EXCLUSIVE: In a highly unusual situation, ABC is preparing to foot a bill worth more than $460,000 to ensure that contestants on game show Lucky 13 receive the winnings they are owed.
Even though it is under no legal obligation to do so, the Disney-owned network is close to finalizing an agreement under which Lucky 13 winners will receive their prize pots after the messy demise of the series hosted by Shaquille O’Neal and Gina Rodriguez.
Lucky 13 was lucky by name, but not lucky by nature for those involved in the making of the show, which aired on ABC last year under a novel greenlight model. UK producer Studio 1 pre-funded Lucky 13 in return for a share of ABC’s advertising and product placement sales, but revenue fell well short of projections and the show was not renewed for a second season.
Lucky 13 Holdings and Studio 13 Entertainment, the special purpose companies Studio 1 set up to house Lucky 13, effectively declared bankruptcy, leaving contractors — including hosts O’Neal and Rodriguez — out of pocket by at least $500,000.
Studio 1 was also responsible for paying winnings to contestants, but Deadline understands that participants have not received their cash prizes amid the financial strife.
Thirteen people walked away from Lucky 13 with prizes totaling $461,500. The biggest prize won on the show was $125,000, while the smallest was $3,750. Sources said contestants should have been paid within 120 days of their appearance. The final episode of the series aired on September 19, which was 138 days ago.
Disney is now stepping in to right this wrong. “ABC is just the domestic licensee, but when we learned that Studio 1 would not meet these obligations, ABC entered into negotiations to make sure the contestants get paid,” an ABC source said. “We are still working on that agreement, but are confident that it will be finalized soon.”
Studio 1 declined to comment. Adrian Woolfe, Studio 1’s CEO, said last year that he was restructuring the company to “protect the value of the now-proven Lucky 13 IP.” Menzies, the UK accountancy company overseeing the Lucky 13 Holdings and Studio 13 Entertainment administration process, did not respond to a request for comment.
Lucky 13 tested contestants’ knowledge with 13 true-or-false trivia questions but with a twist: just how well do they know what they know — and, just as importantly, how well do they know what they don’t know? If they accurately predicted how successfully they’ve answered 13 questions, they could take home a $1M cash jackpot.
It became ABC’s most-watched summer series premiere when it launched last July with 2.7M viewers. Lucky 13’s season finale was also ranked No. 1 in its time period.
Woolfe created the show and served as showrunner. Actor Kevin Bacon was an executive producer alongside Mark Wells, Glenn Coomber, Aaron Stone, Alastair Burlingham, Gary Raskin, David Schiff, Scott Henry, and GW Wright. O’Neal executive produced alongside Colin Smeeton and Michael Parris for his Jersey Legends Productions, while Rodriguez executive produced via her I Can & I Will Productions.
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