Writer, performer and designer Deborah Gregory is the award-winning author of "The Cheetah Girls" novel series. The 22-book series (16 books written by Deborah Gregory plus 6 movie tie-in books) is about five talented teens that form a singing group and make their dreams come true. The Disney Channel original movie produced in conjunction with Whitney Houston, "The Cheetah Girls" --based on the book series stars Raven Symone, Adrienne and Kiely from 3LW as well as Lynn Whitfield. Deborah Gregory served as a co-producer on the film project.
Gregory is also a National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) award-winning contributing writer for ESSENCE magazine since 1992. Her work has also appeared in VIBE, MORE, Heart & Soul, Entertainment Weekly, and US magazines. Her pop culture column, THE DIVA DIARIES, appears in GRACE magazine, the national fashion and lifestyle "reality" publication targeted at multi-cultural women. She recently released her new book, written as an adult novel, “Catwalk”, a tale about budding fashionistas who vie for the prize and are destined to rip the runway by any means necessary. She also has developed a one-woman show "LEOPARD LIVES" --a coming of age story about a child growing up in the New York City foster care system of which Ms. Gregory is also a survivor.
Ms. Gregory has also contributed to several books including, "Men of Color: Fashion, Mission, Fundamentals"; "Body and Soul, SoulStyle: Black Women Redefining the Color Fashion," "Essence Total Makeover Book," and "50 Most Influential People." She also contributed to photographer Marc Baptiste's book of nudes, "Beautiful". The pictures include a host of celebrities who posed nude including Stacey Dash, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Williams, Beverly Johnson, and LisaRaye.
Deborah Gregory also launched her company, CHEETAHRAMA, offering her original designs including hand-crafted decoupage art cases and hair accessories which are sold at stores nationwide.
Ms. Gregory received her A.A.S. from Fashion Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science from Empire State University in 1986. She currently lives in New York City with her pooch Cappuccino who poses as the Cheetah Girls mascot Toto.
That’s all good news. The bad news is that Deborah Gregory says that she has not been paid one cent. “It’s called ‘net profit participation,’ says Ms. Gregory. And she isn’t the only author to find out the hard way about Hollywood accounting, which reduces the reported profit of a movie through the calculation of overhead expenses, employee salaries and advertising costs. Other book authors reportedly not receiving money for their books turned movies include Olivia Goldsmith who wrote The First Wives Club, Alice Walker who wrote The Color Purple, and Stan Lee who wrote Spider Man. Lee filed a lawsuit against Marvel for his unpaid share of profits based on the character and reportedly won more than $10 million.
Net Profit is defined as an amount of money earned after all expenses have been deducted from the total revenue. There is a saying in Hollywood that “a percentage of the net is a percentage of nothing.” Ms. Gregory claims that she has received only $125.000 from the Disney Channel for the two and a half year option, producer fees and purchase price for two movies. The Cheetah Girls was made into a Disney Channel TV movie, capturing 6.5 million viewers. The sequel topped the first, becoming the most-watched original movie in the Disney Channel’s history. The Cheetah Girls have become a brand with massive merchandising, including soundtracks, DVDs, video games and sold-out concerts.
Authors don’t have a real union like screenwriters do. They have the Authors Guild, which does not operate like a real union. So studios are not accountable to the authors, although 40 percent of all movies and TV projects have the source material from books.
If you ever write a book which turns into a movie, Deborah Gregory provides these suggestions on how authors can protect themselves from “net profit participation.” (1) Get as much money as you can up front for your movie rights. (2) Consider writing the screenplay or TV teleplay so that you can get into the Writer’s Guild. That will provide you DVD residuals. (3) Have bonus clauses included. As merchandise is made, for example, that will ensure that a bonus kicks in.
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