TV studios like to throw in the words ‘remake’, ‘reboot’, ‘revival’ and ‘spin-off’, while many of them have seemingly interchangeable definitions, but what, really, is the difference? The simplest interpretation would probably be that a remake is a new version of an old thing, a reboot is a else version of an old thing, a revival is a continuation of an old thing, and a spin-off is a new thing related to another thing. Whether the definitions do or do not look, CBS is now facing a lawsuit that depends in part on how one interprets these words.
According to Deadline, has two groups called Hanzer Holdings and Arlita Inc. filed a lawsuit against CBS in 2018 over the network’s network at the time. MacGyverand claim to be ‘interested successors’ to the well-known Major Talent Agency, which was the packaging agent for the original MacGyver series. You may remember the term “packaging” of the battle between writers and agents in Hollywood that took place a few years ago, but the relevant part of this is that Major Talent Agency apparently has a nebulous third-party interest in the original MacGyver in 1984 as well as ‘produced each series’ as part of the same agreement, and now these two other companies say they inherited the interest.
It sounds like Hanzer and Arlita’s argument is that, as a ‘spin-off’ of the original series, the new MacGyver is part of the original MacGyver franchise and therefore qualifies as part of the original agreement made by MTA. Meanwhile, CBS ‘response is essentially: “That’s not how it works, nor is it how any of this works.” CBS says that neither it nor Paramount (which the MacGyver rights previously) never agreed with Hanzer Holdings and they “have never even heard of plaintiff Arlita Inc.”. until the lawsuit is filed, but even if they did, the writing of the original agreement (as offered by the plaintiffs) “does not even apply to remakes” – which, according to CBS, the new MacGyver actually is.
So there are two angles: say the old paperwork that Hanzer and Arlita say, and if so, deal with the original MacGyver also relates to the new MacGyver? When it comes to the second point, studios may need to start paying attention to what they call these projects, and we may one day stop referring to every remake / reboot / revival / spin-off / whatever as a remake / reboot / revival / spin-off / whatever.