Former 'Glee' Producer Sues Co-Creator Over Backend

UPDATE: More details have emerged about Michael Novick, the former Glee producer who is suing the show’s co-creator/executive producer Ian Brennan. I hear Novick was fired from the show for gross negligence after running afoul of DGA regulations by going behind directors’ backs to give directing notes to actors on the show. Word is that Novick had declined to do apprenticeships to get experience in such areas as physical production, music or marketing. “All he did was lurk around and eat salad,” one person close to the show said.

PREVIOUS: As they say, every hit show is a lawsuit over profits waiting to happen. That’s what’s happening with Fox’s Glee where Michael Novick, a former producer on the musical dramedy, has filed a complained against Glee co-creator/executive producer (and his former good friend) Ian Brennan. In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Novick claims that he was the one who got Brennan’s feature script about a high-school glee club into the hands of Ryan Murphy, which led to the creation of Glee. Novick, who served as a producer on the first season and a half of the Fox series, claims that he agreed to a lower credit and fee when the project was getting set up at Fox after Brennan promised him 15% of any backend he receives for the show. With Glee sold in cable syndication last summer, Novick is now seeking profits through the courts.