My thinking on Freema, Law & Order, and Torchwood...
I think, at this point, that it's unlikely that Freema could do both. I think L&O is supposed to begin filming in August, and Torchwood begins in either August or September.
Thus, the Torchwood ship has sailed. I think that's pretty clear, even if The Sun had to layer on lurid dross on top of that.
My guess on what happened vis a vis the Torchwood situation is this — Freema's people were negotiating a contract with the BBC. The BBC had made it clear that they wanted Freema. They even had scripts that used Freema.
From Freema's point of view (and I'm referring here to her people, not necessarily herself), she was in the driver's seat. She knew that the BBC wanted her in Torchwood. She had a strong hand, and she could ask for... well, whatever.
This makes her sound mercenary, but it's not. It's the same issue the Star Trek films had; the actors weren't under contract, and when it came time for another movie, the actors were in a strong negotiating position, because they knew that they were already in the script. (This is also how we got Ezri Dax in the final season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; Terry Ferrell's contract was up, and Paramount wouldn't meet her salary demands. Or Claudia Christian on Babylon 5. There's another example.)
My guess is that the negotiations were ongoing, with Freema wanting a higher number and the BBC wanting a lower number. And when the Law & Order offer came, it may have been in between the two numbers, but was still higher than where the BBC was willing to go. So, she went for Law & Order.
Writers livid? Sure. The word they'd done needs to be scrapped and reworked.
But the producers? They shot themselves in the foot by making Freema a low-ball offer.
That's how I'm reading the situation. It's not as lurid. It's just business.
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Date: 2008-07-25 11:30 am (UTC)I think, at this point, that it's unlikely that Freema could do both. I think L&O is supposed to begin filming in August, and Torchwood begins in either August or September.
Thus, the Torchwood ship has sailed. I think that's pretty clear, even if The Sun had to layer on lurid dross on top of that.
My guess on what happened vis a vis the Torchwood situation is this — Freema's people were negotiating a contract with the BBC. The BBC had made it clear that they wanted Freema. They even had scripts that used Freema.
From Freema's point of view (and I'm referring here to her people, not necessarily herself), she was in the driver's seat. She knew that the BBC wanted her in Torchwood. She had a strong hand, and she could ask for... well, whatever.
This makes her sound mercenary, but it's not. It's the same issue the Star Trek films had; the actors weren't under contract, and when it came time for another movie, the actors were in a strong negotiating position, because they knew that they were already in the script. (This is also how we got Ezri Dax in the final season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; Terry Ferrell's contract was up, and Paramount wouldn't meet her salary demands. Or Claudia Christian on Babylon 5. There's another example.)
My guess is that the negotiations were ongoing, with Freema wanting a higher number and the BBC wanting a lower number. And when the Law & Order offer came, it may have been in between the two numbers, but was still higher than where the BBC was willing to go. So, she went for Law & Order.
Writers livid? Sure. The word they'd done needs to be scrapped and reworked.
But the producers? They shot themselves in the foot by making Freema a low-ball offer.
That's how I'm reading the situation. It's not as lurid. It's just business.