Warner Bros. Television has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit from the Michael Crichton estate accusing the company of breach of contract, arguing that its upcoming Max medical drama “The Pitt” is not a derivative work of “ER.”

The lawsuit alleged that after years-long negotiations to make an “ER” reboot that ultimately failed, WBTV, John Wells, Noah Wyle and R. Scott Gemmill took the concept and reworked it to become “The Pitt.” a drama that follows frontline heroes working in a Pittsburgh hospital. The lawsuit alleges there are only three major differences between the series under negotiation and “The Pitt”: the location of the hospital, the name of Wyle’s character and the estate’s involvement.

However, the studio argued in its motion, filed Monday and obtained by TheWrap, that “The Pitt” is a “completely different show” and that the plaintiff cannot use Crichton’s “ER” contract as “a weapon to stifle speech to prevent defendants from ever making a broadcast about emergency medicine.

“It would be absurd to interpret the ‘ER’ deal as prohibiting WBTV from ever again making a medical drama about emergency medicine (and Wyle, who wasn’t even a party to the deal, from doing so). play) without Mr. Crichton’s consent,” WBTV wrote. “Nothing in the agreement or the law justifies such an extraordinary result.”

Crichton created and produced the original “ER,” which ran for 15 seasons from 1994 to 2009. The author and screenwriter died on November 4, 2008 at the age of 66.

In its filing on the anniversary of his death, WBTV further stated that the allegations were based on generic elements shared by many shows in the medical drama genre and the fact that the two shows had an actor in common . He added that the creation of the show is an exercise in free speech protected by California’s anti-SLAPP law.

“Because the anti-SLAPP statute applies and plaintiff cannot bear the burden of supporting his claims, the court should dismiss the complaint in its entirety,” WBTV concluded.

According to the filing, which is partially redacted to avoid revealing plot and character details of “The Pitt,” Gemmill reportedly approached Wells with the original concept for the project in late 2021. Then, after being discussed in more detail in 2022 with Crichton’s representatives, they “demanded” several million dollars – well above industry standard rates, and more than WBTV was willing or able to pay for a series in its first year “.

“WBTV made substantial monetary offers, but Ms. Crichton stuck to her exorbitant demands. She also made numerous other unreasonable demands, including that her fee for Season 1 be guaranteed regardless of whether the show is on or off.
product,” the filing states. “The parties were unable to reach any agreement despite the very generous terms offered to Ms Crichton. WBTV has decided to move away from an emergency-based series.

Gemmill then created a new series that has “no connection” to “ER” and does not use its intellectual property, characters, plot, setting or narrative, they added.

“Although both series are medical dramas set in a hospital, this concept is not unique,” ​​the document states. “Before ‘ER,’ shows like ‘St. Elsewhere” told stories about emergency medicine, and since “ER”, many shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Chicago Med”, “House”, “The Good Doctor” and many others have made even.

In a statement to the media, a spokesperson for Sheri Crichton called the motion “baseless” a “transparent attempt to dodge discovery and prevent the true facts from coming to light.” He added that filing the motion on the anniversary of Crichton’s death is “emblematic of the studio’s insensitivity and complete disregard for Crichton’s legacy.”

“Warner Bros. negotiated with the estate for nearly a year, knowing it could not proceed with its ‘ER’ reboot without domain permission. When those talks failed, Warner Bros. gave the series a new name, changed its location and still proceeded in blatant violation of Crichton’s contract,” the statement continued. “Defendants’ last-minute attempt to rename their reboot ‘ER’ to ‘The Pitt’ is fooling no one. The estate is eager to present its case to a jury and is confident it will prevail.

A Warner Bros. spokesperson TV declined to comment.