Can Nikki Finke sue HBO over Hollywood blogger show?

By Matthew Belloni and Eriq Gardner

THR reported last night that HBO is developing a show about "a powerful female online showbiz journalist with a no-holds-barred style."

Sound familiar?

We wondered what the notoriously no-holds-barred and notoriously litigious female online showbiz journalist Nikki Finke had to say about the project, currently called "Tilda" (not to be confused with Finke's trademarked catchphrase "Toldja!").

Finke hasn't returned our calls or e-mails, but she talked to Gawker this morning and -- in typical fashion -- threatened the writer with a lawsuit when he asked her thoughts.

Finke told Gawker she will be posting about her relationship with HBO shortly. But because she's so far remained quiet, we did a little digging. We're told HBO did not obtain Finke's life rights before moving forward with the project and has no plans to work with her in developing the show.
 

The network first cleared the Ari Gold character with WME topper Ari Emanuel before airing its current showbiz-set "Entourage." But as our colleague Nellie Andreeva points out, Finke isn't the only female Hollywood blogger in town, so the character could be a composite. Sure, there are others. But if you asked 10 people in the business to name a female showbiz blogger, we're guessing all 10 would cite the widely read and comically self-promotional Finke.

Would Nikki sue? We're not crazy enough to jump inside her head. The better question is, would she have any standing to sue? We checked in with Bennet Bigman, a litigation source of ours at Liner Yankelevitz, to get his take on life-rights cases in general.

"A fictional series loosely based on a living person is certainly entitled to First Amendment protection," Bigman says. "Whether it crosses the line and could give rise to potential claims such as defamation, false light or invasion of privacy largely depends on the execution of the show and the details of how the character is portrayed. This would include the extent to which the character is fictionalized or appears to be a conglomeration of several different people -- in other words, will viewers believe that the character is a specific individual and that the events and stories depicted are true?"

So tread carefully, HBO. Include too many Finke-like details and we'll be shouting "TOLDJA!" when she files a lawsuit.

Comments

[Ron]

Actually, the people who should really consider suing are Time Warner shareholders. A TV show about a blogger?! Way to erode quarterly dividends.