Days' Numbered? Sony Trying To Kill Soap, Producer Says

February 12, 2019Media Mention
Law360

Corday Productions Inc., the longtime producer of “Days of our Lives,” filed a lawsuit on Monday against Sony, along with a handful of affiliated companies, claiming it effectively stopped marketing the show by rebuffing suggestions to promote it in foreign markets or distribute it through online streaming services.

Corday also claimed that Sony, which has served for decades as a distributor of "Days of our Lives," hadn’t paid its share of the soap opera’s marketing and production costs, and that it had used accounting trickery to make it appear as though Corday owes Sony money.

Corday attorney Daniel Stone of Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP told Law360 that Corday filed the suit after Sony recently attempted to halt production of “Days of our Lives” unless Corday agreed to Sony’s conditions for the next season.

Stone didn’t specify what conditions Sony wanted to impose, but the complaint gives a hint: “Sony recently insisted that, in addition to keeping all profits from the series, it should also be able to pocket a portion of the NBC license fee used to finance ‘Days of our Lives.’”

Corday asked NBC, the network that airs the show, to intervene, and production went ahead, Stone said. But, he added, “Sony trying to shut down production was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Corday is also represented by Greenberg Glusker's Pierce O'Donnell and Joshua M. Geller.