't make his Doctor along with every other one as part of their merchandising arrangement. Whether he'll be directly involved as far as a signature edition goes, that's far shakier ground. But it's still an attractive offer and easy money, so never say never, even if personally I do have my doubts. Just have to wait and see I suppose.

 

[JonWes]

Just kidding. But I really can't wait until this guy comes out.

EDIT:

Hey, look! News!

PAYMENT PLAN DETAILS

For all those who have placed a pre-order deposit for the 10th Doctor 1:6 Scale 50th Anniversary Collector Figure, we are pleased to announce that we will be making payment plans available shortly.

Given that shipping is expected around October this year, we are going to split the payments into 4 instalments, starting this month.

For customers who have ordered the Limited Edition figure the payment plan will work as follows:

Price £141.66 + VAT (if applicable)

Deposit £12.50 + VAT (if applicable)

Balance to pay £129.16 + VAT (if applicable)

July Installment 1 - £32.29 + VAT (if applicable)
August Installment 2 - £32.29 + VAT (if applicable)
September Installment 3 - £32.29 + VAT (if applicable)
October Installment 4 - £32.29 + VAT (if applicable)

The final installment will also have your shipping cost applied to the total. This amount will of course vary based on your destination country.

For customers who have ordered the Signature Edition figure the payment plan will work as follows:

Price £158.33 + VAT (if applicable)

Deposit £25.00 + VAT (if applicable)

Balance to pay £133.33 + VAT (if applicable)

July Installment 1 - £33.33 + VAT (if applicable)
August Installment 2 - £33.33 + VAT (if applicable)
September Installment 3 - £33.33 + VAT (if applicable)
October Installment 4 - £33.34 + VAT (if applicable)

The final installment will also have your shipping cost applied to the total. This amount will of course vary based on your destination country.

We will send out PayPal invoices to all those interested who have contacted so far beginning next week. If you are interested in a payment plan, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

If you are interested in paying your balance, excluding shipping, please note that we will send out a PayPal invoice for your balance due.

Thank you
BCS

 

[DGTWoodward]

All of which means a stream of cash in, which should be good for them.

 

[DGTWoodward]

Just to clear things up, I was not being negative about BCS, I was giving them a thumbs up for giving an extra 50 customers the chance to get an autograph, fortunately one of those plaques will be mine, on the day of the pre-order my laptop started playing up, and it took a while for me to get through, so I might have gotten lucky because of the extras.

Thanks DD, this once again shows that you cannot always read fully the sentiment behind plain text correctly.

My mistake, sorry.

 

[Captain Britain]

I'm finding this quite confusing - does this mean if you don't use the payment plan you have to pay in full asap, or can I wait until October when my finances will be better? Also, I wish they could tell us what the cost plus VAT would be, for those of us who have to pay it, because that's what we'll actually be paying.

 

[Doctor Who]

Anyone got their invoice yet for the 1st installment?

 

[bloodgear]

I'm finding this quite confusing - does this mean if you don't use the payment plan you have to pay in full asap, or can I wait until October when my finances will be better? Also, I wish they could tell us what the cost plus VAT would be, for those of us who have to pay it, because that's what we'll actually be paying.

No.
Payment plan - pay in installments leading up to the dispatch date.
Normal - Pay at dispatch date.
No need to pay it all now.


In the UK, SE comes in at £160 + shipping left to pay, whereas the LE comes in at £154.99 + shipping left to pay. Just with all the different VAT rates per country they've just done the generic one.

 

[dragonsleeper]

I missed out on this.... I'm a renewed Doctor Who watcher (caught the 4th Doctor as a child in the 80s, didn't understand any of it ) and just finished on 10th Doctor's first season.. Bought 11th a few days ago..cheap too at 155 shipped.

Anywhere I can get this. Will they have other distributors like the 11th?