Cheap Thrill's Discusses Fox's Cease and Desist

By Trevor Durham on September 28, 2016

In the weeks leading up to FOX’s reboot of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, there has been a quick slicing axe shutting down community shadow casts, swiftly delivering cease-and-desists across the country. As of this post, at least three companies have announced a cancellation of this fall’s Rocky Horror Picture Show performances, including Tallahassee familiar Cheap Thrills. I got the opportunity to speak with a representative of Tallahassee’s Cheap Thrills about the cease and desist they received Friday afternoon on behalf of Fox. The representative wishes to remain anonymous.

Cheap Thrills: There were concerns regarding licensing for the movie. We were not able to resolve them before show time so we were not able to put on the show.

FSULoop: Do you think Fox is preventing any licensing this season of the original to boost their own viewership?

CT: I don’t think that they are purposefully preventing licensing this year, but they are more concerned about the actual licensing.

FSULoop: I’ve been told that royalty payments have been difficult to pay over the last few years due to bad communication. Do you believe this has any bearing on this year’s problems?

CT: I agree that [we’ve been] unable to obtain the rights to play the show, [it’s] been complicated in previous attempts.

FSULoop: What’s different this year?

Cheap Thrill’s last show, Bob Howard.

CT: I think that with the new release, of the remake, they have renewed interest in the rights for this movie.

FSULoop: Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about everything that’s been happening?

CT: I would like to say that when this movie was originally released, forty one years ago, it flopped in the theaters. The cult following that ensued was due to groups like ours, that gave new life to this movie. If it had not been for theater troupes like ours, and many others nationwide (and across the world), there would not be any interest in Fox to even consider the remake. The fact that Fox is choosing to single-out and make it difficult for us to resolve the issues before we put on the show is unfortunate, as we are the reason there is still money to be made from this movie. They are acting completely within their rights and have not done anything that could be considered infringement of their rights. I think that our production became popular enough to have them notice us. They are only seeking what is legally [within] their rights, to begin with. We, as a cast, are sorry for the misunderstanding, and for not being able to put on the show for our fans. The fans of this movie (and show) are what make it special, and we are disappointed that we were not able to put on this event for them.

Cheap Thrills will make announcements regarding their Halloween showings soon. Fox airs The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time-Warp Again October 20th exclusively on Fox.

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