PASADENA, Calif. — As time begins to draw short on negotiations between the WB and Twentieth Century Fox Television over the future of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" after this season, the talks are, perhaps, growing a bit rancorous.
Hanging over the talks is the not-so-veiled threat from Twentieth that, if the WB doesn't pony up enough money, it will move the show over to the Fox network — a threat that WB management maintains would not only hurt them but would rebound to do great damage to Twentieth.
"Our position on, really not just 'Buffy' but, in general, all of the programs is kind of the same," said the WB's CEO, Jamie Kellner. "When you build a program — a franchise — you create a partnership with somebody. And we believe that there should be some kind of equity in the relationship throughout the relationship."
And he reiterated an argument he's made several times before — that the Hollywood system where all the studios (most of which also own networks) produce shows for each other would fall apart if Fox takes "Buffy" off the WB and puts it on its own network. But Sandy Grushow, the head of both the Fox network and its television production company, scoffed at that.
"Jamie Kellner works for a company called AOL-Time Warner," Grushow said. (Which isn't exactly true — Warner Bros. has a minority interest in the WB.) "Time-Warner a couple of years ago put a gun to the head of a little company called General Electric (NBC's parent company) and extracted a $13 million-per-episode license fee for 'ER' and changed the business in doing so."
And Grushow was at least a bit unhappy that Kellner was talking to the press about the negotiations.
"Obviously, we value the relationship that we've had with the WB," Grushow said. "We have a very deep relationship with them as a studio with not just 'Buffy' on their air, but 'Angel' and 'Roswell' as well. It's our hope, it's our desire to make a new deal with them.
"Having said that, I'm honestly a little bit disappointed that Jamie decided that it was time to start negotiating in the press. Since he opened the door, I find myself in the position of having to respond, to some degree."
(Which was at least a bit unfair. Like Grushow, Kellner was simply responding to a question — he didn't bring up the subject himself. Additionally, Kellner didn't say much of anything he hasn't said before — including in interviews with the Deseret News more than a year ago.)
Both sides agreed that they'd like to make a deal, but neither predicted they'd actually consummate it.
"We would like to renew 'Buffy,' " Kellner said. "We'll make a proposal, a formal proposal, to them, which we think will be fair to them and to us. In all likelihood, where we will come out is that we will say that we will take all the revenue we can generate with 'Buffy' and we'll give it to you in a giant wheelbarrow. And if that's not enough, then take (the show) to somebody else."
But Grushow, once again, sounded less than convinced.
"If, in fact, the WB is prepared to make a quote-unquote 'fair' proposal to Twentieth Century Fox Television, then there is no reason to believe that this show isn't going to continue on the WB for many years to come," Grushow said. "I can tell you that up until this point, that has not remotely been the case."
And he added, "They don't have wheelbarrows at the WB. They have Mercedes."
"No, look, our goal is to figure out a way to make a deal with the WB," Grushow said. "We have a lot of interests to protect, including ('Buffy' creator/executive producer) Joss Whedon, who is the single most important factor in all of this. And Joss Whedon should have the opportunity to reap financial rewards for having put in five years in the creation of and running of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer.'"
While neither side sounded completely convinced that a deal can be struck, Kellner, at least, sounded hopeful.
"My bet is that a deal on that basis will be made. I think it would be hard to not agree to a deal like that. There should be some kind of element of fairness, even though you're dealing in Hollywood and people wear two hats and three hats sometimes and their interests on one hand are not served on the other hand at the end of the day. It's a small community and there's a certain point where a bit of honor has to step in and fair play," Kellner said.
E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com