The Leading Stars Of Bones Walked Away With Millions After A Brutal Legal Fight

One of Hollywood's major legal battles ended in justice for the stars of the television drama series "Bones." The Fox show, which aired from 2005 to 2017, starred David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel as the leads. In 2015, the two stars, as well as executive producer Barry Josephson and writer Kathy Reichs, who penned the original book series "Bones" is based on, filed lawsuits claiming that they had been defrauded by Fox of their deserved profits. This case exposed Fox's engagement with "Hollywood accounting" that would eventually lead to a settlement worth millions.

When "Bones" hit television screens, it was a huge success. Audiences loved it, and Fox profited roughly half a billion dollars from its first seven seasons alone. A show with this level of financial success was bound to offer contractual payouts to its team, including Josephson, Reichs, Deschanel, and Boreanaz, who said he had no interest in doing a "Bones" movie after Fox pulled the plug on the series. However, despite the copious amounts of money being made, Fox claimed that it had nothing to offer the actors and creators because the show was apparently losing money.

"Bones" began streaming on Hulu, which was partially owned by Fox at the time. The lawsuit claimed that Fox was licensing the show to the streamer and other affiliates at an suspiciously reduced rate, creating what's known as "Hollywood accounting" (via The Hollywood Reporter). Through paying these low-cost licensing fee deals, Fox was actively creating an extremely unfair situation. The case led to an ordered $178 million dollar payout to those involved.

Dale Kinsella, one of the attorneys representing those involved in the case, mused, "Fox's fraudulent conduct toward the series' creators and stars, perpetrated over many years, has finally been brought to light, and Fox has been held accountable for its actions" (via The Hollywood Reporter). While this victory was certainly worthwhile, Fox opted to fight back against the $128 million dollars worth of punitive damages, resulting in a payment of around $50 million dollars and a massive private settlement between the parties. As the case came to a successful close, Emily Deschanel told TMZ, "We are so proud of the hard work we did on Bones for 12 seasons and only ever wanted Fox to live up to its promises and contractual obligations."

This legal battle was significant because it highlighted the fraudulent behavior of major studios. John Berlinski, the lawyer who represented the stars of "Bones," told The Hollywood Reporter, "What we have exposed in this case is going to profoundly change the way Hollywood does business for many years to come." In this new era of streaming and large studios constantly snapping up streaming platforms, it's important to keep these companies honest. Without this case coming to light, perhaps studios would still be getting away with hoarding money from those who earned it.