‘Making The Band’ Lawsuit Costs Diddy, Viacom $7.5M
Diddy’s Bad Boy Records and media conglomerate Viacom have agreed to fork over $7.5 million dollars to settle a lawsuit over the MTV series “Making The Band, according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter.
A bankruptcy judge awarded the hefty sum to the bankruptcy trustee of Trans Continental Television Productions founded by Lou Pearlman. Pearlman starred, in the inaugural season of Making The Band, when the format was geared towards forming the next great boy band. The first two seasons aired on ABC before transitioning to MTV when Diddy took over the helm changing the search to a hip hop group.
Following his removal from the show, Pearlman’s ends soured and he was convicted of a huge Ponzi scheme in 2008. Trans Continental then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company’s lawyer filed a breach of contract lawsuit last year, claiming that they were cut out of profits for the series’ final seasons.
The parties had an agreement that included the following contractual term:
“The parties will jointly exploit any features, spin-offs, sequels, made-for-TV movies, direct to video, non-theatrical, radio or other projects based upon the Series [defined as “an untitled Boy Band series for ABC”] or the band, subject to good faith negotiation.”
The settlement cancels a three-week trial that was scheduled to start this month. After the two sides came to the financial agreement, a district judge dismissed the lawsuit officially this week.
